BROOKLYN COMMUNITY BOARD 6
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
PRESENT:
J. ARMER P. BELLENBAUM P. BLAKE
G. KELLY A. KRASNOW S. LONIAL
R. LUFTGLASS E. MCCLURE M. RACIOPPO
G. REILLY M. SHAMES B. SOLOTAIRE
S. TURET
EXCUSED:
R. BASHNER P. FLEMING R. LEVINE
T. MISKEL M. SILVERMAN
*** M I N U T E S ***
The meeting was called to order at 6:35pm. A motion was made to adopt the minutes of the last meeting held on December 8, 2014.
VOTE: 11…..YEAS 0….NAYS 1…..ABSTENTION
MOTION APPROVED
Board Member Attendance Review
Andrea McKnight missed 8 consecutive meetings. Sayar Lonial reached out to find out why. A formal letter was mailed and emailed by the district office and there was no response. Gary Reilly also called and again there was no response.
A motion was made to remove Andrea McKnight from the Board, who was an appointment inherited by Council Member Carlos Menchaca.
MOTION APPROVED: UNANIMOUSLY
Other Business
Elected officials were slated to speak at the end of the last General Board meeting. No objections or complaints have been received about the change.
Why is Public comment always at the end of the meetings?
District Manager explained the two prevailing arguments for it:
1) Community is encouraged to actively participate at committee meetings which are set up specifically to be local and interactive. Permitting community comment right before the board
votes could effectively short-circuit the committee structure.
2) The primary purpose of a general meeting is to vote on recommendations referred out of committee. Allowing public comment at the front-end of the meeting could jeopardize a quorum which is needed for the board to conduct business.
It was added that applicants are expected to attend the committee meetings where they have an opportunity to share information, answer questions, respond to comments, etc. but no such opportunity would exist at a general meeting. Comments from the public at a general meeting would, therefore, essentially be one-sided.
Jerry Armer remarked that for both Landmarks/Land Use and Permits & Licenses, the applicant has a specific responsibility to do outreach, which drives a lot of people to the committee meetings. Having the applicant assume this responsibility works quite well in terms of getting notice out and encouraging participation.
The District Manager added that in addition to the written guidelines we provide to applicants for LM/LU and P&L, we do a great deal of outreach from the district office as well (notices, emails, social media, etc.) and we could always do better. If anyone has any specific ideas for how we could improve our outreach they should please let him know.
Benjamin Solotaire posited that we could consider moving the Community Session up to the beginning of the meeting for a specific length of time, then continue it at the end of the meeting. He also wondered if we could help the people who sign up to speak if, for example, they have a service delivery item which would be referred to the district office for follow-up. In that case, why should someone have to sit through an entire meeting just to be able to report something?
By-laws Review Process
We are in the process of kicking-off a by-laws review process. Jerry Armer, Chair of our Finance/Personnel & Law Committee, has already met with our District Manager to discuss it.
Some of the initial issues to consider included:
Elections: What if no one has been nominated to fill a position? The nomination procedure, in general, should be reviewed. Standing committees: Must be reviewed yearly. Chairman “Emeritus” position: Possible spot on the Executive Committee for past Chairs.
Jerry reminded everyone that by-laws changes are a process spelled out in the by-laws. They must be presented at two consecutive meetings, then voted on at the second meeting. To get a vote in June, they would have to be first presented in May. And there are no provisions for making changes on the floor. By-laws changes must be voted up or down.
Would there be attendance review for committees? (Committee Chair can appoint or dismiss).
There are Board Members who do not go to committee meetings – but there is no rule about it.
There will be an audit of committee attendance by the First Vice Chair. For attendance, make a yearly grid to see immediately who is showing up.
Rick Luftglass said that Borough Hall was going to do a By-Law update/review for all Community Boards but they have not contacted us yet. The District Manager said he would reach out to them to let them know what we were doing in case they wanted to be involved somehow.
Paige Bellenbaum said that maybe a review of conflict of interest would be useful. Maybe a review also should be sent to members of the public – Non-Board Committee members.
Review of by-laws: comments should be sent in by Monday, February 23, 2015. Finance/Personnel & Law Committee meeting will be next meeting to review comments. Comments will go back to the Executive Committee for review and then to the General Board meeting.
Chair Gary Reilly said that committees can bring up issues at the Executive meeting or individually related to committees.
Additional Other Business
Paige Bellenbaum and Benjamin Solotaire of the Youth/Human Services/Education committee will be creating a forum and workshop on Youth from 16 to 24 years old. There will be a special committee meeting to help plan this event.
Eric McClure: Move NY Town Hall. It is conflicting with Transportation committee. Complicated timing arrangement. Keep Transportation committee meeting and bring Move NY to committee on another date. Plan for March?
There being no further business to come before the committee, the meeting was adjourned at 7:27pm.