Item 2C - Adoption of Revised Neighborhood Association Charters

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Purpose: Any time an association is updating its charter, staff shares with it the mission statement for Neighborhood Associations adopted by City Council in May 1999. It states: Our mission is to build community at the neighborhood level and improve the livability of the City's neighborhoods. Neighborhood Associations do this by: Sponsoring neighborhood improvement projects and social events; ? Providing a forum to identify, discuss, and resolve neighborhood issues; ? Establishing two-way communication between neighborhoods and the City, and between ? neighborhoods and other external agencies; Educating neighbors on issues, public process, City services, and elections, and; ? Identifying and advocating the Neighborhood Association's position on issues such as land use, ? transportation, public safety, and social services. The associations have chosen to incorporate some or all of the council mission statement for associations in their charters, in letter or in spirit. Some associations specify purposes that add to the City Council-adopted mission, e.g., self-reliance. Membership: The City Council-adopted mission statement also says: “Our neighbors are those who live, work, or own property within our boundaries.” WCC’s charter mirrors this. All the charters define residents as members. A major shift for SCCO was to define membership as residents, property or business owners and remove “people outside the above-described area who have objectives and purposes similar to those of the organization upon presentation to a general meeting and an affirmative vote in favor of such members.” SUNA’s members are residents and property owners. CYNA includes a representative of property owner or businesses as a member. Charters vary as to age of eligibility, either 16 or 18. Voting: No charter allows voting by proxy (absentee ballot). A first, the SUNA charter includes a provision stating that “Reasonable accommodations will be made to allow members with physical disabilities to vote.” The SCCO and WCC require prior meeting attendance within the last twelve months to vote. SUNA and CYNA do not have this provision. Quorum is set as either ten members or ten members in addition to board members/officers. The latter is included in the February 2000 City Council-adopted definition of an active neighborhood association. Meetings: The City Attorney’s Office has advised staff that neighborhood associations are not public agencies and therefore are not subject to the state’s public meeting laws. Notwithstanding, all charters require notice of general and board meetings and specify public information standards. Neighborhood boards can conduct business via e-mail or conference call when situations demand a response from the board in between regularly scheduled monthly (or quarterly) meetings. At staff’s recommendation, SUNA and WCC explicitly include this authority in their charters. The other associations choose not to use this avenue for decision-making at this time. RELATED CITY POLICIES Cal Young Neighborhood Association, South University Neighborhood Association, and Whiteaker Community Council are neighborhood groups officially recognized by the Neighborhood Organization Recognition Policy (NORP) (most recently updated in August 1976, Resolution #2554). The Santa Clara Community Council is officially recognized under the Limited Neighborhood Recognition Policy L:\CMO\2006 Council Agendas\M060227\S0602272C.doc