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Home My WebLink About06/15/1993, 10 - STAFF SUPPORT FOR MOBILE HOME ISSUES ��N��IIIII�tlIIIIIIIVI�IIUIII "J r METING DATE: f►I�up ci o san lues osIspo COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ITEM NUMBER:/O FROM: John Dunn, City Administrative Officer SUBJECT: Staff Support for Mobile Home Issul�- CAO RECOMMENDATION: That the City: (1) maintain its present practice of responding to citizen inquiries on the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance only and (2) provide referral information on other mobile home related inquiries. DISCUSSION: I recently distributed a memo advising the City Council of the City's staffing limitations in connection with responding to citizen complaints related to mobile home issues(Attachment 1). In summary, I explained that, due to staffing constraints, the Administrative Office and City Attorney's Office are only in the position to respond to citizen inquiries related to the City's Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance itself (e.g., how it works, how it's enforced, appropriate referrals, etc.). Many of the inquiries we receive, however, relate to conflicts between mobile home park tenant and landlords or other issues not within the scope of the Ordinance. As explained in my memo to the Council, the City does not have a program in place to address these types of complaints. Consequently, the City typically advises citizens to contact a private attorney or the District Attorney's Office (depending on the nature of the complaint) for resolution of "non-Ordinance" related complaints. After receiving my memo, Councilmember Settle suggested that the matter be referred to the Human Relations Commission (HRC). As the Council will recall, several years ago the HRC sponsored a program that provided "general" advice on tenant/landlord issues, but at the Council's request, this program was discontinued. Staff has had an opportunity to preliminarily review this issue with the HRC at their June meeting. It was the HRC's opinion that the most expedient and least costly approach to satisfying the mobile home tenant/landlord mediation needs is to refer these issues to the San Luis Obispo Legal Alternatives Corporation (SLOLAC). SLOLAC is a non-profit corporation that will offer low cost mediation services to the community on a variety of topics. According to members of the SLOLAC Board of Directors, the group intends to begin handling "general" tenant/landlord disputes by early fall and branch into handling mobile home disputes soon thereafter(depending on how quickly mediators can be trained). The HRC also indicated that they could provide additional assistance in this area by devoting one of their fall forums to "Options for resolving tenant/landlord disputes" (including mobile home related disputes). I concur with the HRC's recommendation. lii�i�!ni��i�illlllllli1° �II�III city of San WIS OBISPO COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT CONCURRENCE: I The City Attorney concurs with the CAO/HRC recommendation. His memo is provided as Attachment 2. ALTERNATIVES: The City could develop its own in-house mobile home tenant/landlord mediation program.. If the Council feels that the City should be more involved in mobile home tenant/landlord disputes,we could choose to staff our own mobile home tenant/landlord mediation program. This would allow the City to provide accessible, free mediation services to mobile home park owners and tenants. I would not, however, recommend that the City pursue this alternative for two basic reasons. Firstly, as the Council is well aware, the City is experiencing severe financial difficulties which have required reductions in core services across all departments. Consequently, taking on a new program that requires a significant financial commitment from the City would not be prudent at this time. Staff estimates that it would take a minimum of one additional staff member, plus additional secretarial support, to manage this type of program. When the HRC was involved in providing only general tenant/landlord advice, they devoted one of their full-time staff members to this purpose. Secondly, with the availability of mediation services through SLOLAC, a good community- based reference source will exist and provide services,which should aid those needing advice and counsel. ATTACHMENTS: 1. CAO Memorandum i 2. City Attorney Recommendation i g/hrcmhome i i i I la-�Z At �. MEMORANDUM ' May 14, 1993 To: City Council From: John Dun Subject: Sta Inv ment - Mobile Home Issues Attached is a memorandum from the City Attorney relating to the City's responsibilities in regard to mobile home matters, with the City's only explicit responsibility being to enforce the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance. My office,working with the City Attorney's Office, has had the responsibility for enforcement/implementation of this ordinance as well as addressing various calls for service, complaints, suggestions on mobile home matters. Since I have been in San Luis Obispo, the actual staff members in my office who have been assigned this issue have been Steve Henderson, Alison Lloyd and, most recently, David Gray.. As