A judge has issued a temporary restraining order that bars the East Palo Alto City Council from discussing a new rent control law after the city's biggest landlord alleged public meetings on the item weren't properly noticed.
The move prevented the council from nailing down final changes to the rent stabilization ordinance at a special meeting Tuesday night and could keep the measure off the November ballot, officials say. Cities must submit ballot measures to the San Mateo County elections office by Aug. 7, but Superior Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman didn't schedule a hearing on the matter until Aug. 6.
At issue is whether East Palo Alto violated the Ralph M. Brown Act by failing to provide proper notice of meetings and discussing the ordinance behind closed doors — charges City Attorney Vince Ewing denies.
"The city has a pattern and practice of erratic posting and distribution of agendas, with multiple revisions, well within the 72-hour notice period required by the Brown Act," according to a complaint attorneys for Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties filed in San Mateo County Superior Court on Tuesday.
Page Mill and its subsidiaries are engaged in a bitter legal dispute with the city over rent hikes and other issues, with about 10 lawsuits pending between the parties.
The complaint further alleges city employees distributed four different versions of the agenda for a July 15 council meeting — three after the 72-hour noticing window ended. Notices for the special meeting held Tuesday night were similarly inadequate, the complaint contends, with an e-mail message sent saying the meeting would take place Wednesday night and online links to the agenda not functioning.
Ewing said Tuesday that he didn't appear in court earlier that day because Page Mill attorneys left a message on his voicemail Monday, which he didn't retrieve until after the hearing. Page Mill said it left two other messages at city numbers.
Ewing added that he plans to go to court Thursday to argue that Judge Freeman should vacate the restraining order because "it does not appear to me that there were any Brown Act violations."
Many of the alleged offenses outlined in the complaint were the result of minor typographical errors that didn't affect the public's ability to attend meetings and participate in the process, he said.
"Page Mill is hostile to the idea of a rent stabilization ordinance," Ewing said. "The reason for the timing of the request for the temporary restraining order was to thwart putting the revised ordinance on the ballot for the people."
Page Mill spokesman Adam Alberti said the complaint came "on the back of repeated noticing violations" and wasn't timed to block the ordinance. If the council can't discuss the proposed ordinance in time to submit it by Aug. 7, county officials will rely on the courts to decide whether an extension is possible, San Mateo County Elections Manager David Tom said.
"I'm sure the judge will allow us to share whatever difficulties we might have," Tom said. "We have to do translations. We have to print and have it of course all ready pretty much 40 days out."
The November elections will be particularly busy this year with between 130 and 150 contests and eight measures on the ballot in cities around the county, Tom said, noting that just nine people work in his office.
"Legal situations do occur but not that I recall recently," he added. "We'll of course cooperate as much as we can."
Meanwhile, tenants group Fair Rent Coalition said it was so unhappy with the temporary restraining order that it would file a complaint with the state Commission on Judicial Performance early next week.
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