Brookfield trustees are set on Monday, Dec. 8, to vote on three proposed versions of a controversial ordinance implementing a rental registration program that could include inspections of common areas and even residential units within rental properties. If one of the versions is approved, the program would go into effect for 2026, giving rental property owners two months to register their buildings by March 1.
Village President Michael Garvey directed staff to put the three versions of the ordinance up for a vote at the village board’s next meeting during its Nov. 24 committee of the whole meeting, where trustees discussed the proposed program for a fourth time.
The matter has consistently drawn ire from public commenters, many of whom are landlords operating rentals in town who would be charged an annual fee at the time of registry each year, ranging from $50 to $225 per property, depending on the number of units and the version of the program that could be implemented.
The least stringent version of a rental registration program would only require property owners to register their buildings, so village staff knows who is accountable in case of a code violation or tenant dispute.
The second version would include inspections of building exteriors and common areas once every three years. No housing units would be entered or inspected due to the program. Village code now gives inspectors the power to enter only when a tenant reaches out with a complaint.
The strictest version would see annual inspections of common areas and exteriors, with a different random living unit in each rental property inspected every three years on a rotating basis.
The original version of the program that staff proposed, which included annual, random, in-unit inspections, is no longer under consideration by the village board.
At the Nov. 24 meeting, Libby Popovic, the village’s community development director, shared data from her department and the police department about the number of rental disputes and other code enforcement issues staff has seen.
“We had about 90 [tenant-landlord disputes] between 2023 to 2025,” she said. “To date, for this year, we’ve processed a little over 1,000 code enforcement and property maintenance matters, and 315 of those were actually processed in adjudication, meaning there was a complaint, a summons and a finding.”
According to a memorandum from the meeting, Brookfield staff received 106 complaints from tenants related to property maintenance or code enforcement between October 2024 and October 2025.
In previous meetings, Popovic said data was unavailable due to shoddy recordkeeping, a point that public commenters have clung to when expressing their disapproval of the proposed program.
“A well-designed registry, which is what we’re advocating for, would provide Brookfield with accountability, interdepartmental coordination — that is, crossing between code enforcement, police, public works, all of the departments together — having enforceable, consistent and fair standards across the board, and any strategic interventions,” she said.
At best, Popovic said, the revenue generated from registration fees would make the program revenue-neutral for Brookfield while allowing the village to proactively enforce safety standards.
The loosest registration program would generate $25,000 to $35,000 per year for Brookfield based on the number of rental buildings in town — staff estimates between 500 and 700 — with the second bringing in $42,000 to $60,000 and the strictest earning $82,500 to $115,000, the memo said.
Still, staff finds the program could cost about $78,000 to inspect 500 rental buildings, up to $110,000 to inspect 700 buildings, with the labor split between Brookfield’s full-time staff inspector and contracted part-time workers.
Across town, staff estimates there are 1,570 to 1,639 rental units spread across those buildings.
While members of the public have suggested at prior meetings that staff could obtain ownership information about a building through other methods, like tracing the billing of water utilities, Garvey disputed such claims.
“The registered owner who is responsible for citations to be served for violations is not necessarily the person who [manages] the building or is on the water bill,” he said.
Garvey addressed the topic of voluntary registration, which public commenters had suggested.
“A lot of people who are here are the responsible housing owners. You’re taking time to come here and have offered very meaningful input, and you volunteer to register. That would be wonderful if you want to do that, but you’re not the ones who are the issue. You’re a very small percentage of people, and voluntary registration would not get us the same impact as if we had a required registration,” he said.
He also touched on comments from the public, both at meetings and online, that called the proposed ordinance a “money grab” by Brookfield.
“This is not going to be a money maker for the village. We’re not looking to make money. There are many things that we do as a village that cost us money that don’t have a bottom-line return in money. This is a possible public safety and public health issue,” he said. “We have great attorneys. If you want to give us the legal opinion that we can’t do this, that it’s an invasion of people’s privacy, you’re free to say that, but I know the board’s going to trust our attorneys and legal advice on what we can and can’t do under existing case law.”
While two trustees were absent at the meeting, Garvey assured the audience those trustees were watching the livestream or would watch it ahead of Dec. 8 meeting to ensure they understood the issue extensively.
The four present trustees agreed with Garvey’s suggestion to put all three proposed versions of the program to a vote at the next meeting, which is the last regular meeting scheduled in 2025. Trustees are expected to approve one of the three versions or vote to table the matter for further discussion if they believe it is needed, he said, though public commenters will have another opportunity to address the board before a vote is taken.
