Kennett City Council approves provisional license for Eddie Flores for 57 rental properties; resident urges prioritizing worst units

The Kennett City Council voted to issue a provisional license to property owner Eddie Flores covering 57 properties and directed that inspections be limited to occupied units with utilities turned on; staff will report inspection progress at each council meeting. The motion passed; the transcript does not specify who moved or seconded the motion or the numerical vote tally.

City staff explained that issuing a provisional license would alter the effect of a previously passed council resolution that had required code enforcement to notify residents of illegally occupied properties and give them 60 days to vacate. As a member of staff put it: "To answer the chief's question, what happens to the resolution we passed last time? If we pass this, provisional license for Eddie Flores, then what that does is that overrules that, that, resolution we passed last time." The staff member said inspections "will be inspected for our utility turn on and occupied units only" and that the council would receive "a report at each council meeting." The provisional license was described in the public record as a two‑week license that could be renewed weekly; the motion as recorded did not specify a longer effective period.

During the public-comment portion of the meeting, Reverend Dina Tapman, pastor of Great Saint John African Methodist Episcopal Church, criticized the council's decision and urged the city to prioritize the worst, currently occupied units. Tapman, who said she and others visited roughly 16 properties, described visible habitability problems and cited tenant rents. "The number 1 fiduciary responsibility of government is to make sure all citizens have a safe [home]," she said. She described mold, holes in floors and exposed wiring and asked why tenants paying rents of "$1,200 a month including utilities" were living in those conditions. Tapman asked the council to "pick the worst ones that we know are not gonna pass and have those fixed first" and to allow families to remain while repairs are completed. She also criticized property owners named in the transcript — including Eddie Flores, Derek Cunningham, Mark Gardner, Teresa Flores and Robert Simmons — for not appearing at the meeting to address residents' concerns.

Council discussion recorded in the transcript focused on the relationship between the new provisional-license approach and the council's earlier resolution that had required 60‑day vacancy notices. City staff characterized the provisional-license path as a way to pursue repairs rather than immediate vacate orders; the staff member said that once a provisional license is issued, the prior vacate notice requirement would no longer be in effect for those properties. The transcript also contains a staff clarification that inspections would be scheduled as staff are able to perform them and that there is no fixed inspection order unless otherwise decided.

The council action as recorded requires follow-up: staff will provide inspection reports at each council meeting and code-enforcement activity will determine which units are inspected when. The transcript does not specify a complete inspection schedule, how properties will be prioritized beyond the general statement that occupied units with utilities turned on will be inspected first, or whether the council directed any additional funding or rental-assistance measures for affected tenants.

Public commenters urged the council to prioritize health and safety by inspecting and repairing the most hazardous occupied homes first and to consider ways to let tenants remain while repairs are made. The council’s formal motion and the staff direction to report at each meeting are the only firm procedural commitments recorded in the transcript.