On Sunday, the Student Senate issued a resolution stating it would indeed like to see a landlord-tenant ordinance that would protect tenants’ rights.

Not only is the senate supporting the ordinance that has been under scrutiny by an 11-member panel since Feb. 1, but it is demanding that the resolution either be passed before the spring semester ends or be held until the fall semester begins.

Greg Budrow, SA director of governmental affairs and the bill’s sponsor, said he has been in close contact with Don Henderson, director of Student’s Legal Assistance and landlord/tenant commission member, throughout the process. He said he feels that students should have a voice in the final decision.

“Students do have a strong interest,” Budrow said. “It should be pushed back to late August or September.”

The resolution, passed unanimously by the senators, requests that the decision be held until a time when “the students of Northern Illinois University and their elected representatives of the Student Association are able to be present for discussion and vote on the issue.”

Jim Mason, landlord and owner of Mason Properties, inquired as to where the students were throughout the fact-finding process.

Sen. Kevin Miller, who authored the resolution, said members of the senate landlord-tenant committee were unable to attend the city’s meeting because of schedule conflicts but added that they did hold several meetings with Henderson and fellow member Edwin Trinta.

He cited the 19-year-old bar entry age proposal as a decision that was made over the summer without student input.

“The resolution was not meant as a demand to postpone the decision but meant to voice the senate’s opinion that even with the lack of student participation, students still cared and hoped the the issue would not be resolved without student input,” Miller said.

The document known as the landlord-tenant ordinance was proposed to the council Oct. 9 by 5th Ward Ald. Patrick Conboy and former 6th Ward Ald. Aaron Raffel. Former DeKalb mayor Bessie Chronopoulos formed the Landlord-Tenant Commission as a progressive movement in addressing the draft ordinance and the problems with DeKalb’s rental community.

The committee has held six meetings since its conception in an effort to assess the needs of the city’s rental community and the relationships between landlords and tenants, but Mason said students have not attended meetings nor have they shown a strong interest in the committee’s business.

He questioned the students’ rights to make such demands so late in the game.

As of Thursday, the commission moved into the final stages of realizing its goals. The panel will vote at its May 10 meeting as to the recommendations it will present to the city council.