Maumee city staff presented proposed edits to the sanitary/conveyance program web pages and said the changes are primarily semantic clarifications to reflect council-adopted program updates rather than substantive policy shifts.

Matt (Speaker 8) told the committee the updated pages remove outdated 2024 language and align content with the program council approved in August. Key changes staff cited include condensing four income tiers into three and expanding lateral-lining eligibility in some cases to up to 450 feet, depending on the lateral length and the applicant’s commitment timing.

Staff also recommended removing references to a compliance certificate that had been tied to earlier conveyance language, saying the city does not currently issue a certificate for completed in-home work and it would be misleading to state a house was fully remediated when future inspection could reveal additional issues.

On financial assistance, staff said the city has an application format resembling a loan request to gather income, monthly bills and debt information. Finance recommended a 43% debt-to-income ratio threshold to guide eligibility for direct city payments to contractors; staff said about six applications are outstanding but none are yet complete.

Matt also reviewed program funding and timing: the city has nominated roughly $31 million in funds in past cycles and continues to re-nominate as grant windows open; staff cautioned that an additional $20 million shown in some program guidance is optimistic in timing and likely to occur later. Finally, staff said the remediation policy language was updated Nov. 3 and is pending counsel’s approval; the proposed change would allow up to one year from the inspection-report date (rather than from the commitment-letter signing) for homeowners to complete work.

Committee members thanked staff and agreed to discuss the details further at the Committee of the Whole meeting later in the week.