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Agenda Item # 8

BOARD MEMORANDUM

RECOMMENDATION:

Appoint an ad hoc subcommittee of members to, per the Citizens Advisory Committee’s request, work with staff to develop proposals for potentially amending Section 5.7 of their bylaws to allow limited exceptions to the four-absence disqualification rule.

BACKGROUND:

The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) bylaws govern the proceedings of the committee and its meetings.   They delineate the membership requirements, term duration and term limits for members, the number of members required to constitute a quorum, etc.   All advisory committee bylaws, including those for CAC, must be consistent with the VTA Administrative Code.  Amendments to these bylaws must be approved by a majority of the Committee’s authorized membership and by the VTA Board of Directors.

At its November 10, 2004 meeting, CAC reviewed and approved changes to its bylaws comprised of those to allow that committee to perform its mandated duties as the 2000 Measure A Citizen’s Watchdog Committee and other minor ones to enhance clarity and specificity, improve meeting efficiency, and promote consistency between other advisory committee bylaws.   These modifications were approved by the VTA Board of Directors at their December 2004 meeting.

DISCUSSION:

Although CAC approved the bylaw modifications at its November 2004 meeting, the Committee also requested staff to determine whether it was possible to modify Section 5.7 to potentially allow limited exceptions to the four-absence rule under certain circumstances such as maternity leave, convalescence, etc.   This section states:

§5.7             Absences

If a member is absent from four Committee meetings in any twelve-month period, the position shall be vacated and a successor shall be appointed to fill the vacancy.

VTA’s General Counsel determined that providing exceptions to this rule is not specifically prohibited by the VTA Administrative Code and as such, could be enacted if approved by both CAC and the Board of Directors.   She also recommended that CAC, to conserve meeting time, form a subcommittee to work with staff to develop potential modifications to this section for the Committee to consider at a future meeting.

The standard procedure to appoint an advisory committee ad hoc subcommittee is for the chairperson to request volunteers to serve, with the usual number being two to four members, depending on the subcommittee’s specific mission.   If there are no volunteers or an insufficient number, it is the chairperson’s prerogative to appoint committee members to serve.   The ad hoc committee is automatically discharged when its report is formally presented to the committee.  No action is required of the Committee other than to accept the report.

After the subcommittee develops its proposals, it will, at a future meeting, report on the proposals, submitting them for CAC consideration.   The Committee can then choose to accept any of the proposals, modify one of them, or reject all of them.   If the Committee chooses to move forward with any modification, the finalproposal will need to be incorporated into a formal action by the Committee to amend its bylaws, which will happen at a subsequent meeting.  If the Committee approves the amendment, the VTA Board of Director must approve the modification before it is enacted.

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