CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY VS. ENERGY EFFICIENCY: In shady new CoMo rental law

BuffaloeAnother 4th Amendment violation 

COLUMBIA, Mo (Series) 5/6/17 -- Columbia's Office of Sustainability and Energy and Environment Commission (EEC) are proposing a new rental energy efficiency ordinance based on everything their activist members detest: non-transparency; false promises; conflicts of interest; and so much ethical gray area the law should be DOA -- dead on arrival.

The Columbia City Council received the groups' report in February, recommending new "energy efficiency" requirements for single family and duplex rental properties.

BUFFALOE'S HUSTLE

 

The law is unfair: Apartments -- some notorious for wasting energy -- are exempt. So are commercial properties, owner-occupied homes, and other potential energy wasters.

The proposed ordinance also violates the Constitution's 4th Amendment, mandating a warrantless "energy efficiency" inspection that costs an average $373.

 

And in a clear conflict of interest, City of Columbia sustainability manager Barbara Buffaloe started a side business, the "Columbia Sustainability Fund" (CSF), positioned to take advantage of the demand for energy efficiency products and services the new ordinance would create. 

Buffaloe listed CSF's business address at Columbia City Hall (701 E. Broadway. See screenshots), a brazen move by any standard.

She talked up CSF's potential offerings on her Facebook page, encouraging donations to a CoMoGives fundraiser and referrals to energy conservation (insulation, windows, appliances, etc.) product vendors and contractors who might "leverage" CSF as a commissioned middleman.* The timing and implications were clear: the office charged with energy conservation policy at City Hall might be for sale. 

 

The sustainability manager's side hustle likely violates City of Columbia ordinance 19-41: Conflicts of Interest, which mandates that city officials not benefit from regulations they write, enforce, or advocate. 

PUBLIC REBUKE

The proposed ordinance would require an onsite inspection, but without the safety component the US Supreme Court  twice ruled is the only Constitutional reason public officials may enter a home without a criminal warrant.

Rental unit compliance with safety standards -- required of all rental property owners for decades -- would now also mandate an "Energy Score" of 7 or higher, or an "Efficiency Score" of 70% or higher.   

To achieve these scores, an energy efficiency auditor could demand "upgrades" to appliances, HVAC systems, insulation, windows, and any other systems that effect energy usage. The cost of such upgrades, especially for older properties, can be staggering.

The proposed law was written non-transparently, without input from the people most impacted: property managers and renters. During a recent Council hearing, Mayor Brian Treece asked Council member Mike Trapp if landlords were consulted before the two agencies made the recommendations.

 

“They were engaged in the process,” Trapp replied. “I know the landlords participated. They did a forum and I know there was outreach to the landlord community.”

Mr. Trapp was wrong.

Buffaloe's CoMoGives pitch. Rt click to enlarge.

EEC meeting minutes show NO tenants or landlords involved in the proposed rental energy conservation law's year-long planning.

 

The Office of Sustainability held one forum about rental energy conservation in late November 2016. **

But with attendees at the SRO gathering, the two moderators -- Buffaloe and City of Columbia housing programs supervisor Randy Cole --  refused to discuss or take questions about the rental energy conservation ordinance, perhaps fearful of a public rebuke.

 

"SHAM CHEERLEADING"

 

Some attendees characterized the November forum as a "sham cheerleading effort".

Others insisted City Hall's utility rates (water, electric, trash, sewer) counteract conservation incentives, with regular rate increases that more than offset savings.

 

Still others said the law was targeting a group that could pay up without too much political fuss -- smaller rental property owners (see survey here) -- while ignoring the group most in control of rental utilities and energy use -- renters. Cole and Buffaloe, for instance, presented no plans to educate renters about indoor energy conservation basics.

Though Columbia's proposed energy efficiency ordinance should be DOA, it still has a pulse.

City administrators seem determined to squeeze property managers, especially small ones:  Perhaps in service to the student apartment developers and hedge fund financiers City Hall bent over backward accommodating, but who are now stuck in an overbuilt, overpriced rental market.

 

*Buffaloe has since removed the Facebook post about her side hustle. No word on the ComoGives fundraiser.

**The author attended the Nov 2016 rental energy conservation forum.