NC Community Impact Statement Passes LA City Council
Neighborhood Council positions can be included in LA City Council agenda items

by Mike Gealer
Wednesday, Feb.12

The Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed the Community Impact Statement motion which provides a mechanism for NC's to take positions on City Council Agenda Items. A Method of Notification of relevant items to respond to is being developed.

Councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski noted 3 of today's 40 items would be NC relevant. Councilman Ed Reyes urged that the computer software to be used in the system to have multi-language capabilities, due to the diversity of languages in our communities. Councilman Eric Garcetti concurred, citing a need for Chinese for Seniors in Chinatown.

A computer transmitted position of up to 100 words of NC Board position sent by designated NC representatives can be written into the agenda item to be considered. Where more than one NC takes a position (i.e. regional or citywide items) then words may be less.

An unlimited length position can continue to be put on item file in writing or fax.

The NC's Community Impact statement must be considered by City Council on agenda items, helping to facilitate the Charter mandated NC Advisory capacity.

It will be both a voice for the Community's NC's and a viable way for City Council to help assess the will our communities.

Mike Gealer
Glassell Park Neighborhood Council member

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Here's some background about the issue. The following is the report from the Education and Neighborhoods Committee that was presented to the City Council, and formed the basis for their decision:

SUBJECT: IMPACT STATEMENTS (CF 02-1482 - MOTION HAHN - LABONGE )

This report is being transmitted in response to direction given by the Education and Neighborhoods (EN) Committee at its meeting held on September 3, 2002. The City Clerk and Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) were requested to report back with a recommended process by which Neighborhood Councils (NC) could provide feedback to commissions, boards, Council committees and the City Council concerning items on meeting agendas. The City Clerk and DONE jointly developed the proposed general policies and procedures outlined below. These policies and procedures provide the framework to allow for the timely input of authorized NC Impact Statements. Additionally, a prototype of an electronic input template to be used by the NCs was developed (see Attachment ) and will be demonstrated when the EN Committee considers the policy and procedural recommendations.

Summary

Charter Section 907, under the Early Warning System, states in part that "...procedures [be established] for receiving input from neighborhood councils prior to decisions by the City Council, City Council Committees and boards and commissions. The procedures shall include...a reasonable opportunity to provide input before decisions are made." A Motion (Hahn-LaBonge), introduced on July 9, 2002, states in part that "... the Mayor, in his seven-point plan for neighborhood councils, included a component for Community Impact Statements on Los Angeles City Council agendas...While these councils provide advisory input on issues district specific or Citywide, this advice would be helpful in determining the stance each community has taken on various projects." At the first EN Committee hearing held regarding the creation of the Neighborhood Council Impact feedback system, the City Clerk noted that establishing the logistical procedures within the City Clerk's Office for receiving Impact Statements from NCs, and placing them on the Council Agenda should be straight forward, if a process is established and then followed. Further, the City Clerk noted that the NCs will face a greater challenge than the City Clerk in establishing procedures to ensure that authorized positions of the NCs are submitted in a timely manner for placement on the agendas. These agendas are created on a daily basis, and must be published in advance of the meeting pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act. The EN Committee was presented with a series of impact statement issues, such as format, content verification, scheduling deadlines, and legislative standing. The EN Committee instructed the City Clerk to develop a template for use by NCs to submit authorized community impact statements to the City Council, and DONE was instructed to assist the City Clerk with organizing and creating a uniform process for informing NCs of the community impact statement procedures. Both departments were instructed to report back with finalized procedures.

The City Clerk and DONE met jointly and are hereby recommending that the following policies and procedures be adopted for processing Neighborhood Council Impact Statements.

Neighborhood Council Impact Statement

1. The input statements provided by Neighborhood Councils for meeting agenda items for the Council, Council Committees, Commissions and Boards shall be called Neighborhood Council Impact Statements.

2. All groups listed above are directed to provide for such impact statements to be submitted prior to taking action on meeting agenda items. Further, such bodies are encouraged to utilize the electronic input system developed by the City Clerk for use by the City Council and its Committees.

3. An electronic input system with an authorized login procedure has been developed by the City Clerk to facilitate the timely receipt of the impact statements and to help ensure that only authorized NC s and their representatives are submitting the official impact statements. The electronic form has been designed so that it can be used to submit impact statements to all Commissions, Boards, Committees and the Council (sample provided). [Adoption of a standard input system will facilitate training and reduce systems support costs.]

