The Newburgh City Council approved new recommendations to the city’s rent guidelines board at their March 11 meeting. The new resolution supersedes the previous resolution from the January 8 meeting.

The city council voted unanimously in December 2023 to declare a housing emergency in the city thus allowing for the city to opt into rent stabilization under the Emergency Tenant Protection Act (ETPA) of 1974. The creation of a city rent guidelines board is part of the declaration of the emergency.

At the city council meeting in January, members of the rent guidelines board at the time included Valarie E. Larry, Bridget McMillan, Debra R. Lamb, Karen Mejia, Corey Allen, Peter Frase, John Kasinki, Sarah Mazzetti and Dino Nguyen each within their designated representative sections.

The rent guidelines board consists of nine members with two members representing the tenants, two representing the property owners and the remaining five being members of the public. The five public members will have at least five years of experience in finance, economics or housing.

As per city documents online, the tenant representatives are Bridget McMillan and Dino Nguyen. The property owner representatives are Dr. Debra R. Lamb and Karen Mejia. The public members are now John Kasinki, Valarie E. Larry, Martin Ellis, L. Simone Washington and Elisabeth Balachova.