Council directs staff to seek cancellation of short-term-rental software after operators and staff report problems

City building and finance staff told the Alpine City Council on Sept. 10 that the short-term rental (STR) compliance platform the city contracted with in November 2024 has not met expectations and has increased administrative workload.

Jessica Eisley, the city’s building official, said the vendor’s system “has become more work for us,” noting persistent data matching errors, submission failures and a lack of staff-facing controls. Finance clerk Crystal Gonzales said payment-processing problems have required extra time to reconcile and that the payment processor’s reporting delays left the finance office unable to verify credit-card receipts for weeks.

The contract with the vendor identified in the meeting as Decker (also referred to in the system as Deckard and associated with a product called Rentalscape) costs about $16,000 a year, staff said. Building and finance staff told council that automated matching and “scrubbing” of city records — identifying properties that operate STRs but have not registered — remains incomplete.

After staff presentations, council members agreed the platform was not delivering the expected value. Council member Stevens summarized staff comments and said the city was spending more to operate the system than the vendor’s contribution warranted. Council consensus was to direct staff to pursue cancellation or non-renewal of the vendor contract and to seek alternative solutions, including vendors that perform address scrubbing and a single payment processor that integrates with city systems.

What staff asked for and what council directed

Staff asked for guidance on whether to renew the contract for another year or revert to a paper-based system. Building official Eisley and finance clerk Gonzales recommended finding an alternative that (1) scrubs the city’s master list against market listings, (2) provides reliable payment reporting, and (3) offers timely customer support. Council instructed staff to begin the contract-termination process per the vendor agreement and to return with vendor options and a transition plan; staff noted a contractual deadline of Sept. 23 to give notice.

Quotes

Jessica Eisley, building official: “Initially, we thought this was gonna be more helpful and less work. In a lot of ways, it’s just become more work for us.” Crystal Gonzales, finance clerk: “Online payments have also been an issue… two customers have paid by credit card, but Rentalscape is not showing their payment.”

Next steps

Staff will initiate contract-termination steps and research vendors that can provide address scrubbing and a single payment-processing solution. The council asked staff to return with a plan and alternatives, and to cover any interim reporting or payment needs while the contract is closed out.