(Notes from staff on NCRC April 17 deliberative meeting.)

The Neighborhood Council Review Commission voted unanimously to ask the City Clerk to run Neighborhood Council elections, to mandate a standardized election process for all elections and, but for an attendance problem, would have also voted to require all Neighborhood Councils to offer a vote-by-mail option.

Almost completely rewriting the staff report, the commissioners felt strongly that Neighborhood Councils were spending entirely too much time on elections despite the new templates prepared by DONE.    

Commissioners who spoke on the issue said that nearly all of the Neighborhood Council members who spoke at their hearings about elections wanted citywide uniformity.  The commissioners wanted this change even if it meant placing a City Charter amendment on the ballot.  

As part of the adopted report, the commission eliminated the staff suggestion that called for  expanding the training of Independent Election Administrators, and supported the grouping of all Neighborhood Council elections into regional or citywide blocks.

The City Clerk explained that if his office were to run all Neighborhood Council elections, he would need five new staff, no Neighborhood Council elections could be held during the city elections in odd-numbered years, and there would have to be significantly more detailed and uniform election rules.  

The commission will discuss this matter again after the City Clerk prepares a report containing more specifics.  The report is likely to explain how much more detail would have to be added to the citywide election procedures.

A motion by Commissioner Charlotte Laws to require all Neighborhood Councils to offer voting by mail would have passed easily except that it takes 15 votes to pass a motion, there were 17 commissioners present, and only 12 aye votes.

The commission ran out of time and was not able to begin a discussion over the definition of “stakeholder” and a recommendation by the staff that “town hall” formats should be considered as a way to encourage public participation in Neighborhood Council meetings.

At this point, all the commission’s votes are tentative.