http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/15045139.htm

Posted on Sat, Jul. 15, 2006

Code officer won’t speak Spanish
HAZLETON: City tentatively plans to hire worker to get information from tenants who need occupancy permits.

By BONNIE ADAMS badams@leader.net

HAZLETON – The city expects any Latino moving into an apartment to come to a code enforcement officer and prove that they’re legal. But the city will not have an interpreter on hand during the process.

The city administrator said that using a bilingual employee will conflict with the English-only stance.

When a reporter asked if that employee will speak Spanish because of the city’s large Hispanic population, City Administrator Sam Monticello said, “That’s a good point and I’m sure we’ll consider that.” He said a bilingual employee would be a benefit in that position.

“There’s no law against speaking another language,” he added.

But Monticello called back a short time later and said he wanted to clarify a point. He said the city’s new illegal immigration ordinance would require all city business to be conducted in English.

The ordinance states: “Unless explicitly mandated by the federal government, the state of Pennsylvania or the city of Hazleton, all official city business, forms, documents, signage will be written in English only.”

On Thursday night, city council adopted the controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act, which cracks down on landlords who rent to illegal immigrants and businesses that employ them. Council also approved the first reading of a proposed landlord-tenant ordinance that, if adopted, would replace a 2004 ordinance and require new tenants to show proof of legal U.S. citizenship or residency.

The proposed ordinance would support provisions in the newly adopted law that established fines for landlords who knowingly rent to illegal immigrants and sanctions for businesses that employ them.

Monticello stressed that the proposed ordinance and plans to implement it are works in progress. He said Friday that the city tentatively plans to hire a part-time code enforcement employee whose only job will be to gather information from tenants who need occupancy permits.

Monticello said the new code enforcement employee will gather documentation from new tenants, such as proof of legal U.S. citizenship or residence, but the worker will not be able to authenticate those documents. He said an occupancy permit will be issued to the tenant in the interim, subject to authentication by another entity the city has not identified. He said the city will receive direction from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.

City council could hold a final vote on the proposed ordinance during its Aug. 17 meeting.

Jonathan Encarnacion, executive director of The Hispanic Center in Reading, has followed Hazleton’s actions. “The potential for discrimination there is incredible,” he said. Encarnacion predicted that lawsuits will follow.

“At the national level, I think they’re looking foolish right now,” he said of the city. Encarnacion said the city is opening a “Pandora’s box” by asking tenants to provide proof of citizenship. He pointed out that those Hazleton residents who were born in Puerto Rico are U.S. citizens.

City solicitor Chris Slusser said the city hopes there won’t be any legal challenge, but it’s prepared if that happens.

Hazleton landlords who rent to illegal immigrants will be subject to at least a $1,000 fine under the new ordinance. The law will deny a business permit to those employers who hire illegal immigrants. Monticello said employers have a responsibility to hire documented workers. He said employers, not the city, will continue to handle citizenship documentation.

Attorney Theresa Brennan, solicitor and vice president of the Hazleton Area Landlords Organization, said she drafted most of the proposed landlord-tenant ordinance based on feedback from city landlords. She hammered out the provisions with Slusser, the landlord organization president and a board member. The proposed ordinance would shift the current duty of registering tenants from the landlord to the city.

Brennan said landlords expressed concerns about privacy issues by gathering tenant information. She said they also didn’t want to be “tax collectors” by collecting fees from tenants for the city. The proposed ordinance would require tenants to pay the city a $10 occupancy permit fee.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bonnie Adams, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7241.