Neighborhood Council AD-HOC Bylaws and Standing Rules Committee hold Inaugural Meeting

The Sunland-Tujunga Neighborhood Council AD-HOC Bylaws and Standing Rules committee held its first meeting on Monday evening to review and update the procedures of the STNC. There was a moment in the meeting where it was necessary to explain the difference between bylaws and standing rules. The bylaws of an organization are similar to a constitution; they are the governing rules by which the organization is to operate and are not as easy to change. There is a process which must be followed in order to change bylaws outside of the City review periods, which occurs sporadically, but typically takes place every two or three years. Standing rules are ones that can be used to clarify and expand on rules in the bylaws. These can be changed according to the steps laid out in the bylaws.

In this inaugural meeting, the committee reviewed the updated bylaw template provided by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE). Committee co-chair Sandy Capps suggested each committee member be assigned a section of the updated template to compare to the current STNC bylaws and check that the proper verbage (as set by DONE) is present, and make any necessary changes to ensure that they are identical. Once each member was assigned their sections, Ms. Capps moved on to a review of the STNC Standing Rules.

During the review, it was noted that all of the outdated rules were redacted and removed. The main change that was covered during their hour time limit was a decision to move training requirements into the bylaws of the STNC. The city requires all elected officials to complete training seminars once they are seated, and neighborhood council members are no different. Placing these requirements in the bylaws could give the STNC the ability to discipline its board members who refuse to complete the city-mandated training. That conversation pushed the meeting towards its time limit, and the committee agreed to meet next on February 16. In order to complete their goal of submitting the revised bylaws to the full STNC board meeting in March, there could potentially be at least one more meeting after that date.