Council questions inspectional services on rental registry, staffing, illegal apartments and rodent control

Worcester’s inspectional services leaders answered council questions about the department’s FY26 budget and the ongoing rental‑registry rollout, which staff described as a multi‑year effort with inspections staged over a five‑year cycle.

Commissioner Antonavica (newly introduced to council) and Deputy Commissioner Dave Horn and Chief Inspector Lee Hall (referred to in testimony as Ms. Hall) outlined a $5.7 million recommended appropriation they said reflected continued programs such as rodent control, step increases and a management‑pay analysis.

Staff described the rental‑registry implementation as a soft launch on a new vendor platform (Slate) and a shift from a prior portal. “We had originally about 10,000 registrations,” Hall said; staff explained that the 10,000 registered properties correspond to roughly 30,000 rental units and that planners estimate about 50,000 rental units citywide. To encourage compliance, staff said they have begun issuing failure‑to‑register notices when inspectors encounter unregistered, non‑owner‑occupied properties in the course of routine complaints or inspections.

Timing and inspection cadence were repeatedly raised. Horn summarized inspection goals and limits: the city plans a five‑year rollout, with periodic 110 common‑area inspections ongoing. He described differences between 110 exterior/common‑area inspections and sanitary (in‑unit) inspections: owner‑occupied two‑ and three‑family units are exempt from in‑unit sanitary inspections, he said, though common spaces will be inspected. Hall said the department expects to begin scheduling and carrying out registry inspections within weeks of the soft launch and estimated an initial, realistic pace of dozens of inspections per week while acknowledging the work will be labor‑intensive and unpredictable on a unit‑by‑unit basis.

Staff noted operational details for the registry rollout: they have issued about 60–70 notices for failure to register while transitioning platforms; inspectors will use a tenant consent form and city translation services where needed; and the department will use data analytics in the Slate platform to cluster inspections geographically.

Council members asked about housing trends staff are seeing. Hall said inspectors report weekly hoarding cases and near‑daily reports of illegal apartments; the department has added a social worker and is seeking grants and partnerships to address housing‑related social needs. Horn said inspectors routinely refer tenants to Community Legal Aid and that the department maintains regular contact with tenants and landlords during investigations.

Rodent control and public‑health measures also drew detailed questions. Hall said the department will bait sewers using a product called Tetrod 3 blocks (a non‑secondarily toxic bait intended to reduce risk to predators), with baiting expected to begin on weekends in complaint hot spots; work will be coordinated with DPW. Hall said staff will survey results before expanding baiting and will consider contract requirements for contractors opening sewers to specify bait use.

On staffing and vacancies, budget staff said the department had seven vacancies out of 74 positions as of mid‑April; staff expect several backfills and said training is underway for inspectors who will perform registry and other inspections.

Councilors and staff agreed the program will require close monitoring. Staff said they would return with data on registered properties versus estimated total units and report back after several months of scheduled inspections to document compliance, trends and workload.