Rules & Elections Committee Meeting

Rules & Elections Committee Meeting
Draft Minutes
Extra Space Storage (Community Room)
658 Venice Blvd., Venice, 90291
Wednesday, September 28, 2011, 7:00 PM
1. Call to Order and Roll Call (7:08 PM) IK,JM present MA absent, no public present
2. Approval of the Agenda JM/IK unanimous
3. Review & approval of any outstanding minutes (3/02/2011) JM/IK unanimous
4. Public Announcements and Comments on items not on the Agenda (15 minutes, no more than 2
minutes per person) None

5. Old Business – None
6. New Business
A. Ad Com Administrative Concern; Kristopher Valentine (kristopher.valentine@venice.org) & Ivan
Spiegel (parliamentarian@venicenc.org) Request to amend SR 7.A. to have 72 hours to prepare Ad Com
Agendas by changing the standing rule that submissions go to the Secretary the Wednesday before Ad
Com. Motion: Amend SR 7.A. to read – All agenda requests & supporting documents must be
submitted to the Secretary no later than 7:00PM two (2) three (3) days prior to the posting
deadline for the Administrative Committee meeting (five six days prior to said meeting)]
JM/IK unanimous

B. Next NC Election Timing – Marc Saltzberg on behalf of the Outreach Committee
(outreach@VeniceNC.org) Exhibit A
Discussion and possible action of next NC Election Timing.
Background: Current funding is for NC elections in 2014. The City Council has instructed the City
Attorney to draft an ordinance to reflect this and instructed the City Clerk to hold Regional
Meetings around the City to discuss the possibility of alternative elections. This item will be
informed by the discussions and action at the NC Congress on Saturday, September 24, 2011, at City
Hall.
Motion to adopt Resolution 2 of Exhibit A:
Resolved: The Venice Neighborhood Council opposes the City Clerk’s current plan to delay
Neighborhood Council Election until 2014 and requests that the Los Angeles City Council immediately
draft and pass an ordinance that provides temporary suspension of Section 20.36 of Division 20,
Article 1, Chapter 3 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code requiring the City Clerk to conduct
Neighborhood Council Elections during the
months of April, May and June of each even-numbered year.

We further request that the City Council temporarily allow Neighborhood Councils to conduct their
own elections according to rules set by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment during the
months of July, September or October of 2012 and that the FY
2012-2013 City Budget include $3000 for each Neighborhood Council to conduct said elections.
We ask that the City Council respond to this resolution of the Venice Neighborhood
Council, in writing, on or before November 1, 2011.

JM/IK unanimous

C. Discussion and possible action: The VNC needs to create a legal procedure for responding to
CPRA requests. Ivan Spiegel (parliamentarian@venicenc.org) Motion to amend SR 12. to add a section
B. regarding CPRA requests:

B. CPRA Requests
Upon the advice of the City Attorney, on receipt of a CPRA under Article IV.B.3. of the VNC Bylaws,
the secretary shall advise the City Attorney of said request and inform the VNC Board and requester
of such action. A response will be provided in a timely manner.

JM/IK unanimous

D.REC was tasked by the Adcomm to: Reevaluate procedures to answer and follow up to e- mails,
phone calls, maintaining website, e-blasts, agendas, minutes, preparing for meetings, posting
communications and letters, pick up mail.

After much discussion it was decided that VNC Bylaws Article IV.B. covered all of the above
mentioned tasks.

E. REC was tasked by Adcomm to clarify the language of Article IV.G.3. of the Bylaws: The Board may remove any Officer whenever the best interests of the Venice Neighborhood Council would be served. No Officer shall be removed for any arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory reason. If an Officer
fails to consistently attend those meetings at which he or she is expected, the Board may remove the Officer and declare the seat vacant. Officers are expected to attend all Board of Officers and Stakeholder meetings. Absence from four (4) consecutive meetings or seven (7) or more meetings during the previous twelve months shall be deemed a failure to consistently attend. A three-quarters (3/4) vote of Officers present at a Board of Officers meeting is required for removal. Such action shall be effective immediately upon the Board vote to remove. In such case, the President shall send a
certified letter to the person, stating that he or she is no longer an Officer.

to determine if Special Meetings count in the attendance count.

Motion: The attendance at Special Meetings shall not be counted toward the attendance requirement
for removal. The number of meetings has almost doubled from the requirement of VNC Bylaws Article
VIII. B. below:

B. Frequency:
1. The Administrative Committee and the Board of Officers shall meet at least every two (2) months.
2. Stakeholder meetings shall be held at least quarterly.

Therefore we feel it is an undue burden to include Special Meetings in determining attendance under
VNC Bylaws Article IV.G.3.

JM/IK unanimous

F. REC was tasked by Adcomm to draft a Standing Rule regarding criteria for placing items on the
Board agenda. Committee rejections, Adcomm remands, Board remands, does the source of the motion
matter? does the committee action matter?
Motion to amend SR 7 by adding:

“The Administrative Committee does not address or consider the merits of proposed agenda items. Its
function is to determine whether a proposed agenda item will be placed on the next Board meeting
agenda. Any disputes with a decision of the Adcomm can be resolved using the procedure in VNC Bylaw
VII. D.

JM/IK unanimous

G. REC was tasked to discuss and take possible action on two (1. & 4. in bold) of Councilman
Krekorian’s revisions to the NC System: .
1. requires all Board members to complete training in ethics, sexual harassment, workplace
violence, funding, city government basics, parliamentary process, and community leadership

2. revisions to NC funding policies including standardized budget and reconciliation
templates, a uniform accounting system, giving DONE a wide range of circumstances that they can
unilaterally cite as a reason for freezing an NC’s funds, creating a system for electronic filing
of financial documents.

3. creates regional “governance panels” to oversee the NC system. These panels will report to DONE.

4. creation of standardized regional grievance panels.

Referred to proposed VNC “NC System Revision Task Force”– IK/JM unanimous

7. Announcements & Public Comment on items not on the Agenda (15 minutes, no more than 2 minutes
per person)
8. Adjourn (8:40 PM)

Location(s)

Attachment	Size
Exhibit A.doc	28.5 KB
Rules & Elections Committee agenda 110928.doc	80 KB
Rules & Elections Committee draft minutes 110928.doc	86 KB