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OTU Response To Proposed Changes To RAP HRRRB PDF
OTU Response To Proposed Changes To RAP HRRRB PDF
Tenants
Union
alternates are given. The RAP staff have unilaterally determined that the parties shall submit their supporting
materi als to the office 8 days before the a ppeals hea ring. That is a Wednesday. Th is information is t hen
assembled into an agenda packet and mailed on a Thursday or maybe even a Friday. If they are lucky, the Board
members may receive this information on a Saturday but it may be as late as Monday or Tuesday. The following is
included: the petition, the petition responder form, the hearing officers decision, the appeal form with supporting
explanation s, and final ly a time line of the process. At some point the Board m ember who cannot attend must
notice the board chair who then must contact an alternate. Unfortunately for the residents of Oakland, that
probably does not happen. In actuality, the prime Board member probably has to contact the RAP program
manager who then contacts the alternate. This may happen a week in advance or days in advance. The alternate
must then read and comprehend what has been thrust into their lap usually three appeals cases. To repeat: the
altern ates rar ely appear at a board meeting and they never become "seasoned" to the complexities of the ordi nance,
regulations an d the procedures.
The issue of vacancies and lack of attendance is generally the fault of inaction on the part of the mayor and the
city administration. They could complain they don't receive enough or appropriate (to them) applications.
Mayor Schaaf recently wanted to appoint a promoter of owner-investor interests someone who just happened to
rent to the renter alter nate position. The OT U happ ens to know that a qualified can didate for the renter positi on
had actually met with the mayor but was denied appointment because this person was appealing a hearing decision.
With Oaklan ds petition-based arbitr ation system, renter s must petition otherwise ther e is no stabilization because
the already limited provisions are waived. It should be expected that any and all renter members of the Board will
at some time be in the process of petitionin g and/or appea ling a hear ing decision. Th ey would obviously recuse
themselves from hearing their own appeal.
B. Vacancies and Removal
3. Report of Attendance.
Even though this has been in the ordinance for a very long time, attendance has not been provided in the
annual RAP report. The OTU doubts that this has ever been presented to the mayor or the administration. If this
is actually followed, it would be good to include the elected city council members and therefore Oakland residents
of the Boards at tendan ce.
C. Terms and Holdover.
2. Holdover.
The OTU demands NO to a 2 year holdover. See the aforementioned inaction of the mayor's office. There are
40 some boards & commi ssion. ALL ar e volunteer. T his mean s only the more well- off can donate th e time &
money associated with the particular topic to sit on these boards. With appointment comes responsibility. For the
last few years, only two of the Board members had ever taken a "case" all the way through petitioning, att ending a
petition hear ing, appeali ng and at tending an appeals heari ng. Thi s would have exposed them to the forms &
mailings as well. Our guess is those are the only two who have also throughly read the ordinance & regulations at
least once.
D. Duties and Functions.
5. Regular Meetings. and 6. Special Meetings.
Once again, this information is alr eady covered in the regulations. Stop repeating and confusing the +60,000
rental households who have to look at the already confusing ordinance & regulations. Those add up to
approximately 75 pages. Even with many years of notice, no one has attempted to make the necessary corrections
as is currently needed.
An appeals panel must consist only of the prime members. If an appeals panel is to meet on the same day as
the full board, there must be a two hour period between the end of one and the start of the other. The members
need time to read an d refresh their memories of the issues involved in the appeal s hearin g cases.
The r egular meet ings, comm ittee meetings and any so-cal led appeal panel meetings m ust be set by a vote of
the full Boar d. RAP st aff can offer coord ination for meet ing schedu ling but n ot call for or schedule meetings on
their own.
E. Appeal Panels.
2. Rent Program staff shall deter mine ...
This is already covered in the regulations. Based upon past history and due to only 3 of the 7 prime members
being present, app eal panels shal l be non-controversial cases.