Today: Neighborhood Council Working Group to Report on Brown Act vs. Sunshine Laws

A Neighborhood Council working group with representation from Eagle Rock will meet today, Wednesday, to resume its ongoing review of the rules and regulations governing the citywide system of local government.

The meeting of the so-called Neighborhood Council Plan Review and Reform Initiative, which began in January, will discuss and make policy recommendations related to the state Brown Act (California’s open meetings law) and local Sunshine laws aimed at encouraging public participation in local government by ensuring access to official meetings and public records.

Wednesday’s meeting, scheduled at the Citibank Community Meeting Room located at 1965 Hillhurst Ave. in Los Feliz, will be attended by former Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council member and education secretary Robert Guevara.

The meeting is the first for the month of April under a schedule of two monthly meetings leading up to initiative’s conclusion in July, Guevara told Eagle Rock Patch. Guevara added that he was invited to the initiative by Len Shaffer, a member of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners.

The Neighborhood Council Plan Review and Reform Initiative is designed as a Neighborhood Council-driven review of the rules and regulations that govern the Neighborhood Council system. The initiative’s aim is to examine the system’s current state of affairs from the point of view of its key missions—increasing stakeholder participation and influencing the municipal decision-making process—and making recommendations for policy improvements to the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners and the Los Angeles City Council.

The initiative consists of three Neighborhood Council groups—one each from the San Fernando Valley; Central and East L.A., including the Northeast; and the Harbor area, South L.A. and West L.A. Each group makes separate recommendations on a common agenda for every meeting, Guevara explained, with the idea that the three sets of recommendations will be the basis of a final report sent to Neighborhood Commissioners and the City Council.

“Nothing is changed until the City Council approves the recommendations,” Guevara said, adding: “Some changes will require a city ordinance to become effective and some areas have a ‘no change’ recommendation.”

Click here for further details about he Neighborhood Council Plan Review and Reform Initiative, including meeting schedules and agendas.

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