Pasadena : Housing Loan for City Clerk

Pasadena officials have approved a $45,000 housing assistance loan for recently hired City Clerk Marvell Herren, dropping an earlier plan to buy her a $305,000 home.

The loan was approved Tuesday by the Board of Directors. The city will carry a second mortgage on Herren’s new home on Cheviotdale Drive.

Herren, who left her job in Foster City in October to work for Pasadena, asked for housing assistance as a condition of employment. After she failed to find a buyer for her house in Foster City, directors decided to buy the Cheviotdale Drive home and allow her to live there, rent deferred, for up to a year while she tried to sell her old home. The plan was for Herren to buy the house from the city.

However, city officials dropped that plan when Herren found a buyer for the Foster City house and no longer needed the city to buy the Cheviotdale Drive house outright. But since she still needs $45,000 to complete the purchase of the house, directors approved the loan.

Herren will pay only interest--at a rate of 8%--on $25,000 for five years. At the end of five years, she must repay the $25,000. However, the city has agreed to forgive the interest and principal on the remaining $20,000 if she stays with the city for seven years.