Tenants won’t be seeing any differences in their lease agreements just yet.

The DeKalb City Council voted unanimously in its meeting Monday night to discuss the proposed landlord-tenant ordinance at a workshop meeting Oct. 15.

Members of the Landlord-Tenant Taskforce, which was formed under former DeKalb Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos, have been working through the heavily-debated legislation for over a year. The proposal was introduced first by former Sixth Ward Ald. Aaron Raffel and Fifth Ward Ald. Patrick Conboy.

“Just because fewer people will probably be at the workshop than are here now, I want to quickly thank the fact-finding committee and staff for working so diligently on this,” Conboy said.

Conboy went on to name some of the individuals who served on the committee, including landlords Jim Mason of Mason Properties and Susan McMaster of Horizon Management, Students’ Legal Assistance director Don Henderson and Edwin Trinta, an NIU Law student who was imperative in producing the original document.

The upcoming workshop provides an opportunity for DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow and the seven aldermen to debate the various aspects of the proposed ordinance in a non-voting environment.

Conboy said the decision to hold a workshop was for the benefit of several aldermen who were not entirely familiar with the proposed legislation, which is lengthy and complicated.

“At a workshop, we can take two hours to go over every detail,” Conboy said. “If we did that at a city council meeting and had a large number of landlords and tenants present, the meeting might go on for four hours.”

Conboy said he expects some members of the public to attend the workshop meeting. Unless the council decides to hold a public forum on the matter, public opinions will be heard in significant numbers at the first reading of the ordinance after the workshop.

First Ward Ald. Andy Small mentioned that some members of the press were against the committee initially and gave Conboy “a lot of heat.”

Small added he found it encouraging that the council received a letter from NIU’s Student Association endorsing committee findings.

Third Ward Ald. Steve Kapitan thanked the committee members and encouraged them to attend the workshop, noting how much time they spent on the project.

The workshop is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.