the City Attorney mentions, recently there seems to have been a rash of inquiries, complaints, and requests for assistance which are not primarily concerned with the rent stabilization ordinance, as such, but with a myriad of issues primarily in the tenant-owner relations arena. As the Council will recall, a few years ago the Human Relations Commission had a program of rental mediation but, at the Council's request, this program was discontinued. At the time, the District Attorney's Office was staffed to accept tenant- landlord dispute referrals, but has since cut this-staff. However, there is currently a non- profit legal group forming which plans to assume this responsibility. As the Council is aware, the administrative staff has been reduced by one position (Administrative Analyst) and, as of the first of July, will be reduced by another one-half position (Secretary). This is a reduction of one and one-half out of six positions, or a 25% staff cut, the highest in the City organization in any one department or work unit. While this cut was my proposal, and I'm not complaining, it does create a "new reality", that we simply can't perform all of the functions and tasks previously assumed. Ken and I are currently working on a more detailed version of activities which my office will have to eliminate or reduce. We have previously reassigned those functions done by Mr. Gray which have to be continued. It is my conclusion that we do not have the staff resources to engage in mobile home issues. Strict rent stabilization ordinance interpretations will be handled by the Attorney's Office. All other requests and inquiries will be responded to, by either my office or by the City Attorney's Office, by referring the calling parties as suggested in the attached memo. ATTACHMENT 1 �D_3 Perhaps a concrete case will give a better flavor for the situation I am describing. Last week the Mayor indicated she has been receiving many complaints from Willow Creek regarding discrimination against families even though it is a family park, and asked if someone could check on this and find out what is going on. Unfortunately the answer is, no. My office cannot check this out in a thorough and systematic way, because to do so would require staff resources that we presently don't have and which can't be made available for this type of . task without detracting from other responsibilities which are legally required or are approved service programs of the City. However, for purposes of discussion, let's say that we did have an extended conversation with the complaining party. She would describe the problem and how bad the situation was, from her perspective, and would probably refer us to other parties we should speak to. Eventually, to try to help the situation, we would talk to the park owner or their representative. In trying to resolve the issues and conflicts, quite soon we would be directly involved in mediation, for which we don't have the staff resources (or the training for that matter). Most importantly, we would be doing what the City Council has previously, and explicitly, told us not to do. I wish there were some other answer,but there isn't. Either individually or collectively (with a preference for the Iatter),I would be happy to lay out the work program of my office,with the responsibilities and assignments of the various staff members. Suffice it to say, for the present, we're bare bones, and must return our work program to the fundamentals of managing a City government operation and staying focused on adopted Council priorities. This note is just to let .you know that under earlier and different circumstances, we attempted to deal in an informal and advisory way with many of these mobile home issues, but under present circumstances this would be virtually impossible without seriously detracting from other mandatory work programs of the office. We'll return phone calls and try to properly inform people as to their options, but do not have the capacity to become further involved. JD:mc C. City Attorney CAO Office Staff Attachment h/mobilehm I, MEMORANDUM FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY May 12, 1993 TO: John Dunn FROM: Jeff Jorgense 4. SUBJECT: Mobile Home Park Issues Over the past several months there has been an increase in inquiries from the public to my office concerning-mobile home park issues. They range from minor questions about the City's Mobile Home Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance to attempts to solicit advice on whether to buy a .mobile home. By far the majority of inquiries deal with conflicts between tenants and park owners on issues unrelated to the Mobile Home .Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance. In responding to such calls, it is my practice to inform people that my authority is limited to issues arising out of the Mobile Home. Park Rent Stabilization Ordinance (primarily rent control, vacancy control, etc. ) and that the. City does not have a program for .advising tenants or owners on other issues, or for mediating/arbitrating such disputes. If a question arises concerning potential criminal violations under state law, it is referred to the .District Attorney's Office. If the issue appears to be a private civil matter unrelated to mobile home park rent stabilization, I recommend that the assistance of a private attorney or GSMOL may be warranted, but that I do not have authority to give private legal advice in my capacity as City Attorney. In the past your administrative analyst, David Gray, fielded many mobile home related questions. With his departure, there will be a need to redirect such inquiries. Unfortunately, my office does not have the resources to serve as a mobile home clearing house. In addition, I an concerned that the increase in public inquiries may give rise to pressure to expand the City's activities in this area (such as the tenant/landlord program previously conducted by the Human Relations Commission) . It has been my experience that once such a program is initiated, particularly in the area of mobilehome disputes, the demands on staff can be almost unlimited. I believe it would be prudent at this point to clearly define the scope of City involvement in mobile home issues, and the staff resources available to respond. JGJ/sw ATTACHMENT 2 f'`-TING AGENDA bta E 6: ITEM # ��►��►��iiii�i�►Iilllllllll Al 1111111 IIS cit ® sAn Luis oBispo� y WIN 990 Palm Street/Post Office Box 8100 • San Luis Obispo,CA 93403.8100 April. 12, 1993 COPIES TO: ' ❑`D—CM!c,Adion ❑ n'3 1 =�c�� ❑ cco DIR 1 i G+4 ❑ Fu,-,.i:iR. rX is"O ❑ 1PREE QREF 3 _fes? -,/ : L..I POLICE CH. Mrs. Leola Rubottom i 1`,SC",:,2 C", 9.f r r I� C F'r ; �...Dix. ; 3960. S. Higuera Street, Space #21 --a�r:L=.-L_; Tm: •^ F San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 -{ -- Dear Ms. Rubottom: Thank you for your letter to the City Council requesting your appointment as an ombudsman for mobile home tenants in the city of San Luis Obispo. I referred your request to the City staff for review and recommendation. The recommendation is that your offer to provide information to mobile home tenants on an informal basis be accepted and a liaison be established between you and the City's administrator of the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance. Staff recommended against the establishment of a formal Ombudsman for Mobile Home Tenants by the City Council since this exceeds city government jurisdiction over mobile home issues and creates a significant potential for legal liability for both the ombudsman and the City. As you know, the City's Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance was created to allow tenants and park owners to negotiate on a relatively equal basis over long term leases for space rental and to limit substantial increases in rents that could be charged in the absence of regulation. The ordinance is limited to those issues which the courts have ruled that cities may regulate, namely mobile home space rents. Fortunately, the ordinance has worked very well during the nearly five years that it has been law. Other issues such as conditions within the park, landlord tenant relations other than rent, rental contract enforcement, cable television service, and in your words, "infringement on the Civil Rights of mobilehome residents" are not within the jurisdiction of the City of San Luis Obispo. As a result, tenants who contact the City regarding issues other than mobile home space rents subject to the City ordinance are referred to outside sources of information and assistance. This is an area where the experience of other tenants could be very helpful to those tenants seeking recourse for conditions not under City jurisdiction. It is in this context that we would welcome your offer to provide assistance as an informal liaison with City staff and be available to receive calls, similar to a "hotline". The City Attorney has advised the Council against a formal appointment of an ombudsman for mobile home tenants since advice provided by the ombudsman could be construed as advising on behalf of the City of San Luis Obispo. This creates a significant potential liability if a tenant were to rely on the advice of the ombudsman and subsequently suffer damages of some kind_. Not only could the City be held liable under the circumstances, but the ombudsman could also be held personally liable for any damages, including monetary damages. This is a.situation that the Council and the City Attorney would like to take every reasonable action and precaution to prevent and avoid. If you and your committee are willing to provide informal recommendations and the benefit of your experience to mobile home tenants seeking assistance outside the scope of the City's rent stabilization ordinance, with your permission we will offer your names and telephone numbers when we receive public .inquiries. The City's mobile home administrator; as provided in the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance, is ready to assist you and other tenants in any way that is legal and reasonable. Please contact the City Administrative Office to establish ongoing lines of communication. David Gray (at 781-7152) is serving in that capacity. Thank you for your commitment to serving your community as a resource person on mobile home issues. Sincerely, c PEG PINARD Mayor C. City Council City Administrative Officer City Attorney Mr. David Gray Ms. Debbi Hossli I:amhleltr