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Leadership committee discusses bylaws changes, keeps gallery slips and public hearing as compromise to 36-hour registration plan
Summary
Committee reviewed proposed edits to Article 5, Section 3 of the board bylaws, agreed grammatical changes, and debated a 36-hour pre-registration requirement versus preserving real-time gallery slips; committee recommended retaining a public hearing before full board as a compromise.
Community Board 11’s Leadership Committee reviewed proposed bylaws amendments and debated changes to the public registration process for speakers at full-board meetings at its May 15 meeting.
The committee discussed edits to Article 5, Section 3 of the board’s bylaws (the group said grammatical and wording updates were accepted) and considered a rule requiring people who wish to speak in the board gallery to sign up 36 hours before the meeting. Committee members and staff said the 36-hour window is intended to give board members time to research issues and to route presentations to the appropriate committee when relevant.
Several members, including committee leaders, raised concerns that a strict 36-hour rule could inadvertently block people with legitimate last-minute needs and would be politically awkward while reappointments are being decided. As a compromise, the committee affirmed a public hearing immediately before the full board meeting (the committee noted the city charter requires a public hearing) where people who did not register 36 hours in advance could still sign up and speak in real time. Committee leaders said the public hearing would give the community an avenue to be heard while preserving a more structured gallery-registration process that allows the board time to prepare.
The leadership members also discussed operational details — who determines whether an absence is excused, whether committee chairs or the board chair should have authority to excuse a member, and clarifying which body may compel a committee to meet when the chair declines to call a session. The committee agreed to leave a set of bylaw amendments on the bylaws agenda and to present the gallery-slip proposal to the full board if the leadership group voting record requested it.
Members further proposed holding a parliamentary-procedure training for the full board in September to improve meeting consistency and to brief newly appointed members.
