Meeting #3 Report

2. Meeting Notification Report - The chair began the meeting by noting that a “Meeting Notification Report” had been added to the agenda. He suggested it might be a useful means for noting outreach efforts by the board. The Notification read as follows:

“A By Laws Committee meeting notice was placed on CB 3's website on June 1 indicating the next meeting was to take place on June 20th. That was corrected on June 2 to indicate the June 13 meeting date. (Note: To keep appraised of the meeting schedule changes, use the "Remind Me" feature on Board 3's website calendar.) A reporter from the Queens Tribune inquired and was apprised of the committee's work. And on the meeting day committee members were notified by phone of the meeting.”

3. Membership – With the question raised at Meeting #2 as to the readiness of a member to vote on the issues if s/he missed a significant portion of the meetings, the members unanimously decided that it was incumbent upon all members to familiarize themselves with all committee meeting materials. To the extent practicable, such documents will be made available on the committee’s page- http://www.cb3qn.nyc.gov/?p=61530.

4. By Laws "Article III g" Status – Article III g., giving board 3’s chair the duty "to appoint a nominating committee" was apparently added without the 60 day notice as required by the By Laws in Article VII – Amendment. The committee discussed the status of III g. It was unanimously decided that one of the reasons we were meeting was to address By Laws that were improperly initiated or not followed and make recommendations for their remedy. The committee unanimously agreed that we should bring this and other similar issues to the board for its approval.

5. Absences – The committee discussed adopting step-by-step procedures for removing members for non-attendance like those in the by laws of Community Board 9. Ralph Moreno offered to research other alternatives to addressing the absence issue and report to the committee at the next meeting.

6. Spelling, Punctuation & Gender Changes – Several changes in the by laws might be appropriate. The chair offered to make the review prior to the next meeting.

7. Carbonetti Memo – An April 11 1994 memo to Community Boards from Lou Carbonetti, then director of the Mayor's Community Assistance Unit, provided two recommendations that were considered by the committee:

i. Recording Member Votes – The letter pointed out that the Open Meetings Law requires public bodies to maintain minutes that include all “matters formally voted upon by the public bodies and the vote thereon,” (pol sec.106). Also, the Freedom of Information Law required public agencies to “maintain a record of the final vote of each member…” and thus each board must include a record listing individual votes in the minutes. Giovanna Reid that we currently maintain such a detailed record and that compliance would not be difficult. The committee members unanimously agreed that details on each vote taken by the board be included with the monthly minutes.

ii. Simple Majority vs. Super Majority – City Charter section 2801-b states that any action of a board shall be authorized by a majority of the members present, thus various requirements of ¾ vote must be eliminated from our By Laws. The committee unanimously agreed to accept these two recommendations from CAU. During the committee report at the Board’s June monthly meeting, the chair was questioned about this requirement, and checked with CAU and received the following response:

Dear Mr. Lowenhaupt:

I am the NYC Law Department liaison for community boards. Your question directed to the Mayor's Office for Correspondence Services has been referred to me. You ask whether your board's by-laws may require a "super-majority" vote of board members to permit board officers to continue serving beyond the present three-year limit.

Section 2801(b) of the New York City Charter provides as follows: “Whenever any act is authorized to be done or any determination or decision made by any community board, the act, determination or decision of the majority of the members present [and] entitled to vote during the presence of a quorum, shall be held to be the act, determination or decision of such board.”

Pursuant to this provision, a community board may take action on a matter only by a simple majority of its members who are present at the meeting and entitled to vote on the matter. Extending the time in which board officers may serve would, according to your proposal, be by action of the board. Therefore, your board may not vote in such a matter by other than a simple majority, and the board's by-laws may not require a "super-majority" for that purpose…

Sincerely, Steven Goulden, Assistant Corporation Counsel

8. Ex Officio Membership on Executive Committee for Former Chairs – The committee discussed providing former elected Community Board chairs with a non-voting ex officio seat of the executive committee. Under current practice, the chair is precluded from active participation on the executive committee unless s/he holds a committee chair position or has been elected to another office. Thus the chair’s expertise is frequently unavailable to the Executive Committee. All agreed that availability of the experiences would be beneficial and that a non-voting, ex officio membership to the executive committee be made available to former board chairs.

9. Report on Receipt of By Laws From Other Community Boards – Additional by laws from other CBs have not yet been received and Pat Beckles volunteered to join the search.

10. Framework – The committee discussed creating a framework for its activities and agreed to follow these guidelines.

a. To avoid an all or nothing vote on the committee’s work, we should present several recommendations to the board for its consideration. In consideration of the limited time available at board meetings, the committee agreed to try to limit the number to 3-5 recommendations.

b. The committee will detail the reasons for or against each recommendation.

c. The committee will make its preference on each recommendation known to board.

d. The committee will include written minority reports, if any.

11. Open & Transparent Operation – The committee discussed actions that could promote the operation of Board 3 in a more open and transparent manner.

(Traditional explanations of Open & Transparent are as follows: Being open means not keeping things hidden. It means explaining what you are doing and why. Being transparent means telling people what an organization's policies are and how its procedures work. It also means keeping proper records. Being transparent lets people see how an organization makes its decisions. Without timely and appropriate access to information about an organization and its activity, people cannot stay properly informed and involved in their organization's governance.)

Pat Beckles suggested that all rules for board members be clearly presented. For example, he pointed out that members were entitled to reimbursement for transportation costs to board meetings. He also suggested that Robert’s Rules be made more readily accessible to members; and that the activities of board and elected officials be made more available so that members (and residents) may better participate in the governance process. Ralph Moreno suggested that Technology Advisory and other committees be properly defined and formed. Arturo Sanchez said more actions of the board, the DM’s report and District Service Cabinet meeting report be made available online.

12. Other Items – The committee agreed that the next meeting would begin with a discussion on term limits. The DM suggested we consider a policy for filling officer vacancies.

13. Next Meeting - June 27, 2005 at 7:30 PM at First Baptist Church, 100-10 Astoria Boulevard.