Sean Aranek, Fargo’s inspections director, told the Human Rights Commission on July 17 that the city’s rental inspection program inspects thousands of units each year and is focused on ensuring “minimum life safety standards and clean and sanitary standards” for tenants. “We have over 4,700 active rental licenses within our system to check,” Aranek said.

The program enforces the International Property Maintenance Code as adopted by the city commission and portions of the city’s Land Development Code, Aranek said, and inspects for life‑safety and maintenance items such as smoke detectors, egress, exterior weather barriers, heating systems, electrical outlets, plumbing, pest infestations and overcrowding. “Our ultimate goal is compliance as quickly as possible,” he said.

Aranek described how the inspections are scheduled and enforced. Properties are generally inspected about every three years unless complaints trigger earlier reviews. For serious life‑safety hazards inspectors can require immediate corrective action and may order tenants to vacate. For less urgent repairs inspectors typically give owners 15–30 days to produce a repair plan or schedule; if owners fail to respond the city reinspects and begins charging a $150 reinspection fee per visit. If repeated enforcement fails, the inspections team refers cases to the city attorney for possible legal action.

Aranek said the inspections staff assigned to rental and day‑care inspections is roughly two full‑time inspectors plus a half‑time residential inspector. He described coordination with other city departments and outside entities, and said the department also inspects licensed home day‑care operations.

Commission members asked how the city finds unregistered rentals. Aranek said much of the work comes from tenant or neighbor complaints, tips from property managers and utilities or tax records; the city can also post notices on doors if it cannot contact occupants. He said the city is proposing a code change to require a secondary certificate of occupancy before a unit may be rented, modeled in part on a longtime program in Grand Forks. “If they don't have that secondary CO and they're renting a unit, then they're in violation of the law and we'd have to pursue it in that aspect,” he said.

Commissioners pressed for measures of complaint resolution. Aranek said the department’s current software limits its ability to produce a single “success‑rate” figure; his staff can report counts of inspections that passed, failed or remain open, but a property‑level success metric—where a property is brought to full compliance and no longer generates complaints—is harder to extract from records. He estimated informally that about 90–95% of owners and property managers respond and work to remedy problems, while roughly 5–10% resist inspection access or fail to cooperate.

Aranek also described a recent case in which his department placed dangerous‑building tags on a large apartment property (identified in the meeting as the University Manor matter). He said the department coordinated with Fargo Housing and other state and local partners to house displaced residents and to give occupants time to relocate before more drastic enforcement steps.

Commissioners asked about tenant resources and relocation assistance. Aranek said city staff refer tenants to state tenant‑rights information and to local housing agencies; for large actions the department coordinates with Fargo Housing and regional partners to avoid leaving people homeless.

The commission invited Aranek to return for further discussion; he offered his office contact and said members may meet him in person or by phone for follow‑up.