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Council, at its , approved a local law amending the housing standards chapter of the city code. Under the change, appeals to decisions by the city's Code Enforcement Office will be reviewable by the city's Nuisance Abatement Committee, which was formed in 2021 to address property and neighborhood issues in Auburn.

The  adds an administrative appellate process to the city's housing standards. Anyone aggrieved by a final order or administrative fee from the city's housing code inspector can now seek a review by the committee. The aggrieved party would start the review by sending a written request to the city manager's office within 14 days of receiving the order or fee.

The committee will meet quarterly to hear appeals from the aggrieved or their counsel. The committee can reverse, modify or affirm a final order or fee from the inspector. Anyone aggrieved by the committee's decision "shall be deemed as exhausting all available administrative remedies," the amendment says, but can seek further review by the Supreme Court.

Concerns about the amendment were raised at previous council meetings by attorney Justin Huffman, representing Grillo Properties and Petro Rentals, both owned by Auburn developer Brendan Grillo. Huffman asked if the Code Enforcement Office would have to provide evidence of alleged violations, such as photographic proof, or if the committee was "supposed to take (their) word."

"I personally have seen many of the code department's write-ups. They're often vague and unclear about what exactly is in violation and requires repair (or) alteration," Huffman said. "So the biggest issue here is that property owners will now bear the onus of making sense of vaguely documented violations and bearing the burden of proof against such claims."

A public hearing was held on the amendment at council's meeting. Huffman said the hearing hadn't been included on the meeting's online agenda until shortly beforehand, and argued that the public hadn't been given enough notice. Another public hearing on the amendment was held at the council meeting.

Before council unanimously accepted the amendment, Councilor Jimmy Giannettino praised the work of City Manager Jeff Dygert, Corporation Counsel Nate Garland and Director of Planning and Development Jenny Haines for addressing concerns with problem properties in the city. Giannettino showed council pictures he took earlier that day of properties that have been the subject of previous complaints. He said some of them have continued to attract complaints, some have been shut down, and one was set to be demolished.

Noting the opposition to the amendment, Giannettino continued, "The feedback that we get from constituents on almost a daily basis really shows that we need to do more, and I think what we're voting on allows us to be more proactive and to shore up the code. ... While property owners have a right to representation, I believe the people of the city of Auburn have a right to representation as well. We're doing our role as their representatives. They hired us and we're doing everything we can to shore up the housing code and provide them relieve."