Linn County considering fines to encourage property owners to reduce lead hazards

CEDAR RAPIDS — A policy under consideration by the Linn County Board of Supervisors would establish fines for property owners who have failed to work with Linn County Public Health officials over a certain time period to reduce lead hazards and codify the county’s ability to inspect homes where lead-poisoned children live or frequently visit.

Linn County Public Health already conducts Healthy Homes Assessments — a federal educational assessment tool — on residential dwellings that have lead hazards in paint, dust or soil. The proposed ordinance, which the supervisors passed Monday on first consideration, states that an officer may enter a home to conduct these assessments when a child’s blood lead levels increase to a certain amount.

Public health officials would work with the property owner to conduct the assessments when a child becomes an active lead case or is an elevated blood level child. That means the child has had one confirmed venous blood level of equal to or greater than 10 micrograms per deciliter for an active lead case, or 15 for elevated blood level.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed the definition from two confirmed venous blood levels to one, Public Health Director Pramod Dwivedi previously said, so the policy change is intended to follow federal guidelines.

A public health officer would issue written notice to the affected property owners requiring they complete lead hazard reduction within two weeks of an inspection and after receiving laboratory results showing the child has elevated blood lead levels. An owner would have 30 days to reduce lead hazards, but the health officer may grant more time.

Failure to correct the lead hazards within 60 days — or more time if granted — would result in the owner being liable to a county infraction and a fee. The fees would be established in a separate resolution, which the supervisors would vote to adopt alongside the third ordinance consideration.

For investor-owned housing, the proposed fees are:

For owner-occupied housing:

According to the county, the top source of lead poisoning in Linn County is chipping and peeling lead-based paint and lead dust found in housing constructed before 1978, which makes up 53 percent of Linn County’s housing stock. This housing also is located disproportionately in low-income neighborhoods. The county’s lead-poisoned families are roughly evenly split among rentals and owner-occupied homes.

Exposure to lead can result in lifelong health effects such as language difficulties, diminished academic abilities and behavior disorders including aggression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder. It can result in multigenerational impacts if a pregnant person is exposed to lead.

“These are the people on the margins of our society,” Dwivedi said. He said the assessments are intended to be an educational effort to reduce hazards.

Ruby Perin, the county’s Healthy Homes branch supervisor, said this could be accomplished through simple steps such as placing duct tape to cover peeling or chipping lead paint. Perin said county Public Health typically conducts 30 to 40 Healthy Homes inspections per year.

“We would like them to start working on common hazards almost immediately, because that's the reason the child is lead poisoned and that's reason we're there and they need to at least start working on removing the lead hazards,” Perin said.

Linn County Public Health also asked the supervisors for $578,370 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to go toward its Childhood Healthy Homes Program as “a drop in the bucket just to make it a little more safer” by helping owner-occupied residents replace carpets, make sure the vent fan is working, replace a window or address soil hazards without doing a whole remediation, Perin said.

The state-funded Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program grant requires case management and environmental management for families with a child who has an elevated blood lead level, mandating the county to respond when a child has blood lead levels above 10 micrograms per deciliter, Dwivedi wrote in the ARPA application.

Supervisor Chair Louie Zumbach asked about exploring using some funds to support landlords in reducing lead hazards.

Perin said cities already have codes requiring landlords to reduce lead hazards, so “to provide landlords with funding to do this work they already should have done … it just seems kind of ridiculous.”

The county already is short on affordable housing, Supervisor Ben Rogers said. Knowing this, he said some landlords may fail to address environmental hazards such as lead because tenants may be unable to afford higher-quality housing. In other words, the most vulnerable residents may be stuck in substandard housing.

But Rogers and Supervisor Kirsten Running-Marquardt said they supported trying to strike a balance of assisting landlords who meet certain criteria or perhaps show receipts or other proof of reducing lead hazards. The supervisors will further discuss this item and have not yet awarded ARPA funds for this purpose.

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