A council member asked the Committee on Community Development on July 29 to centralize the city's records and tracking of city-owned property and lease agreements, arguing that leases are scattered across multiple departments.

"It seems like they're in every department, but maybe the one that it should be in, which in my opinion would be real estate," the council member said. He said departments including DPW, community services and real estate each hold lease agreements and that centralization would allow the city to "know when they expire" and avoid situations where city assets had leases that expired and the city did not receive payment.

The council member said central tracking would improve efficiency given the city's financial situation. The committee opened the item for discussion and then tabled it; members asked city staff to coordinate on where records currently reside and how a centralized system would operate.

No ordinance or budget appropriation was adopted at the meeting. The council member's proposal asked city departments and the law department to work with real estate to create a centralized registry and expiration tracking mechanism; the committee asked staff for additional information and implementation options.