Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutCORRESPONDENCE - 75BApril 19, 2016 City Council Meeting Correspondence 75B - PUBLIC HEARING - ADOPTION OF PROACTIVE RENTAL ENFORCEMENT (PREP) ORDINANCE Date of 1, 04/18/2016 Lou Penrose 2, 04/19/2016 Raymond Maggi I1Agendas12016 Agendas)&hlbits 2016- Current Meefing12016 419 B hibds_Correspondence_75B dacx Agency Apartment Association of Orange County Apartment Association of Orange County Mitre -Ramirez, Norma From: Sent: To: Subject: Attachments: Categories: Correspondence for record Huizar, Maria Tuesday, April 19, 2016 8:59 AM eComment ECOMMENTS - Santa Ana PREP Letter April 2016 Santa Ana PREP Letter April 2016.docx Correspondence From: Lou Penrose [mailto:Lou@aaoc.com] Sent: Monday, April 18, 2016 12:43 PM To: Pulido, Miguel <MPulido@santa-ana.org> Subject: Santa Ana PREP Letter April 2016 Dear Mayor and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, On behalf of the Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC), I write regarding this week's proposed adoption of the Proactive Rental Enforcement Program (PREP). The staff recommendation includes among other changes, an adjustment of the annual rental housing inspection per unit fee. As well, there appears to be a change in the role of the Rental Housing Task Force. Our industry learned of these changes just late last week. Regrettably the program changes were done without proper notification to those who will be most impacted. We therefore respectfully request that City Council hold the Request for Council Action in abeyance until the next council meeting to discuss the changes with your staff. We had met with the PREP committee staff a few months ago and anticipated, that the committee would, as has had in the past, the ability to provide input as needed. For over 25 years, the Santa Ana Proactive Rental Enforcement Program has served a valuable role in ensuring that all residential rental properties in Santa Ana be maintained in full compliance with the applicable provisions of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, the various California Codes and the State of California Health and Safety Code. The Apartment Association of Orange County is proud to have helped start this program. As well, our association past - president served as Chairman of the PREP Citizens Task Force since its inception. We remain partners to this day. As mentioned, AAOC is anxious to assist the City staff and work toward our mutual interest and achieve our shared goals in the Santa Ana rental housing market. We look forward to meeting with staff at the earliest possible opportunity. I can be reached directly at (714) 245-9500. I remain, 525 Cabrillo Park Drive, Suite 125, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Phone: (714) 245-9500 Fax: (714) 245-9505 www.AAOC.com April 18, 2016 Dear Mayor and Members of the Santa Ana City Council, On behalf of the Apartment Association of Orange County (AAOC), I write regarding this week's proposed adoption of the Proactive Rental Enforcement Program (PREP). The staff recommendation includes among other changes, an adjustment of the annual rental housing inspection per unit fee. As well, there appears to be a change in the role of the Rental Housing Task Force. Our industry learned of these changes just late last week. Regrettably the program changes were done without proper notification to those who will be most impacted. We therefore respectfully request that City Council hold the Request for Council Action in abeyance until the next council meeting to discuss the changes with your staff. We had met with the PREP committee staff a few months ago and anticipated, that the committee would, as has had in the past, the ability to provide input as needed. For over 25 years, the Santa Ana Proactive Rental Enforcement Program has served a valuable role in ensuring that all residential rental properties in Santa Ana be maintained in full compliance with the applicable provisions of the Santa Ana Municipal Code, the various California Codes and the State of California Health and Safety Code. The Apartment Association of Orange County is proud to have helped start this program. As well, our association past -president served as Chairman of the PREP Citizens Task Force since its inception. We remain partners to this day. As mentioned, AAOC is anxious to assist the City staff and work toward our mutual interest and achieve our shared goals in the Santa Ana rental housing market. We look forward to meeting with staff at the earliest possible opportunity. I can be reached directly at (714)245-9500. I remain, Lou Penrose Executive Director Good evening My name is Raymond maggi I am the past President of the Apartment Association of Orange County having served six terms, past President of the California Apartment Association, past Director and Treasurer of the national apartment association and currently a Director Emeritus. I have been one of the founding members of the prep program,. the chairman of the prep citizens task force and coordinator and contact for the prep program Since the program's inception and have never had to address the city council on this the most successful housing preservation program in the state Historically the prep citizens committee and task force overseeing the program received information from staff regarding the status of the program and the proposed budget and always argued and then agreed with the increases that were requested in the prep program. I can tell you that the first few years of this program were a result of numerous complaints of