Committee approves Project Sentinel contracts to run petition hearings and administrative support

The Mountain View Rental Housing Committee on June 11 authorized contracts with Project Sentinel to provide administrative and hearing-process services for two local rent-stabilization programs.

Staff described the CSFRA contract as not to exceed $125,000, broken down into about $10,000 for administrative support, $5,000 to deploy and reimburse facilitators for pre-hearing settlement conferences, and $110,000 for hearing officers to conduct petition hearings. For the Mobile Home Rent Stabilization Ordinance (MHRSO), staff presented a not-to-exceed total of $13,000, roughly $1,000 for administrative support, $2,000 for facilitators, and $10,000 for hearing officers. Staff said those estimates were based on the volume of petitions in the current and prior year.

Committee member Kevin Ma moved to authorize the division manager or designate to execute agreements with Project Sentinel for the stated amounts and breakdown; Vice Chair Emily Stats seconded the motion. The committee voted unanimously to approve the contracts. Staff estimated the $125,000 amount would cover "close to maybe 50 or so" cases for hearing-officer services.

There was no public comment on the item. Staff also clarified that the term 'division manager' in the agenda documents is equivalent to the rent stabilization manager.