Mobile home rent panelists wanted

City Council passes stipend of $75 per meeting to fill commission with 5 members

Yucaipa has a new tool to entice members of the public to participate in a commission that affects some of the city’s neediest residents.

The City Council on Monday agreed to offer a $75-per-meeting stipend to those serving on the Mobilehome Rent Review Commission, as officials have found it hard for years to keep all spots on the five-member board filled.

The vote was 4-1, with Councilman Justin Beaver opposing.

The move aims to “address the difficulty in finding, filling and maintaining five commission positions with qualified candidates,” Assistant City Manager/Rent Administrator Jennifer Crawford told the council.

Currently, there are two vacancies that the city has received no applications for.

The commission has hearings on rent adjustments, capital improvement rent adjustments and rent reductions based on reduction or elimination of services and amenities. The commission also can adjust maximum rents.

Since the mid-2000s, Crawford said, the hearings have changed significantly.

“It was just a park owner and residents that came in,” she said. “Now there are attorneys, there’s experts.”

Next door, Calimesa has five vacancies on a similar commission, and many other cities also have unfilled vacancies, Crawford said.

“It doesn’t appear to be just a Yucapia issue,” she said. “It appears to be an issue in maybe the state of California.”

Beaver said he didn’t think the payments were necessary and suggested the city go with another option such as rotating in members of the Planning Commission as needed.

The rotation proposal “is somewhat concerning,” Crawford said, because members would need to be familiar with applicable laws to make a determination.

Sitting on one meeting, then rotating out, would not give them time to familiarize themselves with the rules, she said.

Findings can be appealed to the City Council, and beyond that to the courts.

Councilman Bobby Duncan called the city’s mobile home rent control ordinance “a very important part of our housing element,” adding the city has 41 mobile home parks, with more than 4,000 spaces.

The city has to do something to keep the commission going, Duncan said, either by paying the stipend or having the council make the decisions.

“When you’re making $900 a month and you’re paying $350 in rent, and then some wealthy park owner wants to buy it and raise rent $200, that literally puts a poor widow out of a house,” Duncan said, “and I don’t want to endorse that at all.”

Mayor Greg Bogh suggested the city move ahead with the stipend on a trial period.

“My recommendation would be that we put this out there for three months,” Bogh said. “If there’s interest, if it helps, there’s nothing to review, but if it doesn’t do anything, we’re still in the same problem, then we need to review this and take a different approach.”

Another option could be for the city to hire hearing officers, which many other cities use, who are paid about $250 to $300 an hour to make rulings.

“They would not only know our ordinance and resolution; they would know the law,” Crawford said.

Other options presented in previous meetings that were not chosen Monday include having the whole Planning Commission or City Council serve as the rent review commission.

Currently, rent review commission members must either be residents, property owners or business owners in Yucaipa, but are not allowed to be park residents or owners. Members serve two-year terms.

For applications, go to yucaipa.org/city-commissions-committees.