Tulare County homeless task force approves bylaw edits, recommends Resource Management Agency seat

The Tulare County Task Force on Homelessness voted to approve a package of clarifying edits to its bylaws and recommended that the Board of Supervisors add a voting seat for the county Resource Management Agency (RMA). The motion passed after members discussed absenteeism rules, proxy designations and how to improve public recruitment for vacancies.

Task-force staff said the recommended RMA seat would recognize the agency’s role in administering Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and other housing-related programs. Noah (staff) told the group RMA “oversees different funding streams, including the Community Development Block Grant or CDBG funding, and they have a lot of other housing-based initiatives,” and said RMA’s participation would better align county housing planning and implementation.

Why it matters: members argued the change would reduce coordination friction on funding and land-use issues that affect encampment responses and housing pipelines. The group debated whether the bylaw provision that vacates a seat after three consecutive unexcused absences should start only after an appointee attends their first meeting. The compromise under discussion and captured in the adopted motion requires (a) first attendance to start the consecutive-absence clock and (b) additional language to address positions that never appear, with staff drafting redline language reflecting the compromise.

The task force also agreed to modernize recruitment language in the bylaws so vacancies can be advertised through the task force distribution list and social media rather than only local newspapers, and to clarify resignation and proxy notification procedures. Staff will prepare redline and clean versions of the amended bylaws and forward the recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for formal appointment and adoption.

The motion to adopt the discussed edits and submit the RMA recommendation was made by Natalie, seconded by Dana, and passed on a voice vote. No roll-call tallies were recorded in the transcript. The task force will circulate the redline text to members and, when finalized, seek the Board of Supervisors’ action.