POSTVILLE -- When Anne Loomis took over as Postville's city attorney this year, one of the first things she noticed was the people living in garages.

But with no housing code, there was not a whole lot the city could do about it.

"When I signed on as attorney last year, my first thought was that we need to get some minimum habitability standards to keep abuses from happening to persons who don't necessarily have the education or voice to say, 'I deserve a better place.'"

It was a notion shared by some of the new faces voted into city hall the last few years.

"We've got the same problems as a larger city," said Mayor Bob Penrod. "But there's a lot of people that disagree. That's the way small-town politics is."

After two monthly meetings with area landlords this summer -- gatherings sometimes held up by the very landlord the city views as delinquent -- the code remains a work in progress.

In towns the size of Postville, pre-raid population 2,300, floating ideas like detailed housing regulations can produce scoffs and quizzical looks, city leaders acknowledge.

Government regulations common in larger cities often don't exist in smaller towns. Deep-seated fears of over-regulation exist. Plus, enforcement costs money -- a resource most small towns find in short supply.

"I'm concerned for the city that they're sticking their neck in something that is regulated by tenants. This is a private business renting properties," said Travis Seibert, a major rental property owner in town.

Seibert said he has concerns about the city passing inspections costs down to him. He argues the city should enforce existing laws to condemn homes they deem unsafe to live in, and let the market take care of the other problems.

"Housing code in big cities -- they are for big landlords who cause problems," he said.

That very reasoning motivated the city to pursue new regulations, said councilman Milo Heins. He said he has grown tired of hearing complaints about GAL Investments properties, which are owned by Gabay Menachem.

"We've got the one landlord that's piling them in and that a lot of people are against it. He's putting three to four in a bedroom," he said. "This has been going on for some time. We're just finally doing something about it, or trying to."

While city leaders negotiate with landlords over the details of a housing code, new workers stream in to replace those arrested in a May 12 immigration raid on Agriprocessors, the town's kosher meat packing plant.

City leaders and community members say too many of them arrive to homes with broken plumbing, broken locks and exposed wires. People live 10 or 12 to a home, and pay rent that would pass for market rate in New York.

While they are not forced to rent from GAL Investments, most of them do because labor recruiters contract with the landlord.

Sometimes the consequences extend beyond what critics of the current housing situation call inconvenience or injustice.

On Aug. 14, supervisors at Agriprocessors told Tish Doty, mother of three, to rush home immediately. They had just received a call: One of her children had been injured. No further details were available.

"I was petrified. I didn't know which kid was hurt or how badly," she said. "I'm thinking something's broken. I'm thinking, am I going to show up and one my kids is dead?"

Minutes later she came home and talked to her sister, who had been looking after the children. Her middle daughter, Aaliyah, 7, had opened a window and fallen about five feet and broken her arm.

Doty had moved from Waterloo and started her job two months ago, so she still was not eligible for the company's health insurance plan.

For weeks Doty had asked her landlord, Menachem, the owner of GAL Investments, to install screens missing on several windows.

His response: Due to repeated thefts from past tenants, we require a $50 deposit on each screen. Or, you can go to Wal-Mart and buy them yourself.

Several hundred dollars for screen deposits did not fit in Doty's budget. She often brings home less than $50 a week after she pays all her bills and deductions. Last month she could not even afford to buy birthday presents for two of her children.

"It made me angry. This house was built with screens. It comes with the screens. And the guy tells us we have to get them ourselves?" she said.

Menachem, who owns about 130 properties in town, said extraordinary circumstances have given him an unfair reputation as a negligent landlord.

The sudden departure of so many workers after the raid left many of his properties in disrepair, and cut off his flow of income. In addition, he said at the time of the raid he had just closed on the sale of more than 50 properties in poor repair.

Menachem said he has repaired and renovated dozens of properties. Seibert confirmed that Menachem spends about $200,000 a year through his construction company, Seibert Construction, to repair properties.

"I'm working 15 hours every day trying to help people and take care of problems and issues," he said. "I will fix them. Just give me time."

But others say the town has suffered enough. They say it's time to clean up Postville and its tarnished reputation.

"I would be embarrassed to be part of a welcome wagon promoting this community right now," said Fred Comeau, a former city councilman who owns a couple rental properties. "What kind of welcome is that to Postville? Come to Postville and we'll rip you off on your housing?"

City leaders say they are trying to craft a new housing code that satisfies both tenants and landlords. They figure by bringing landlords to the table, then voluntary compliance will come much easier.

But Menachem, they say, has been the most vocal opponent of the effort -- even though he missed the first meeting. During the most recent gathering, he showed up and argued any new regulation would be too burdensome in what he considers a time of crisis.

"As a result, we ended up covering a lot of old ground that we covered in the first meeting, like what under the Iowa Constitution allows us to institute a housing ordinance," said Loomis, the city attorney. "As opposed to those who think this should have been done yesterday, he wanted to put this off two or three years."

Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.