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Votes at a glance: Salem passes ordinances on fuel contracts, electricity aggregation, housing and short-term rentals
Summary
At its Feb. 3 meeting Salem City Council passed Ordinances 07–13, covering fuel purchase contracts, an electricity-aggregation agreement with Aspen Energy, changes to housing code and occupancy rules, updates to the International Property Maintenance Code, and new short-term rental regulations. All measures passed unanimously.
Salem City Council approved a package of ordinances Feb. 3, moving multiple items through all three readings and adopting several with emergency clauses.
Key votes at a glance
- Ordinance 07 (fuel contracts): Authorized the director of public service and safety to advertise for bids and enter into contracts for city gasoline and diesel purchases for up to one year; read with an emergency clause and passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 08 (electricity aggregation): Authorized an agreement with Aspen Energy Corporation to supply electricity for Salem’s aggregation program; the council heard questions about eligibility (must be a resident inside city limits) and automatic enrollment with opt-out; read with an emergency clause and passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 09 (rail overpass application): Authorized grant application and a local-match commitment (city $250,000; county $250,000) in support of the National Railroad Partnership Program; read with an emergency clause and passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 10 (chapter 1198 amendment): Modifies section 1198.10 of the codified ordinances; read and passed without an emergency clause.
- Ordinance 11 (housing code amendments): Amends Chapter 1309 to update housing-code procedures, clarifies application and inspection processes, removes certificate-holder insurance naming requirements and replaces insurance-certificate submission with an owner affirmation; council added an emergency clause and passed the ordinance.
- Ordinance 12 (IPMC update): Updates the International Property Maintenance Code for residential and commercial properties; read and passed unanimously.
- Ordinance 13 (short-term-rental operations): Creates Chapter 1339 regulating short-term rentals (annual permits, occupancy-license fee and fire inspections); read and passed unanimously. Council mentioned an estimated 20–25 short-term rentals currently operating in town.
All measures that were read with emergency clauses were advanced after council suspended council rules and statutory-reading requirements. The clerk recorded unanimous roll calls for each final vote.
Details on next steps: where ordinances include emergency clauses, those measures take effect immediately upon passage; others will become effective according to normal codified-ordinance processes.
