Two Homeless Prevention Contracts Approved Monday By City Council

The City Council approved two contracts with Friends in Deed for homeless services as part of Monday’s consent calendar.

The council voted to amend a contract with Friends in Deed and Housing Works for emergency solutions grant program funding. 

Fiends In Deed operates five core programs, including a food pantry, a women’s shelter, a bad weather shelter, a street outreach and housing program and an eviction prevention and rental assistance program, according to the organization.

The group has not been able to operate the bad weather shelter for the past two years. 

The contracts were initially approved by Council on July 20, 2020 to provide homelessness prevention and street outreach services to people at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness in Pasadena. 

On November 8, the City Council authorized amendments with Friends In Deed for $269,299 and a contract with Housing Works in the amount of $80,838. 

Both contracts are funded through a Federal Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program.

The second item is separate contracts with Friends and Deed and Door of Hope for $150,000. The contracts are for homelessness prevention services that end on June 30, 2024. 

In January, volunteers counted 512 people experiencing homelessness in Pasadena on the night of the count.

The number is slightly down from 2020 when 527 people experiencing homlessness were counted.

According to a city staff report, the number reveals a continued leveling off of the average number of people who are unhoused on a given night over the past three years.

In Pasadena, 32% of the unhoused residents identify as Black or African American despite only representing 8% of Pasadena’s general population. Similarly, people identifying as Hispanic or Latino in Pasadena experience homelessness at disproportionate rates. In 2022, the Hispanic/Latino subpopulation comprised 44% of people experiencing homelessness compared to 37% in 2020, while the overall population of Pasadena is only 33%.

The number of people who lived in Pasadena prior to falling into homelessness is trending upward.

Two in three (66%) people who were unsheltered on the night of the count reported living in Pasadena prior to their housing loss.

Further, three in four (75%) people surveyed indicated they had not slept in any city other than Pasadena in the last week.

On average, unsheltered residents lived in Pasadena for 18 years prior to losing their home, the report said.

Here are the other items approved Monday’s consent calendar:

