The San Francisco
Youth Commission
Minutes
|
DATE
|
Thursday, September 2, 1999 |
| TIME: |
5:00 |
| PLACE: |
City Hall, Room 250 |
1. Call to Order and Roll Call: Commissioners Present: Arreguin, Barker,
Barnes, Bolden-Kramer, Bonilla, Castillo, Cottonham, Devine, Durkee, Geodzhayev,
Lau, Pang, Strohlin, Talton-Alunan, Yee (15). Tardy: Ervin (1). Staff present:
Susan Kim, Mario Balcita, and Jessica Smith.
2. Motion to approve agenda: Motion to approve agenda seconded and approved.
3. Staff Report:
Staff introduced Gloria Young, Clerk of the Board of Supervisors. Ms. Young
congratulated and welcomed the new Commissioners, and expressed her excitement
regarding working with this year’s Youth Commission. She encouraged Commissioners
to contact her if they need any assistance or support.
4. Presentation by Nancy Elsner on Parliamentary Procedure. Ms. Elsner
reviewed basic parliamentary procedure and distributed supplementary materials.
5. New Business:
A. Discussion and possible action re: Revising and Approving Youth Commission
Bylaws. Commission had previously reviewed current bylaws and staff had distributed
proposed revisions based on feedback from last term’s Commission.
Commissioner Barnes distributed proposed amendments to the staff’s revised
bylaws. There was a brief discussion on whether to table the discussion on
bylaws because Commissioners were concerned that they had not had enough time
to review Commissioner Barnes’ amendments. There was a motion by Commissioner
Durkee to read over each section, which was seconded and approved.
No changes were proposed for Section I (Name and Authorization). In Section
II (Purpose and Duties), Commissioner Barnes moved that the staff revisions
be adopted so that the purpose and duties in the bylaws corresponds to those
in the charter. He also proposed adding a section stating that the Commission
"report to the Board of Supervisors the activities, goals, and accomplishments
of the Commission by July 1 of each calendar year." Consensus was reached
on both these suggestions.
In Section III (Membership), letter B (Resignation), Commissioner Barnes proposed
that letters of resignation from Commissioners go to the Chairperson. Commissioner
Durkee disagreed, but Commissioners Strohlin and Devine agreed with the proposal.
Commissioner Castillo suggested tabling this section and coming back to it
after revising Section IV (Offices). There were no objections to Commissioner
Castillo’s motion.
Commissioners took a three minute recess to review Commissioner’s Barnes proposed
amendments.
Commissioners reconvened and began discussion on Section III, letter C (Vacancies).
Commissioner Barnes proposed that if there are mid-year vacancies, applicants
who submitted their application before the previous year’s deadline be given
priority for Commission recommendation. Commissioners Barker and Strohlin
disagreed, stating that applicants should not be penalized because they may
not have known about the Commission earlier. The Commission agreed to change
"given priority" to "included".
Commissioners agreed to table discussion of Section IV (Offices), letter A
(Titles), until after the discussion of officer duties. In Section IV, letter
B (Duties of Officers), number 1 (Chairperson), Commissioner Durkee objected
to the Chair being designated the official spokesperson of the Commission,
since all Commissioners are official spokespeople. Commissioners Arreguin
and Barker agreed, and Commissioner Barker suggested that the point be reworded
to state that the Chair fill in when other Commissioners are not available.
Commissioner Barnes suggested that the word "official" be stricken
from the point, and Commissioners reached consensus on this point.
Next, Commissioner Strohlin proposed that the requirement that the Chair run
meetings efficiently, effectively, and fairly, be reduced to being fair, since
the other two requirements are too much to require of the Chair. Commissioners
agreed to change the line to "be fair." Commissioner Barnes also
suggested removing "get Commissioners excited about Youth Commission"
from the Chair’s duties, since this is something each Commissioner needs to
do for him or herself, and the group agreed. Commissioner Barnes then suggested
taking out the "required skills" section of each officer’s duties,
since Commissioners should be able to self-evaluate whether they are qualified
for a position, and "required skills" might be intimidating. Commissioner
Yee suggested changing "required" to "recommended" and
Commissioners agreed.
Commissioner Barker suggested that it would be a leadership development opportunity
to have rotating facilitation at some meetings, and objected to the requirement
that the Chair facilitate all meetings. Commissioner Strohlin suggested that
the word "all" be removed from "facilitate all Commission and
Executive Committee meetings," and the group reached consensus on this
point. Finally, Commissioner Barker objected to Commissioner Barnes’ proposed
addition to the bylaws stating that the Chair "review and approve agendas
for Commission meetings;" she felt "approve" was too strong
and too much power given to the Chair, so the group agreed to take out "approve"
and just leave "review."
Next, Commissioners discussed Section IV (Officers), letter B (Duties), number
2 (Vice-Chair). Commissioners began discussion of whether to have one or two
Vice-Chairs. Commissioner Arreguin felt it is unnecessary to have two Vice-Chairs.
Commissioner Barnes disagreed, stating that having two Vice-Chairs provides
more opportunity for leadership development and a less hierarchical power
structure. Commissioner Devine thought it was important to have one Vice-Chair
for clear accountability. Commissioner Yee then proposed having no Vice-Chair,
just Chair and four officers.
Commissioner Pang made a motion to postpone elections to the Monday, September
20th meeting. Commissioner Barker initially objected, stating that elections
should be held on Monday, October 4th to comply with the current bylaws which
state that elections should be held at the second meeting, because October
4th is the second regular meeting. However, Commissioner Castillo explained
that the bylaws do not specify whether elections be held at a regular or special
meeting, so Commissioner Barker withdrew her objection and the motion passed
unanimously.
Commissioner Barnes motioned that a committee of self-selected Commissioners
be created to review the rest of the bylaws before the next meeting and make
recommendations. Commissioner Yee seconded the motion, and Commissioners Barker,
Arreguin, and Durkee objected. Commissioner Durkee felt that these are the
group’s bylaws and the group needed to discuss them together. Commissioner
Barker asked who would want to be on the committee. Commissioners Castillo,
Lau, Pang, Bonilla, Durkee, Arreguin, Barnes, and Strohlin volunteered. The
motion to create a committee passed unanimously.
Commissioner Barnes motioned to table remaining agenda items until the next
meeting, as it was already 7:15pm. Commissioner Devine requested that Commissioners
think about possible Youth Vote questions before the next meeting. The motion
to table agenda items until the next meeting passed unanimously.
7. Announcements: The agenda for the next Commission meeting on Tuesday,
September 7th was distributed, and there were no further announcements
8. Public Comment: No public comment.
9. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 7:20 pm.