Rental Housing Board Approves Members’ ‘Wishlist’ for Integration as City Department

The Pasadena Rental Housing Board (PRHB) unanimously approved Wednesday the resolution containing a “wishlist” of its members as regards the integration of the Board as City department. 

Measure H Charter amendment provides that the Board is independent from the City Council, the City Manager and the City Attorney. At the same time, the Rental Housing Board wants to be a City department so it can address various concerns specifically related to hiring and procurement. 

Counsel to the Board Karen Tiedemann said the resolution containing the term sheet represents the parameters of the integration as put forth by the PRHB’s Foundations Ad Hoc Committee.

“I would expect that we are going to have some back and forth with the City as to what this really looks like and how you are going to fit into the City structure,” said Tiedemann. “I would treat this as a wishlist.”

The Board-approved term sheet provides that the PRHB would be a department of the City and that the Department Director and all of staff will be employees of the City and will have the benefits as any employees of the City.

The City’s Department of Human Resources would manage the hiring process for a new Department Director and staff but the Board will have the final decision-making authority over the selection of the Department Director.

The new Department Director would have the decision-making authority over the selection of employees. 

The term sheet provides that the newly formed department would be required to comply with the City’s Charter procurement provisions, which include subjecting contracts  that are not exempted from requirements from competitive bidding process.

Under the Charter, contracts that are exempted from a competitive bidding process include personal service contracts, contracts that are under $75,000, contracts with other governmental entities and contracts for unique services. 

As a department of the City, the term sheet also provides that the City Council would approve the PRHB budget annually. 

Resident Michelle White, a  longtime supporter of a movement to bring rent control and eviction protections to Pasadena, expressed opposition to the recommendation that the PRHB be part of the City. 

“If anybody has ever tried to get a budget approved with the City, it’s a difficult thing and this would have us as a department under the City.”

“The housing department is under the City and it gets a little over a million dollars a year to do all of its affordable housing work while the police department gets more than$90 million a year. There is no guarantee that we will get the money that is necessary if we will be under the City.”  

White said framers of Measure H do not want the PRHB to be part of the City.

“We have worked too hard to get the rent control issues before the City, they rejected them, they have never come on Board.” 

“These are all homeowners, they are not in sync with the renters. We need a body that would be a partner and they are not partners at this point.” 

“Making us a department of the City is not in the best interest of us or Measure H.” 

Responding to White’s concern, Tiedemann said while the Charter provides that PRHB is independent from the City, it is still a part of the City.

“You are not really a separate legal entity. You are part of the City. You are in the City Charter,” she said. 

Board member Aaron Markowitz supported the proposal. 

“The way I read this set of proposals, is that we are not giving up any of the powers that are vested in this body by the Charter, but we are asking the City to expand those powers actually in order to give us the ability to carry out the budget as sort of envisioned in the Charter.” 

“I see this as an expansion of the authority to the Board to act and will let us carry out our duties.” 

The term sheet also provides that the PRHB could request assistance from various City departments including the Finance Department and the Department of Information Technology. 

It also requires the City to provide furnished office space for the department and other support other departments are currently enjoying. 

As part of the action it took, the PRHB also authorized the chair and the vice chair to engage in further discussions with the City about the matter and continue to report back to the Board. 

Board member Arnold Siegel was absent when the Board made the decision.