Stakeholder Meeting set for July 14 to approve Bylaws changes (updated)

July 9, 2009
On Tuesday, July 14, 2009, at 7:00p.m., the Mid City West Community Council (MCWCC) Board of Directors will be holding one of its periodic Stakeholder Meetings, prior to the start of its monthly Board meeting. Voting will continue during the regular Board meeting, and conclude at 8:30p.m.

At this meeting, all those attendance who meet the City’s definition of a Stakeholder—“those who live, work, or own property in the neighborhood and also…those who declare a stake in the neighborhood and affirm the factual basis for it”—will be able to vote on three sets of MCWCC bylaws amendments—two of which have been passed by the full Board of Directors at prior board meetings, and approved by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), and one of which is still pending approval with DONE, but will hopefully be approved by the time of the meeting. Under Article V, Section 13b of MCWCC’s bylaws, “approval of two-thirds of the Stakeholders voting on that particular amendment at a duly noticed public meeting” are required for final passage.

The first set of amendments contains changes to articles to make technical corrections in bylaws language. Specifically, it changes all references in the bylaws that discuss “Executive Committee” (Article III, Sections 10c,d,g and Article V, Section 2) to instead read “Executive Council”; to change all references in the bylaws that discuss “Administrative Council” (Article III, Sections 2,9,11) to instead read “Board of Directors”; and changes the boundaries in the Mid City West Bylaws, in Article I, Section 5, to reflect the true Mid City West boundaries: parts of our northern boundary with West Hollywood were incorrectly described.

The second set amends Article V, Section 11--DUTY TO NOTIFY SECRETARY OF ABSENCES--and Article V, Section 12--UNEXCUSED ABSENCES; REMOVAL—to clarify to whom, and through which media, the notice should be given, as well as to clarify the exact unexcused absences standard under which a board member could be removed from the board. This is the group that is pending DONE approval.

The third and last set deletes Article II, Section 8 – INITIAL POST-CERTIFICATION ELECTION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS, and amends Article V, Section 1--BOARD OF DIRECTORS--and Section 2—COMMITTEES—to provide basic guidelines for our MCW Board of Directors elections.
Election Committee Chair Charles Lindenblatt, whose Election Committee has responsibility for organizing these Stakeholder meetings, encourages all those Mid City West Stakeholders who are interested in weighing in on how their neighborhood council operates, to show up and cast their vote, and, if they prefer, to stay and witness their neighborhood council in action.

Full texts of the amendments to be considered at this Stakeholder meeting, which were approved by the Board, along with the latest version of our bylaws, can be found for your review by visiting our website at www.midcitywest.org, by calling our office at 323-651-3512, or by viewing them on-site on the day of the vote.

Click on the following links to view documents:

Stakeholders Meeting Agenda for July 14, 2009 (Updated: 07/07/2009)
Bylaws Motions - Technical Corrections
Bylaws Motions - Absences (Updated: 07/07/2009)
Bylaws - Clarification of Election Committee Motions
Bylaws in current state (Updated: 07/07/2009)