City Council Authorizes City Manager to Enter Grant Agreement for Mobile Shower Funding

The City Council on Monday authorized the City Manager to enter into a grant agreement with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to receive $75,000 in homeless services funding to support mobile showers.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the City first entered into a purchase order with End Homelessness California dba The Shower of Hope in March 2020 to ensure access to low-barrier, basic hygiene services for people experiencing homelessness.

Recognizing the health benefits of this service, the City has continued to fund the mobile showers beyond the expiration of the COVID-19 public health emergency.

Since April 2022, the Shower of Hope has operated on a weekly basis, every Monday morning, on the property of All Saints Church.

The Shower of Hope has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with All Saints Church for the use of church property. The City funded the showers at All Saints with federal and state homeless services grant funding through December 31, 2023.

• As part of Monday’s consent calendar, the City Council will authorize the City Manager to enter into a $275,000 grant agreement with LA County to receive homeless services funding for capital improvements to the Bad Weather Shelter at Trinity Lutheran Church and approve a budget amendment by recognizing revenue and appropriations in the other housing fund to the Fiscal Year 2024 operating budget.

The shelter operates in Trinity Lutheran Church’s Fellowship Hall, which requires certain capital improvements in order for the shelter to operate at full capacity.

According to a staff report, the improvements are primarily related to commercial kitchen upgrades required to meet health and safety codes, fencing, and fire safety upgrades such as sprinkler and fire alarm systems.

“Absent these improvements, the Bad Weather Shelter was only able to serve up to fifty-four clients per night and was not able to utilize the kitchen, requiring a costly food delivery service throughout the recently concluded winter season,” the staff report reads. “These improvements will allow the shelter to serve up to seventy people per night and also to rely on donated food prepared by volunteers which will reduce operating costs in future seasons. Trinity Lutheran Church has a large facility but a small congregation that cannot manage to pay for the required improvements.”

Since the opening of the shelter, Los Angeles County Supervisorial District Five has agreed to provide $275,000 to fund capital improvement costs in order to expand the Bad Weather Shelter’s current capacity by the next winter season. Staff now anticipates that the project’s total cost will exceed $275,000 due to the addition of necessary renovations to the facility’s restrooms to the project’s scope of work and general construction cost increases. 

Trinity Lutheran Church is in the process of collecting updated bids for the capital improvements. Once the project’s total budget is updated, staff will return via a budget clean-up item to un-appropriate any of the remaining General Fund that is no longer needed for the project.

Other items passed by the City Council on on the Council’s Consent Calendar include:

• A revised Resolution of the City of Pasadena to accept a $5 million award from the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development’s CalHome program to: 1) provide down payment assistance to low-income households and 2) provide financing for the rehabilitation and construction of accessory dwelling units. The revised resolution reflects a series of technical amendments requested by HCD. In March 2024, HCD notified the City – for the first time – that four additional changes would be required before HCD would approve the five-million-dollar ($5,000,000) CalHome grant award.

• Agreement of a $4,160,000 purchase and sale between Brett P. Klaeser and the City for the real property commonly known as 2211 E. Walnut St. The Department of Transportation (“Department”) uses the City-owned property at 2180 E. Foothill Boulevard to park a portion of the City’s fixed route transit bus and Dial-ARide fleet. Another portion of the fleet is parked, serviced, and maintained at a different non-Cityowned location where the lease will terminate in 2025. The Department of Transportation has been planning to consolidate operations, but the current 2180 E Foothill Boulevard property is too small for the Department’s future zero emission vehicle fleet needs. On July 22, 2022, the City sent a letter of inquiry to the adjoining property owner, commonly referred to as 2211 E. Walnut St., Pasadena. On June 14, 2023, the City sent a second letter of inquiry to the property owner. Subsequently, the owner expressed his interest in selling the Walnut property. On August 21, 2023, the City Manager received direction to negotiate and enter into a purchase agreement to acquire 221 1 E. Walnut Street,

