At a hearing on a rental-license appeal, a licensing panel voted to deny a temporary license requested by property owner Eddie Flores, who told the panel he owns roughly 150 rental properties and asked to continue collecting rent while making repairs.

The panel heard from the city’s fire chief, who recommended granting a three‑month original license so owners could begin repairs without immediately displacing tenants. “It is my opinion that the owner or owners of these properties should be granted a 3 month original license to begin to begin addressing the issues on their properties and start moving forward with your life,” the fire chief said, and proposed a follow-up inspection at the end of the period.

The chief’s recommendation and Flores’s stated repair plan were weighed against questions from panel members about the number of properties, inspection resources and whether rent collection during the period would be lawful. Panel members noted Flores said he aimed to repair “at least 2 houses a month” but acknowledged that pace would mean several years to address all units; a panel member said that timeline was insufficient. The panel also heard that a manager identified as Riley Cook has collected rent in some properties and that Cook’s real estate or broker licensing status was not clear from testimony.

Flores told the panel he has a three‑person maintenance team and that some houses can be fixed in days while others might require a gutting and take longer. He said utilities for about 20 units are in his name and the remainder are in tenants’ names, and that he is not currently collecting rent himself; he described plans to reinvest rental income into repairs. “I don't collect rent at all,” Flores said when asked directly about rent collection.

Panel members and staff pressed for clearer, written guidelines for how inspections and temporary permissions would be administered, and staff said they would meet with the utility provider and return with written guidance. After discussion the panel took a formal motion to deny the temporary license; the motion passed and the panel announced it would not issue the license at this hearing.

The panel did not adopt the fire chief’s three‑month license recommendation. Members instead instructed staff to provide written, board‑approved guidelines and to coordinate with utilities and code enforcement on inspection scheduling and verification before any future licensing decision.

The hearing record shows the license had been pulled on July 10; panel members repeatedly referenced that history during questioning. The panel’s action leaves the properties without a licensing override; further procedural steps, including any future appeals or reapplication for a temporary license, were not decided at the hearing.