City Attorney’s Office Says Rental Housing Board Member Is Ineligible to Serve

The Pasadena City Attorney’s office has informed newly appointed Rental Housing Board member Brenda Lyon that she is ineligible to serve as an alternate tenant member because of her recent employment in property management, according to a letter sent last week.

In a May 28 letter, Deputy City Attorney Allysa B. Martinez wrote that Article XVIII of Pasadena’s City Charter bars tenant members and alternate tenant members from having a “Material Interest in Rental Property” at the time of appointment or during their service on the board.

The letter states that Lyon disclosed during a May 21 Rental Housing Board meeting that she had worked in property management in recent years and that her resume indicated she was employed by a property management company operating in Los Angeles County until 2025.

“Although you indicated on your application that you did not have a Material Interest in Rental Property, the broad definition of that term in the City’s Charter controls, and it includes your recent employment at a property management company,” Martinez wrote. “Given this Material Interest in Rental Property, you are not eligible to serve as an Alternate Tenant Member on the Pasadena Rental Housing Board.”

However, prior to that meeting Lyon, who is not related to Councilmember Jason Lyon, disclosed that she worked in property management the last four years before the Eaton Fire.

“I was working in all avenues,” Lyon said. “I was a liaison between landlords and tenants. So my day-to-day was dealing with every aspect of rentals, listening to tenants and landlords. So we would go through the leases, we would go through moving in, moving out.”

The City Charter defines a material interest as including ownership interests in rental housing as well as management of rental units anywhere in Los Angeles County within the previous three years, according to the letter.

According to the City Charter, a board member must resign within five days if they gained material interest in rental property.

Lyon had recently been sworn in to the board after a monthslong appointment process that included public appearances before the City Council.

According to an article in Local News Pasadena, Lyon has publicly maintained that she disclosed her property management background throughout the process and questioned why concerns about her eligibility surfaced only after her appointment.

The Rental Housing Board was created following voter approval of Measure H, Pasadena’s rent control and tenant protection initiative. The board oversees rent stabilization regulations, tenant protections and hearing procedures under the ordinance.