The State College Borough Council has asked the borough manager to determine the legality of requiring all student apartment buildings in the borough to have a live-in resident assistant and an on-site, 24-hour security force.

Council members began discussions regarding the possible ordinance at their Friday work session in an effort to reduce the number of calls police receive to apartment buildings.

Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said he is unsure if the council has the authority to implement such a rule, but council members expressed strong support of it.

State College Police Chief Tom King said police receive more calls to high-rise apartment buildings than smaller ones. King added that both numbers could be reduced dramatically by the borough's proposed changes.

"Bigger high-rises promote [more of a] party atmosphere," King said.

Council member Don Hahn suggested that, if the ordinance could not be implemented, an incentive could be used to get building owners to cooperate.

One incentive he suggested was tweaking the system of giving point violations, which, if added up, could result in a building owner losing his or her rental permit. Building owners who complied, for example, would be granted separate point accumulations for each apartment, rather than the building as a whole. This rule would, in effect, lower the chances of losing a rental permit for a building owner who complies with the ordinance.

Points are given for violations at a property. Possible situations warranting points range from not shoveling a sidewalk to furnishing alcohol to a minor.

Council member Jeff Kern said the fire that occurred at a Marvin Gardens apartment on Nov. 14 is an example of why the borough should consider evaluating certain buildings on one single permit, rather than on a permit-by-permit basis.

The landlord of the building, Rodney Hendricks, could be facing possible criminal charges as a result of the fire.

"Considering the history and past we've had with [Hendricks], this is a landlord that continues to beg for enforcement," Kern said. "If that building was on one permit, he would have 100 points already. Since he has individual permits, he could never rack up enough points for him to care or for us to revoke his permit."

Fountaine pointed out to the council that, despite problems caused by high-rise apartment buildings downtown, most single-family renter-occupied homes in the borough cause the most calls to the State College Police Department.

He said the borough created the rental housing permit suspension process 10 to 15 years ago as a result of the large number of calls the police received to respond to single family homes that are renter-occupied.

"[There is a] proportionally higher response to single family less-dense units than high-dense units downtown," he said. "The single houses receive proportionally more calls than the apartment buildings did."

Fountaine said houses are more likely to rack up points for the rental permit suspension process because it is easier to host bigger parties in a house than an apartment.

"A house can have a house party with 150 people, but it's hard to have 150 people in an apartment for a party," he said.

Council member Ron Filippelli said landlords who cause problems with borough codes should be sent a strong message.

"We look helpless with these people," Filippelli said. "We have had three fires this year in student buildings. How much longer are we going to wait until someone gets killed? We have to try and do something to send a strong message."