In a nearly unanimous vote Monday night, the DeKalb City Council passed the long-awaited and hotly debated landlord-tenant ordinance.

Although the proposal, which is more than a year old, was only up for a first reading, five of the seven aldermen voted to write the proposal into law.

First Ward Alderman Andy Small cast the lone vote against the ordinance because he felt it should have had a second reading before the council voted.

“When we take a year to process this ordinance, I don’t think it would be improper to wait until the next board meeting to take a vote,” Small said.

Seventh Ward Alderman Joe Sosnowski did not vote, but his action is considered a vote for the majority.

The initial draft of the landlord-tenant agreement was created by the Northern Illinois Students’ Legal Assistance last December, with the assistance of NIU law students. Former Mayor Bessie Chronopoulos formed a fact-finding committee after local landlords expressed concern over not being involved in the initial process.

Language in the ordinance refers specifically to access clauses, security deposits and tenant handbooks.

After the meeting, Small said he had spoken to City Attorney Margo Ely about the model lease and handbook not having been completed yet. Susan McMaster, of Horizon Management, echoed Small’s concerns.

“People on the fact-finding committee expressed concern about this, and I wanted an opportunity to vote on a package, but I’m very comfortable with the legislation itself,” Small said.

McMaster, the only member of the fact-finding committee who questioned ordinance provisions Monday night, was concerned that Ely was brought in at the last minute and had missed many of the complex and subtle compromises. Her primary worry was that Ely’s previous ordinance drafts had made allowance for “explicit mutual consent” provisions in leases and the draft approved by the city council did not make this allowance.

Before the vote, Ely reminded the council that the legislation would not go into effect for 10 days, by which point the model lease and handbook would be complete.

The members of the fact-finding committee agreed to review the two documents before officially submitting them to Ely.

Don Henderson, director of NIU Students’ Legal Assistance and also a committee member, said he’s impressed with the ordinance’s unique nature.

“This is a DeKalb ordinance,” Henderson said. “It doesn’t look like ordinances in other towns in this state and I’m glad of that.”

Third Ward Alderman Steve Kapitan said the ordinance is mild in comparison to other laws.

“Many communities, and not just college towns, license landlords,” Kapitan said.

Kapitan initially opposed waiving the second reading because he feared that the intentions of anyone who voted as Small did would be misinterpreted by voters as opposition to the ordinance.

After direct questioning from Kapitan, McMaster also voiced concern for the one-hour access clause that the ordinance mandates for landlords before they enter an apartment. She said there are three situations she could think of that would require her to have to pay a plumber to stand around and wait outside an empty apartment unless she had “explicit mutual consent” to enter.

“Shut-off valves for a given building may be in one apartment,” McMaster said. “If there is a drain problem, it might be caused by a blockage in an apartment above. In buildings with boilers, lines might need to be bled.”

She said that if a landlord had to pay a plumber to wait outside an empty apartment for the occupant give permission, it would place an unfair burden on landlords in a market that has a 10-percent profit margin.

After the vote, Mason said McMaster’s complaints on the access clause were covered by the ordinance’s emergency access provisions.

“I don’t think it’s overly burdensome for a landlord to tell tenants when they finish maintenance work to give them a heads-up, ‘I’ll be working down the hall and may have to come back,'” Henderson said.

Architect and landlord John Kuney tried to sum up feelings on the new law.

“I’m not unhappy with this,” Kuney said. “Bottom line — if you’re an honest landlord, you shouldn’t be opposed to this type of legislation.”