LEWISTON — City officials will hold a series of work group meetings to discuss regulations on lodging establishments after a workshop session was removed from the agenda Tuesday.

According to David Hediger, director of planning and code enforcement, city staff planned to present a “proposed structure for defining and inspecting” lodging establishments Tuesday, but said that due to the “complexity of the situation, the council has proposed to hold a number of work group meetings to further discuss.”

The issue was originally brought up in October, when officials were asked to weigh in on proposed language regarding licensing and inspecting lodging establishments, which are no longer being regulated by the state.

At the time, councilors supported continuing annual inspections related to sanitation, property maintenance, and life safety, and to consider language addressing the eviction or removal of an occupant. A memo from city staff, however, makes clear that City Hall would like to “remain neutral” regarding potential disputes between a property owner and occupant.

Definitions proposed by staff would separate lodging establishments into the categories of “lodging place,” a hotel or motel, and “rooming house,” a small dwelling unit typically used as short-term housing.

According to a council memo, staff was asked to include language stipulating that “the owner or manager of a lodging establishment may request that any person on the premises leave and, if the person ‘fails or refuses to do so, the owner or manager may request a law enforcement officer to remove that person from the premise.'”

However, after discussions with city legal counsel, staff recommended the city “take the position that it is a matter of state law whether an owner of a property must follow the eviction statutes or may simply remove a person from the property.”

“Staff’s primary objective in regulating lodging establishments is restricting the use to specific zoning districts and inspecting facilities to protect the health and safety of inhabitants,” the memo said.

Councilor Rick LaChapelle oversees several rooming house units, including 26 units at 393 Lisbon St., as owner of M&B, LLC.

During the October workshop, LaChapelle said the establishments should continue to be licensed, adding that his buildings are “serving a lot of people who have nowhere else to go.”

City officials originally discussed creating a municipal inspection program for lodging houses in 2020 when the Maine Department of Health and Human Services signaled the likely end of its inspections.