On Oct. 20, 2020, Toledo City Council approved a lead-safe ordinance to “address the consequences of lead exposure, especially among children.” The Lead Safe Ordinance (TMC 1760) requires owners of single-family rental properties, duplexes, family child care homes and rental structures with up to four units built before 1978 to have properties inspected and certified lead safe.
According to LeadSafeToledo.com, every year hundreds of Toledo’s children test high for lead in their blood because the majority of the city’s housing was built prior to 1978, when the US government outlawed lead paint.
In 2022, Charmarlyn Strong, a landlord and rental manager, sued the City of Toledo and Toledo-Lucas County Board of Health, alleging that several aspects of Chapter 1760 were invalid. The court imposed a preliminary injunction on the ordinance. Early in 2023, the city council amended 1760 in order to remedy some of the claims and Strong then amended her lawsuit to drop the remedied areas of dispute and proceeded on the remaining areas of dispute – the involvement of the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department in issuing the Lead-Safe Certificates and certain other delegated responsibilities. …