• A purchase order contract to Turtle ALA, LLC for the procurement of street light materials for an amount not-to-exceed $195,190, which includes the base contract amount of $177,445 and a contingency of $17,745 to provide for any necessary change orders. This contract will provide for the procurement of street light materials for the systematic conversion of a high voltage series circuit to standard multiple lower voltage circuits and the systematic replacement of 108 aging streetlights in the Linda Vista Avenue corridor. These materials are necessary for the replacement of deteriorated electrical infrastructure components on the existing high voltage street light series circuit on Linda Vista Avenue, between Fern Drive and Afton Street. This circuit is part of the High Voltage Series Street Light Conversion – Phase I project, a multi-phased project to convert the remaining 18 high voltage street light circuits citywide to low voltage circuits th at benefit the public with safer, more reliable and energy efficient street lighting.

• A purchase order contract to Swarco McCain, Inc. for the procurement of new traffic signal cabinets for an amount not-to-exceed $404,546, which includes the base contract amount of $367,768 and a contingency of $36,777 to provide for any necessary change orders. This contract provides for the procurement of new traffic signal cabinets for the replacement of existing cabinets at 18 intersections along Green Street, Holly Street, Orange Grove Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard. These upgraded cabinets are necessary to house updated traffic signal controllers where adaptive traffic response control system technology is utilized. This technology improves traffic operations at signalized intersections by adapting real-time to traffic demand rather than simply following programmed timing scenarios. These new signal cabinets, once received, will be installed by the City’s Street Light and Traffic Signal crews as part of the Intelligent Transportation Systems and Traffic Flow Improvements within the SR 710 Affected Corridors project.

• Authorize the City Manager to enter into a $99,000 contract with Elegant Construction, Inc. for the Villa Parke – Parking Lot ADA Improvements project. The scope of work for this contract addresses all accessibility improvements to the east parking lot and the path of travel to the Community Center building, including widening the existing curb ramp and sidewalk; striping a dedicated path from the ADA parking stall to the improved ramp; minor asphalt paving; and re-striping the ADA parking stalls.

• A resolution approving of the City’s filing of a grant application to the Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Grant Program in the amount of up to $500,000 to procure a new tree inventory platform and perform an updated inventory of its urban forest; and the Department of Public Works is applying for grant funding provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Urban and Community Forestry (UCF) Program through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and administered through the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Urban and Community Forestry Program. The Department of Public Works seeks to acquire a new tree inventory platform to update and re-inventory the City’s public trees.

• Authorization to enter into individual $2 million contracts with Stylo Group, Inc., Lee & Ro, Inc., and Civiltec Engineering, Inc. to provide general engineering services for the Water and Power Department.  Pasadena Water and Power (“PWP”) completes projects in its Capital Improvement Program (“CIP”) that support the goals and recommendations as defined by the Water System and Resources Plan, which was adopted by City Council in October 2021. The CIP includes the need for booster improvements, well replacements, new water wells, and other projects to repair, replace, and rehabilitate aging infrastructure and provide a safe and reliable water system for customers. The capital program as adopted in FY 2024 – FY 2029 appropriations exceed $125 M, requiring support for multiple concurrent projects. Due to the volume and nature of the projects, a mix of in-house personnel and external contract resources are needed to complete tasks, including those requiring general engineering services (“GES”). Tasks may include planning and feasibility studies, design support, construction management supplementation, and inspection to support engineering solutions for water supply and delivery projects. PWP’s Water Division has been using multi-year GES contracts since 2005. Multi-year contracts have proven to be beneficial by allowing PWP to obtain timely access to pre-qualified engineering firms efficiently and to reduce the administrative burden and time associated with contracting for such services on a project-by-project basis.

