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LOFTIN I BEDELL P.C. Honorable Mayor and Councilmembers City of Santa Ana October 13, 2022 Page 2 of 7 On October 4, 2022, the City acted in continuation of its "long term implementation" resolution from September 21, 2021, Resolution 2021-054 to consider and select the rent control board size and composition. The City Council specifically asked staff to provide examples of imbalanced representation of tenants and landlords —and a detailed discussion ensued. Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, explained that there was a lack of evidence in support of an imbalanced Board, in response to Councilmember Pham's questions. The evidence actually supported "balanced" boards due to "due process" concerns: "Based on our research of other jurisdictions, there aren't other jurisdictions with an imbalanced board... where there's either more tenants or more landlords. There is a reason for that. We found in our research that most boards are equitably balanced between tenants and landlords and that serves the best interest of tenants and landlords as they are following the due process rights under the law."' Councilmember Pham asked a follow up question: "There aren't any other jurisdictions .... how many did you look at?�2 Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, responded: "We looked at all the jurisdictions that have ordinances, but the sample jurisdictions in particular do not have any... "I Councilmember Pham then asked for the City Attorney's opinion. The City Attorney explained the necessity of a "fair hearing before a neutral and fair board." "You would be best served by having a balanced board from the get -go" and that an imbalanced board would encourage legal challenges. Councilmember Pham reiterated that her suggestion was to follow the Staff s recommendation with the City Attorney's guidance.4 Despite this, the Mayor disagreed as to the composition of the Board. "I respect that due process and a challenge could be made based on [tilting] of the Board." The Mayor attempted to distinguish that the City had a "very high concentration of tenants and renters" and justified the Board based on consistency with the "proportionality of tenants to landlord". The Mayor speculated that such an imbalanced board "would withstand challenge" and that no other city in the study has the same proportion of renters to owners/landlords—all asserted by the Mayor without evidence in the record. With that, the Mayor made an amendment to approve an imbalanced Board, in line with Option 3 contained in the staff report. Comments by Councilmember Pham and Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, City of Santa Ana City Council Meeting, October 4, 2022, 5:48:35 to 5:51.https://youtu.be/Cg6b2JtGLxl?t=20922 Z Comments by Councilmember Pham and Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, City of Santa Ana City Council Meeting, October 4, 2022, 5:48:35 to 5:5I .htt s:// Gutu.be/C(16b2JtGLx1?t-2G922 Comments by Councilmember Pham and Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, City of Santa Ana City Council Meeting, October 4, 2022, 5:48:35 to 5:5I.hUps://Youtu.be/cq6b2JtGLxl?t==20922 a Comments by Councilmember Pham and Judson Brown, City Housing Division Manager, City of Santa Ana City Council Meeting, October 4, 2022, 5:48:35 to 5:51.https://youtu.be/Cg6b2JtGLxI?t=20922 (Volumes/Shared/Kingsley Management Company/700 Litigalion/Kingsley V City Of Santa Ana/010 Correspondence/2022.10.13 Correspondence To City Regarding. Implementation Of Rent Board V4.Docx