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Rental inspections in Elkhart City find high carbon‑monoxide readings and thousands of smoke‑alarm defects
Summary
The board accepted the April 2026 rental inspection report. Building Commissioner Tim Bstein said inspectors have identified roughly 100 carbon‑monoxide incidents (including readings up to 500 ppm) and over 1,000 smoke‑alarm deficiencies; inspections are scheduled through 2027 with a plan for about 3,000 inspections per year.
The Elkhart City Board of Public Safety on May 26 accepted the rental inspection program report for April 2026, and building officials described a string of safety findings that the city says have already prevented hazardous conditions.
Tim Bstein, building commissioner for Elkhart City, told the board the rental-inspection program has uncovered a large number of life‑safety problems. “We are approaching a hundred issues where we’ve had to either evacuate the building,” Bstein said, and he reported some carbon‑monoxide meter readings as high as 500 parts per million; Bstein noted that anything over 50 ppm is considered unacceptable in the inspection protocol. He said many of those incidents were caused by venting or connection failures on gas appliances or small leaks between the gas meter and the appliance.
Bstein said the inspection program is also finding more than 1,000 smoke‑alarm deficiencies — missing or incorrectly located detectors or tenants removing batteries — and he credited the inspections with reducing fire incidents. The city’s rental-inspection schedule is booked near the end of 2027 for the current signups; the department is planning roughly 3,000 inspections per year and is shifting reinspections to code officers to handle workload.
Board members asked about compliance and landlord participation; Bstein said landlords that intend to comply have already scheduled inspections and the department will provide a follow-up report on how many property owners missed the July 1 deadline. The board approved the rental inspection report by voice vote and placed it on file.
The board did not adopt new enforcement policy during the meeting; next steps are administrative — continuing inspections, documenting landlord compliance and providing monthly reports to the board.