4. Summary impact statements intended for placement on City Council agendas will be limited to a maximum of 100 words (450 characters in the electronic input system). Additional statements will be attached to the relevant Council File and distributed to Council members. The City Clerk will not edit statements; however, consistent with Council Rule 31, impact statements containing offensive or defamatory language will be returned by the City Clerk to DONE (with an explanation) for transmittal back to the NC. The electronic input "form" or template, includes a statement requesting that the NC... "refrain from using language which could be considered offensive or insensitive to others."

5. NCs will be encouraged to utilize the electronic input system designed by the City Clerk, however, impact statements from NCs can also be submitted via fax, and mailed or hand delivered hard copy (with proper signature). If received in time for publication on the Council agenda: the summary impact statement will appear below the fiscal impact statement on the agenda and will be attached to the Council file [the complete statements (i.e. any statement in addition to the summary statement] will be attached to the Council File regardless of length]. If not received in time for publication on the Council agenda: the impact statement will be attached to the Council File, distributed in Council, announced in Council that an impact statement has been submitted. At the call of the President, or if moved by the Council, the statement may be read into the record.

6. As with the current Financial Impact Statements, Council Committee agendas will note whether an impact statement has been received. At the discretion of the Chair, the impact statement can be read into the record. City Commissions and Boards should develop procedures appropriate for their meeting environment and agenda creation process (e.g. place the 100 word summary impact statement on the agenda, note on the agenda that an impact statement has been filed, etc.).

7. Impact statements can be amended/revised by the NCs at any time throughout the Commission, Board and Committee process to reflect actions taken by those bodies and as new positions and information are brought forward. The electronic input system has been designed to identify updates to previously submitted impact statements.

8. A NC can only submit one summary impact statement per agenda item (as noted above there is no limit on the length of the statement to be placed on the Council File). If impact statements are submitted by several NCs on the same issue, the agenda will note that fact and identify the NCs submitting the impact statements. The agenda will also note whether the NCs support or oppose the matter. The full impact statements will be placed on the Council File.

9. NCs may comment on any issue and any item on an agenda. NCs should not be restricted to commenting on matters solely within the NCs geographic boundaries; many issues may not be geographically based.

10. Through an impact statement, NCs may request a delay of vote or continuance of a matter. However, the City Attorney advises that such a request need not preclude the City Council from taking an action. It should be noted that the City Attorney further stated that the City Council should make reasonable efforts to comply with the spirit and intent of the law, and notify NCs as soon as possible prior to decisions being made.

Training Assistance For Neighborhood Councils

Time frames can be very short, as the City Council and Council Committees meet frequently, and items processed via Rule 16 motions and Committee waivers are not heard prior to Council scheduling. DONE and the City Clerk will provide educational training to NCs focusing on the legislative documents which need to be subscribed to and reviewed frequently in order to stay informed of the City's business. It will be the NCs responsibility to subscribe to and review referral memoranda and Council agendas in a timely manner for those documents which will not have Committee hearings.

Each electronic version of the Council Referral Memorandum will have an attachment of the Council Committee Assignments, including contact telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail addresses, in order to facilitate contact by the NCs to the appropriate Committee Legislative Assistant.

DONE will work with other Commissions and Boards not staffed by the City Clerk to coordinate training on the process for NCs to provide input to those bodies.

Fiscal Impact:

Implementation of this program will not impact the City's General Fund. At this stage of the project, it cannot be determined whether there may be roll out funding requirements for setting up the neighborhood councils with computers by the Information Technology Agency and DONE.

Recommendations for Council Action:

1. INSTRUCT the City Clerk to implement the Neighborhood Council impact statement input system, as detailed in the City Clerk report dated October 8, 2002, including the Attachment to the report.

2. INSTRUCT the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to assign staff to liaison with Neighborhood Councils and the Office of the City Clerk to provide assistance with the City Council legislative process.

3 INSTRUCT all City Commissions and Boards to implement a Neighborhood Council Input System.

4. INSTRUCT the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to work with other Commissions and Boards to coordinate training for Neighborhood Councils relative to their legislative process.

If you have any questions regarding this report or require additional information, please contact me directly at (213) 485-1020.

Sincerely,

J. Michael Carey
City Clerk