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CB2 executive committee debates quorum rules and meeting practice
Summary
Manhattan Community Board 2’s executive committee discussed repeated quorum shortfalls, whether to hold informational meetings without a quorum and options for handling time-sensitive items, asking committee chairs to verify attendance before meetings.
Valerie Dela Rosa, chair of Manhattan Community Board 2’s executive committee, opened the July executive committee meeting and warned chairs to verify quorum before convening committee meetings, saying the board should avoid hosting agency guests when members are absent.
The discussion focused on whether committees should run informational meetings when quorum is not present and how to handle time-sensitive items. "So I just ask, specifically for ... ensuring that you have a quorum, and that your meeting is staffed appropriately," Dela Rosa said, urging chairs to postpone meetings that lack quorum unless there is an agency-driven deadline.
Board members described a long-standing culture of continuing meetings without quorum and outlined practical workarounds. One member said a meeting without quorum can still be useful for information-sharing but raises problems if participants later decide to draft a resolution: "You start out with a meeting ... you don't have quorum, but that's okay. We just wanna get a lot of information ... At the end of it, we say ... let's write a resolution on it," the member said, noting the awkwardness when the committee lacks the authority to adopt policy.
Other members recommended confirming attendance in advance or calling absent committee members on the day of the meeting to try to reach quorum. A member noted legal constraints: "It has to be in presence because then you're not meeting your, the legal requirements." Several members suggested that time-sensitive matters without quorum should be escalated to the executive committee or full board so the board’s position can be filed on schedule.
Committee chairs also raised operational concerns tied to invitations for city agency speakers: repeatedly calling in presenters for a meeting that will not meet quorum wastes agency and public time, they said. Dela Rosa said she will reach out to committee chairs individually in the coming weeks about member reappointments and committee composition to reduce recurring attendance problems.
The committee did not adopt a binding change to bylaws; members said decisions about whether to cancel or proceed without quorum would continue to be handled case-by-case and, when necessary, time-sensitive items can be brought to executive committee or full board review.
At the start of the agenda the committee recorded a motion on the floor to approve the June executive committee minutes (mover: Janine; second: Susan); the transcript records the motion being moved and seconded but does not record a formal roll-call vote. The meeting adjourned at 8:01 p.m.
Ending: The exchange closed with a practical tone: chairs were asked to check quorum in advance and to be prepared to escalate urgent items. No formal bylaw change was adopted during the discussion.