all of your neighborhood associations because the city staff were acting in a reactive manner rather than a proactive manner. The prep program took numerous hours over two year time period and was developed as a proactive neighborhood preservation program which has been the most successful in this state. Having been involved in code enforcement issues in nearly every city in the county and in various cities throughout the state this program has been the most successful of any in the state. E:\Users\ray\Desktop\SANTE ANA PREP DISCUSSION.wpd PAGE 1 OF 5 In the first two years of this program I personally spent with your staff more than 50 hours per year helping develop a proactive inspection program with defined policies and objectives that would help preserve low and moderate income properties. As chairman for all this time the committee always relied on the staff input to be reviewed before it went to the council. Earlier this year we met with the prep program staff and leadership and went through the information and the staff ofthe proactive rental enforcement program who presented a budget that was the same as the prior year. In other words they were able to continue to do the same outstanding job without an increase in budget. Part of this was because some of the senior employees had retired or moved to other cities and bringing in newer employees probably made up some of the difference. But needless to say it was a yeoman's job coming in again with not recommending any increase in fees. There also were no recommended changes to the program or it's cost or operations. The apartment association has sent the letter to the council requesting a continuation on the approval to the next council meeting to allow us time to address two significant issues which were never discussed or even proposed by any of the staff we met with. You may be told that it can't be continued since the billing has probably already been prepared and is ready to go as the due date is july 1 for all payments. However if you are agreeable to continue it for two weeks so that we can sit down and explain our problems with the ordinance I can stop here otherwise E:\Users\ray\Desktop\SANTE ANA PREP DISCUSSION.wpd PAGE 2 OF 5 Given the fact that you probably have to go ahead with some form of ordinance because of late submittal . This I would like to give you the items we disagree with, why we disagree with the staff s recommendation and potential solutions that can be implemented by the council tonight. I again reiterate your staff at the prep committee and task force level has communicated their plans to us and and since there was no change in fees or procedures to a successful program which we support I thought it would be another year where I would not have to be here. Now to the issues that occurred after our discussions with the prep staff and without any coordination with the industry or any of the affected people. The first was the addition of $111,060 in additional fees that were never discussed or justified for a alleged "administrative and technology fee" being charged without any notice or justification. This fee is unnecessary and unjustified fee and the cost certainly will only affect the low and moderate income people in the city while increasing the city's cash flow without added taxes or any benefits for the public. Without justification of what this fee is and how it relates to the program and why the low and moderate income people of the city should pay for some unnecessary and unjustified administrative or technology fees. We cannot support it. The second issue is the — annual cpi increase using a roundup formula that only further affects the low and moderate income residents. The prep program has been in operation over 23 years and has had only had three fee increases approved. E:\Users\ray\Desktop\SANTE ANA PREP DISCUSSION.wpd PAGE 3 OF 5 This says that the prep program staff has worked hard to keep the program under control. The cpi increase will not. The last item which is an administrative item says that the appeals will be directed to the executive director rather than to the prep committee to review before going to the executive director. I can tell you from experience having been the chief arbitrator to settle disputes that only one time was the staff requested to reverse their decision by the committee which they did. Property owners feel a lot better being reviewed by their peers rather than some executive director who probably has never been in the trenches. So if there is been such a lack of timely planning that the ordinance must be adopted tonight in order to meet any alleged billing deadline I would provide the following solutions for consideration. First that you strike the four dollar fee for sure which can be done by computer quickly and the billing can be sent out in a timely manner However if the bills are already printed before council approval someone should look into that issue as a breach of someone's fiduciary duty. As far as the cpi increase goes if you leave it in then the council should direct that be used to offset the slight negative in the program and not as an added budget for added administrative staff. The appeal process can be worked on as a separate item. One last item on page 2 of 16 item g (or page 75b-14) calls for a three-year period cycle I believe that should be four years E:\Users\ray\Desktop\SANTE ANA PREP DISCUSSION.wpd PAGE 4 OF 5 Thank you for your consideration. I will answer any questions. I have copies of my outline if needed. E:\Users\ray\Desktop\SANTE ANA PREP DISCUSSION.wpd PAGE 5 OF 5