• $699.086 and $938,943 purchase orders with Altec Industries for one knuckle boom crane truck and Plumbers Depot Inc. for one gapvax hydro excavation truck for the water and power department. PWP performs maintenance, construction, and emergency operations on the City’s electrical transmission and distribution systems and its water production, treatment, and distribution systems. PWP crews require specialized vehicles to transport technical staff, lift heavy equipment and construction material, and perform other essential functions such as hydro excavation. These vehicles are needed to complete activities critical to electric and water system reliability, resilience, and safety.

• A $2,188,837 five-year purchase order contract with Carbon Activated for furnishing and delivery of reactivated granular carbon. The Monk Hill Treatment Plant utilizes granular activated carbon (“GAC”) that is specifically designed for removal of VOCs and ion exchange resin to remove perchlorate. This subject contract is associated only with furnishing and delivering GAC. Advertising for ion exchange resin occurred under a separate specification, since some vendors may only provide for GAC or ion exchange resin and not necessarily both products. Additionally, PWP recently completed the construction and began operating the Wadsworth Groundwater Treatment Plant, which treats groundwater pumped from three wells located in the central region of Pasadena. The Wadsworth Groundwater Treatment Plant utilizes GAC to remove VOCs from the extracted groundwater. The cost to operate and maintain the Wadsworth Groundwater Treatment Plant are a part of the Water Funds operating and maintenance budget. The Monk Hill Treatment Plant and Wadsworth Groundwater Treatment Plant require use of GAC for VOC removal from extracted groundwater.

• Authorization to enter into a zero dollar purchase order with Dragos to a cybersecurity appliance as part of an American Public Power Association Grant subaward.  

Pasadena Water and Power (“PWP”) owns a power system Operational Technology (“OT”) Network. The OT network manages, monitors, and controls critical infrastructure such as power generation, distribution, and maintenance. The security of this OT network is paramount to maintaining PWP’s operation.

• The City Council will hear this item at a later date. A lease agreement $774,147 with 199 S. Los Robles, LLC, for office space incorporating the terms and conditions generally described below, and to execute any other related agreements necessary to effectuate the transaction, including non-substantial revisions. The new Rent Stabilization Department needs approximately 6,000 usable square feet of space for 22 staff and multiple conference rooms sized for public hearings and client. consultations. Additional requirements include sufficient parking, a lobby, a break room, and storage needs. 

• Direct the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance within 60 days amending Title 6 of the Pasadena Municipal Code to establish a hearing officer form of adjudication for public nuisance animal hearings to conform to best practices and update related penalties and definitions, as outlined in this report. In quasi-judicial hearings, the decision maker must follow carefully laid out procedures to ensure hearings are fair and that decisions are impartial. Quasi-judicial hearings are subject to federal and state due process, the fair hearing requirement of Code of Civil Procedure section 1094.5, and additional requirements applicable to particular hearings. A review of adjudication procedures for animal matters in use by eight other cities indicates the current quasi-judicial process used by the City of Pasadena is an outlier. Seven of the eight cities reviewed use a hearing officer model, with some allowing hearings to be conducted remotely using technology. The hearing officer model offers several benefits including the ability to efficiently satisfy due process requirements, especially if the hearing officer has sufficient training or guidance as to matters of law or animal control. Additional advantages of the hearing office model are a level of formality and expertise that can include understanding rules of evidence, weighing conflicting testimony, consideration of the qualifications and recommendations of experts, and making appropriate findings of fact that support an appropriate ruling. Only one city in the review opted for a model other than a hearing officer, relying instead on the Los Angeles Superior Court, which is even more formal than a hearing officer. For the reasons stated, staff recommends directing the City Attorney to prepare an ordinance amending Title 6 of the PMC establishing a hearing officer form of adjudication for public nuisance animals. Staff also recommends updating penalties to include administrative fines to supplement criminal penalties already authorized in the PMC. In addition, definitions in the Code should be updated to conform to state law, including revisions to the definition of public nuisance animal and vicious dog, and to include definitions for “potentially dangerous dog”, “severe injury”, “unprovoked”, and “hearing officer”