City Council Approves $425,000 Contract for Establishment of a Rental Registry, Development of Staffing Plan for Rental Housing Board

By a 5-2 vote, the City Council on Monday approved a $425,000 contract between Pasadena Rental Housing Board and Byhv Consulting for a variety of services necessary to implement the City’s Measure H rent control program, which will include the development of an initial staffing plan for the Board and the establishment of a Rental Registry.

Councilmembers Justin Jones, Steve Madison, Gene Masuda, Jess Rivas and Jason Lyon voted in the affirmative while Vice Mayor Felicia Wiliams and Councilmember Tyron Hampton voted in the negative. Mayor Victor Gordo, who owns rental property in the city, recused himself from the voting.

On July 27, the Rental Housing Board approved the contract with Bhyv, which did not undergo a competitive bidding process. Chair Ryan Bell explained to the public that the Pasadena Rental Housing Board did not use Request for Proposals (RFP), a process used to select the optimal candidate for a business opportunity, in acquiring the services of Bhyv because of urgency of the need.

The Board has only four months to create a Rental Registry, pursuant to Measure H, which amended the City’s charter to impose rent control and just cause eviction protection.

In the meantime, initial payments to Bhyv will be sourced from the $500,000 advanced funding the Board got from the City Council to cover start-up costs. Once the Pasadena Rental Housing Board budget is adopted and the Rental Housing Fee is set, it is expected that the costs of the Bhyv Consulting contract and other Board costs will be funded through those rental housing fees. 

While the Charter amendment provides that the Board is an integral part of the city, it is also independent from the City Council, City Manager and City Attorney.

The Charter amendment however does not require the Board to hire its own staff. The amendment also does not address contracting and procurement by the Board.

Despite being an independent body, City Atty. Michele Beal Bagneris explained the contract has to go to City Council pursuant to the City charter. 

“We haven’t this experienced this type of a relationship before so we are trying to implement the Charter provisions consistent with our City Charter to the extent we can.  Currently our City Charter provides that if a contract for services is for over $74,999 unless Council has already pre-authorized [it], then the entity seeking approval would need to come to City Council.”

“We have interpreted that working jointly with the City Manager’s office, with the Rental Housing Board and with the counsel for Rental Housing Board.” 

Williams and Hampton voted in the negative largely because the contract did not undergo a competitive bidding process.

“What is difficult about this is this is a contract that didn’t go to any of the government channels but now has to go to a government channel to be approved,” said Williams. “Government agencies have very, very strict standards.”

Williams continued: “I view this as taxpayers’ money. I’m concerned there was no competitive bidding process. If there had been one, we could have looked at an IT group to do the database and we could have used a hearing officer at the City of Pasadena.”

“I’m extremely supportive if there was an RFP,” Hampton said. 

(An RFP is a ‘Request for Proposal’ process in municipal governments that involves issuing a document outlining the project requirements, soliciting proposals from interested parties, evaluating the proposals, and selecting the most suitable bidder based on predetermined criteria.)

Councilmembers who voted for the contract stressed that the Board is not under the jurisdiction of the City Council.

“I’m troubled by this control the Council is trying to impose. This was not a Council Charter amendment. This was of the people, by the people, for the people,” said Madison. 

Madison said based on his understanding of the Charter, the City Council is required to establish the Board but it has no further role in implementing the Charter amendment.

“Maybe they are not the choices we would make but clearly we are not allowed to make those choices for them.”

“This [is what the] Board, appointed by us as appropriate under the Charter amendment, has chosen and I intend to support them. I think we should all do that.”

Lyon echoed Madison’s statement.

“I don’t think we can substitute our judgment for this highly autonomous Board’s decision,” he said.

Councilmeber Rivas agreed with the two and reminded the City Council of the December deadline for a Rental Registry.

“I understand the desire, preference for an RFP process but ultimately it’s just a preference. It’s not a requirement.”

“The process that was adopted or was used by the Board was vetted by their own outside counsel and our staff. If we start imposing council’s preferences we are not gonna be setting up the Board for success but I worry we’ll be setting up the Board to fail before it even gets totally up and running because they won’t be able to meet their deadlines.”