AUBURN - The city will have more leverage in addressing problem property owners and tenants and will be able to more closely monitor the performance of taxicab drivers after Auburn City Council passed two separate ordinance amendments Thursday night.

Council also allowed for a $1 rate increase for taxi service in Auburn, as requested by the city's two cab companies, Any Taxi and Deluxe Cab.

Amendments approved to the city's nuisance ordinance make it easier for the city to address properties that are the focal point of constant police attention. In the past, the city could only shut down a property that was the focus of police attention if a conviction was accomplished, which was sometimes a lengthy process.

Corporation Counsel Thomas Leone said the ordinance changes would also bolster a landlord's ability to remove a problem tenant.

If a property is the focus of repeated police attention, the city could condemn the property or revoke the certificate of occupancy and condemn in the case of multi-dwellling units.

Councilor William Jacobs suggested language be included in the ordinance to address nuisance animals, as well. Leone said he would prefer that any changes made in regards to dangerous animals be made to the ordinance addressing animal control.

Mayor Tim Lattimore, who initially asked that the ordinance be bolstered, said the changes could help address some of the city's housing problems.

“It's important before the cancer spreads that we go in and effectively shut the property down,” he said. “I think it will help our neighborhoods.”

Last week, council discussed possible amendments to the taxicab ordinance, which would include the $1 rate increase, while also bolstering the ordinance to address customer service concerns with the cleanliness of the cabs and behavior of some drivers.

Drivers will now be required to post their picture and identification in the cab, so they can be better identified for accountability purposes, and the police chief will have more discretion to pull a driver's license for inappropriate behavior.

“It's a trade off as far as cleanliness and operations of the cabs ... that certainly would justify that rate increase,” Leone said.

In other business:

- City manager John Salomone presented the council with three options for addressing crows this year.

The USDA, which performed crow hazing for the city last year, will return this year but will also train city employees in some of the hazing methods.

The three options involved varying levels of training and costs - the council decided on the middle option, set to cost $13,711, which would include seven days of training for city employees. The city plans to begin hazing at the beginning of December.

The hazing also cost about $14,000 last year. Salomone said the city hopes to take on more responsibility in coming years to eventually reduce the costs. He said the first year it actually ended up costing over $30,000 - but the USDA ended up using its own funds.

“It's still appreciably less than if they were to come back and do it all,” he said.

- The Auburn Fire Department is requesting a new ladder truck, which would require $975,000 in bonds to finance. The truck to be replaced was put into service in 1979 and no longer meets NFPA requirements to be a first-line aerial truck, said Jeff Dyger of the Auburn fire department.

The new truck would be equipped with necessary tools and equipment and with modern safety features, Dyger said.

If an effort to save money, councilors discussed sharing equipment with outlying towns or leasing a truck, but Dyger said the new truck would be designed specifically for an urban area, while leased trucks most likely wouldn't.

“It's a lot of money, but the fact that we need this truck, we can't change,” said William Petrosino of the Auburn fire department.

Salomone said the city could afford the purchase through its capital budget if council considered it a priority.

“If we buy a fire truck, we may not be able to do as much roads next year - there's a trade off,” he said. “You have to prioritize.”

With a 10-year bond, he said it would cost about $150,000 a year.

- Lattimore requested a resolution for next week's meeting that would implement a hiring freeze for city departments. The planning department will be adding a member to its staff, which was planned for in this year's budget.

“Let's take the action step to save a few bucks,” Lattimore said.

Councilor Thomas McNabb supported the proposed resolution, saying the city couldn't afford to pay additional employees. Salomone, however, said he thought it would be best to wait until council holds goal-setting budget sessions in December to discuss budget matters.

“I think it's very premature to do that,” he said.

Leone said he would bring a resolution forward implementing a hiring freeze, unless the hire was for purposes of reducing overtime pay, as proposed by Lattimore, or unless the city manager requested the new hire with the approval of council.

- Councilor David Dempsey and McNabb voted against a change order authorizing an additional $161,566 to be awarded for F. Rizzo Construction for the Connector Road project to pay for unanticipated extra work. Dempsey, who has questioned various change order resolutions in the past, said he wanted to vote against the resolution to make a statement, saying too many change orders were coming in.

“We need to tighten that up a little bit,” he said.

Salomone said it was the city's policy to estimate a cost for projects, then make adjustments in the field, rather than including potential adjustments in the upfront estimated cost of the project.

“I'd rather have change orders that reflect true costs than no change order and enough fluff in the budget,” Salomone said.

Staff writer Anne Gleason can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or at anne.gleason@lee.net