Lodi Improvement Committee delays council presentation pending bylaw review and fund-account inquiry

On July 14, 2026, the Lodi Improvement Committee voted to move forward with routine business but asked that the committee’s bylaws be added to the next agenda and that staff investigate a fund account a member said is referenced in the bylaws.

The issue surfaced after a member said she had prepared a presentation for council but was uneasy about presenting while the committee’s governing bylaws — including a 2018 adopted version and a 2021 redline update that never went to council — remain unclear. Chair Davis said the group needs clarity before delivering work to the council and asked that bylaws, resolutions and any amendments be circulated and placed on the committee’s next agenda.

“It needs to be legitimized in a way that is following the rules that we’re supposed to be governing,” Chair Davis said, adding she would like someone to look into where a fund account referenced in the bylaws went and why the committee does not have access to it now. “I would like to have someone look into that and I want to know where that fund account went and where those funds went,” she said.

Staff responded that the committee should follow the adopted 2018 bylaws and that the 2021 redline update never reached council because members who had worked on it left the committee. Staff added that the committee had at one point managed funds outside of city-held accounts and that the account is no longer active. “There’s no fund account,” staff said. “Because there’s no money in it.”

Members pressed for clarity on fundraising language in the bylaws and whether the committee’s activities could contradict the bylaws. One member noted fundraising language in the bylaws appears to rely on donations, gifts and other fundraising mechanisms and asked staff to clarify how a fund would have been managed. Staff said she would circulate the contacted bylaws and place the item on the next agenda so members could review and, if desired, present to council.

Members also discussed the best way to prepare the council presentation. Some urged a workshop to allow a more informal review of the presentation before a regular meeting; others said the presentation could simply be placed on the next regular meeting agenda. Staff agreed to check the rules for workshops and whether a workshop would need to be broadcast, and said she would send the presentation link for members to review in advance.

The meeting also included related updates: a member reported active collaboration with code enforcement to address neighborhood concerns, and staff said the CAPER — the consolidated annual performance and evaluation report for the city’s Community Development Block Grant program — will be distributed when released. Staff said the Lodi Community on Homelessness intends to present to the committee in October.

The committee concluded by agreeing to review the bylaws at the next meeting, to circulate presentation materials in advance, and to notify members when the council agendizes any reorganization or bylaw changes. Chair Davis adjourned the meeting.