The voluntary rental inspection system that Eastern’s External Relations Committee and the City of Charleston developed last November seems to be working pretty well, Mayor Dan Cougill says.

“There are a number of landlords having us do inspections,” Cougill said.

At the next External Relations Committee meeting, Cougill will present a list of all the addresses that have been inspected.

“I heard they have done 62, which is a big boost,” committee chair Marty Ruhaak said.

In the past, the city has tried to pass a rental inspection ordinance, and couldn’t because of the “home rule” stipulation of the Illinois State Constitution. Only cities with more than 25,000 people are applicable to home rule, which allows cities to make their own regulations.

Otherwise, cities must abide by state regulations, which says that cities can only do something if there is a law existing for what they want to do.

The previous city inspection ordinance that was proposed would have required rental properties to be inspected by city inspectors on some form of regular basis. Currently, rental properties are usually only inspected at the tenants or owners request.

Despite the effort to pass such legislation, Cougill said he is not looking to push the issue any further at this time.

“I’d rather see the results we get,” he said, regarding the volunteering system.

Quite a few rental inspections were done over winter break, he said.

“We anticipate a lot over spring break,” Cougill added.

When doing inspections, workers look to make sure things are installed correctly and also check on plumbing and electrical wiring to be sure they pass city code.

“The landlords who are coming for inspections are landlords who do a good job,” Cougill said.

The next External Relations Committee meeting will be Feb. 19 in the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union. at 5:30 p.m.