• Adoption of Gann Appropriations Limit For Fiscal Year 2023. An annual appropriations limit of tax proceeds of the General Fund, established by the City Council through a resolution, is required as a result of the 1979 Proposition 4, Gann Initiative, Article XIIIB of the State Constitution, Section 7910 of the Government Code as implemented by Senate Bill 1352. This limit, referred to as the Gann Limit, limits the level of appropriations from tax sources that state and local governments are permitted to make in any given year. It also requires these agencies to return to taxpayers any tax revenues in excess of the limit.
• A $9,419,000 contract with Onesource Distributors for overhead transformers. PWP routinely requires new and replacement overhead transformers for planned work and emergencies, which are used to convert the Department’s electrical distribution high voltage network to voltages that can be utilized by the customers. 
• Report on emergency repair to gas turbine 4 for a miximum cost of $426,105 and a 15% contingency. On May 18, GE performed a borescope inspection of GT-4 as part of its preventative maintenance program. The inspection identified a cracked internal component exhibiting visible separation. To avoid further costly damage, and the associated downtime, GE recommended placing the unit out of service until the component is repaired.
•  A $2,735,302 contract to Toro Enterprises for annual citywide street resurfacing and ADA improvement project. This project consists of resurfacing approximately three miles of asphalt pavement by using asphalt rehabilitation treatments. Additionally, the streets being resurfaced may receive the following improvements: removal and reconstruction of damaged concrete curb, gutter, sidewalk, curb ramps, driveway aprons, and cross gutters; adjustment of existing utility manholes; replacement of traffic signal loop detectors; installation of raised pavement markers; installation of concrete pad for bus stops at five locations, and miscellaneous appurtenant work.
• A five year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) for continued participation in the Proposition A Discretionary Incentive Grant Program for Sub-Regional Paratransit Services. Since 1991 the City of Pasadena, as the lead agency, has partnered with Los Angeles County and the City of San Marino to provide Pasadena Dial-A-Ride services for residents who are 60 years of age or older or who have a disability that prevents them from using regular fixed route public transit services. Per Metro’s guidelines, Pasadena qualifies for funding from the Proposition A Discretionary Incentive Grant Program for Sub-Regional Paratransit Services because of the agreements it has to provide these two other agencies with Pasadena Dial-A-Ride services. 
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Pasadena and the Pasadena Management Association (PMA) for the term of October 1, 2021 through June 30, 2023. The Pasadena Management Association represents approximately 450 employees in a variety of professional and supervisory classifications in all departments throughout the City. The existing MOU between the City and the PMA expired on September 30. Negotiations for a successor MOU began on August 24. The parties engaged in the labor negotiations process over the subsequent nine months until reaching a tentative agreement, subject to City Council approval, on May 25, 2022. PMA’s membership ratified the tentative agreement during the week of June 13. 
• Adoption of a resolution amending the schedule of hourly rates of the non-represented non-management salary resolution and approval of amendments to MOU salary schedules to conform to the minimum wage ordinance. Human Resources staff has reviewed City-wide compensation schedules in order to identify the classifications affected by the July 1, 2022 minimum wage increase. There are sixteen classifications with pay rates below the hourly wage of $16.11 . Nine of these classifications are covered under the Non-Represented Non-Management Salary Resolution, five classifications are represented by AFSCME and the remaining two classifications are represented by LIUNA as illustrated in the table below. All employees who currently earn less than the July 1, 2022 minimum wage will receive a wage adjustment to at least $16.11 per hour effective the first day of the pay period that includes July 1.
•  Adopt a resolution to authorize the City of Pasadena Water and Power Department to apply for a $200,000 grant from the United States Department of the Interior – Bureau of Reclamation for a Watershed Management Program. On March 31, PWP submitted an application for a CWMP to fund the establishment of a watershed group to develop a restoration and outreach plan for the Arroyo Seco Watershed. The application was submitted prior to the City Council’s approval due to the short time-frame between the call for applications and the March 31 submission deadline. USBR requires a resolution to accompany the grant submittal, to be submitted by June 30. 
• A $4,000,000 five-year contract, whichever comes first,  with Kennedy Jenks to provide general engineering services. PWP’s Water Division has been using multi-year engineering services contracts since 2005. Multi-year contracts have proven to be effective and beneficial by allowing PWP to efficiently obtain timely access to pre-qualified engineering firms that reduces the administrative burden and time associated with contracting for such services on a project-by-project basis. 
• Increase a contract with Software One, Inc., for Microsoft products and services by $55,000, to $4,530,000. Year over year demand for technology use across City departments has increased and the Department of Information Technology (DolT) has responded to this demand by leveraging the City’s investments in Microsoft products and services to accelerate the pace at which it can deliver solutions to departments. These solutions included upgrading remote access, scaling up cloud-based technologies for easier online access to work applications, and implementing new cybersecurity controls and technologies to improve protection against cybercrime. These investments proved instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic, when DolT staff was able to leverage Microsoft Teams to support remote work capabilities, and conduct City business safely. 
• A one-time agreement with the City of Cudahy to exchange $252,563 of Pasadena’s General Fund dollars currently dedicated for transit services for $336,750 of Cudahy’s Proposition A Local Return dollars to be used for Proposition A eligible transit operations, programs and projects in Pasadena. Proposition A is funded by ½ cent sales tax measure approved by Los Angeles County voters in 1980. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro), which administers the funds, allows a city to exchange all or a portion of its uncommitted Proposition A funds for unrestricted revenues from another city. The receiving city must use the exchanged Proposition A Local Return funds for Proposition A eligible transit operations, programs, and projects. Since General Fund dollars are less restrictive than Proposition A Local Return dollars, General Fund dollars are typically exchanged at a premium. The premium is usually negotiated between the respective entities. 
• Amend the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget. Throughout the Fiscal Year, the Department of Public Works in conjunction with other departments review active CIP projects to determine if budgetary changes are needed.  
• Amend the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Adopted Operating Budget by a net revenue of $7,965,997. Throughout the fiscal year, budgetary adjustments are necessary to account for unanticipated changes to the adopted budget. 
• Investment policy and investment strategy for Fiscal Year 2022-2023 (FY 2022-2023). The Investment Policy is intended to outline the policies for maximizing the efficiency of the City’s cash management system, the prudent investment of the City’s funds, and to provide guidelines for suitable investments. The primary goals of the investment policy are to ensure compliance with the law; provide protection of principal; maintain liquidity; and maximize investment income to enhance the economic status of the City.
• Authorize the Mayor to sign a support letter for AB 2723 (Holden) in support of animal microchips. Requires a public animal control agency or shelter, society for the prevention of cruelty to animals shelter, humane society shelter, or rescue group, to provide information on the transference of ownership, including microchip company information, the microchip number and any other relevant identifiers, and any other information needed for an owner or new owner to register themselves as the microchip’s primary contact, as applicable. Specifies that when a pet has a preexisting microchip or there is reasonable proof of ownership, the agency, shelter or group shall document and retain a record of all efforts made to contact the microchip’s primary registrant or other demonstrated owner for at least two years. Clarifies that an agency, shelter or group that does not have microchipping capability on location must make a good faith effort to maintain a list of local and regional free or discounted services rather than locate available services. 
• Direct the City Attorney to draft and return with an ordinance within 60 days making it a crime to possess firearms known as ghost guns and ghost gun kits. The proposed ordinance would close a loophole in federal and state law to make unlawful the possession of narrowly defined “ghost guns” and “ghost gun kits.” A ghost gun is a homemade gun made from easy-to-get, unregulated ghost gun kits. A ghost gun kit is the receiver portion of a firearm, missing only a few small holes for pins and minor machining. A receiver provides the housing for the firing mechanism. The templates for drilling the holes and the machining are readily available, as are the commonly available drill bits and tools.