Updates on Neighborhood Council Reform from Health, Education & Neighborhood Councils Committee

by Mike Fong, EmpowerLA Director of Policy and Government Relations

During the City Council’s Health, Education and Neighborhood Councils (HENC) Committee on Tuesday, December 11, Committee Chair Councilmember David Ryu along with Council President Herb Wesson approved a set of instructions directing the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to report back to the committee on a number of proposed reforms to the Neighborhood Council system.  Please review the set of instructions and recommendations, which you can read in full here: https://empowerla.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Instructions-NC-Reforms.pdf

Proposed changes include rolling over funds, selections, seat allocations, minimum voting age, mandatory city planning and land use training, and a request to change the Los Angeles Administrative Code on the definition of community interest stakeholders.

Thank you to the Neighborhood Council board members and stakeholders who participated in the December 11th HENC meeting, and to the many Neighborhood Council board members and stakeholders who provided comments and testimony at six Board of Neighborhood Commissioners meetings.  Thank you also to Neighborhood Commissioners Eli Lipmen and Len Shaffer for providing a presentation on the recommendations from the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners during the HENC meeting.

The Health Education and Neighborhood Councils (HENC) Committee also authorized the Controller to transfer $143,000 from the Office of the City Clerk, Fund 100/14 to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), Fund No. 100/47, and appropriate $93,500 to Account 001070 Salaries, As-Needed, and $49,500 to Account 003040 Contractual Services to help with additional outreach for the upcoming Neighborhood Council elections.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Health Education and Neighborhood Councils (HENC) Committee instructed the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to establish a centralized translation services request program and provide translation services to neighborhood councils when requested, to be paid for through the annual Neighborhood Council Fund.

The City Council file associated with the proposed Neighborhood Council reforms is CF 18-0467. See all the material submitted so far regarding this matter at https://cityclerk.lacity.org/lacityclerkconnect/index.cfm?fa=ccfi.viewrecord&cfnumber=18-0467.