August 23, 2004

From: GRVNC Board

To: Greg Nelson, General Manager, Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment

RE: Report on Submission of Election Results to DONE

Dear Mr. Nelson:

We are writing to you in sincere hopes of resolving any concerns that you have with the legitimacy and finality of the June 27, 2004 election for open Board seats on the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council (GRVNC).. Representatives of our Board are prepared to meet with you at a time and place that you designate. We believe it would be in the best interests of GRVNC, Venice stakeholders and DONE that the meeting take place at your earliest convenience.

Our election committee chairperson, Sabrina Venskus, has previously communicated with your office concerning our desire to meet and resolve any perceived problems. She supplied you on July 16 with a number of election-related documents that you had requested. Since then, neither she, nor the Board, has received a response from you.

The June 27 candidates election was held under our bylaws which were approved by DONE in 2002. The GRVNC bylaws state that amendments to the bylaws may be accomplished only upon the completion of three distinct steps: introduction (either by the Board or by GRVNC Voting Members); ratification by the Voting Members at large); and approval by DONE. It is our understanding that, although one set of amendments to these bylaws had been introduced by Voting Members and ratified by Voting Members at an election meeting, in conformity with the existing bylaws, and another set of amendments had been introduced by the GRVNC Board and was ratified by Voting Members at the same June 27 election at which election of Board seats was held, also in conformity with the current bylaws, neither of these sets of amendments had become final amendments to the bylaws on that date as neither had been approved by DONE as of that date.

The winners of the June 27 election have been seated on the Board in compliance with the existing bylaws and the election rules. The election rules state:

Article XIV. Seating of Elected Board Members

A. Within seven (7) business days of the announcement of final election results, the GRVNC Rules and Elections Committee must submit the names, candidate/board member stakeholder affiliation, board seat, public contact information, and private contact information (if available) for each newly elected board member. All information must be submitted on the form prescribed by DONE.

B. Newly elected governing board members shall be seated in accordance with the GRVNC Bylaws pending the final results of a recount or an election challenge.

Per Article XIV. Section B., the newly elected board members have been seated pending a recount or an election challenge. We are unaware of any request for a recount. If there are election challenges that need to be resolved, the process is provided for in the election rules. The election's Independent Election Administrator Casey Peters in his Final Official Certified Canvass of July 10 directed the community to file challenges, if any, with DONE. That report, as well as the election rules, were widely circulated in Venice.

Here is the relevant section of the Election Rules:

Article XII. B. Election Challenges

1. Any candidate may challenge the conduct of the election within 5 days of the completion of the Final Official Certified Canvass by the IEA by filing a written request with DONE. The written request must: a. Identify the basis for the challenge to the election. b. Identify the candidate issuing the challenge. c. Provide contact information for the candidate issuing the challenge.

2. DONE shall use any method to handle the challenge.

3. DONE may, with the concurrence of the GRVNC, engage the services of another person(s) or organization to act as the Arbitrator. The arbitrator selected cannot have participated in the conduct of the election in any way nor have any vested interest in the outcome of the Election Challenge.

4. Public notice of the receipt of an election challenge shall be posted at the GRVNC’s required notice sites at the time the election challenge is submitted to the Arbitrator and that the person(s) submitting the election challenge be provided individual notice within the same time frame.

5. The Arbitrator shall complete the review and issue the final findings to DONE within 30 days of receipt of the election challenge from DONE. If circumstances arise such that the review and issuance of findings cannot be completed in 30 days, the Arbitrator may utilize up to a maximum of two additional 30 day review periods. The Arbitrator will submit a notice to DONE identifying the reasons for the delay prior to initiating each review period extension.

6. The findings of the Arbitrator will be final and binding on the GRVNC.

7. Immediately upon receipt of the findings of the Arbitrator, DONE shall work with the GRVNC to begin implementing the findings, as necessary, of the Arbitrator.

In regard to the public funds to which GRVNC had been entrusted, we can assure you that they have been expended only after a public discussion and decision by the Board. We take this obligation very seriously and are concerned that your suspension of the funding can be misinterpreted by the public. As stated above, there has been a Board quorum for every meeting both before and after July 1. In addition, our treasurer was elected to a two-year term in 2003.

In your email of August 20 to The Venice Community, you made reference to proposed GRVNC bylaw changes. There are two sets of bylaw changes. One set of proposed bylaw changes, submitted by stakeholder petition, were voted on May 6 and mainly approved. They were forwarded to your office by the Board. The Board approved certain bylaw changes on April 7. The Board's bylaw changes went to a stakeholder election on June 27, as per your recommendation in your letter of June 11. They were also approved. This election on bylaw changes was separate from a candidates election, held on the same day. You had advised us not to hold the candidates election for 90 days, however, after much deliberation, the Board respectfully decided that postponing the election created more problems than it solved.

Regardless of differing opinions on the candidates election, our understanding is that there is nothing more to finalize in the June 27 bylaw election. The approved changes were sent to Mark Lewis and Jamiko Bell in your office on June 30, with a request that they be approved by DONE. We are waiting for a response from your office on both sets of changes. Please let us know which, if any, of these changes would have to be approved by the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (BONC) rather than by DONE.

In your August 20 email you state, “Our department does not certify or approve any elections. The election is final when the arbiter has considered and ruled on the challenges.” We can assure you that the election was held in a fair and open manner under the guidance of election chair Sabrina Venskus and Independent Election Administrator Casey Peters. It was held under election rules and procedures approved by the GRVNC Board on June 14, and submitted to your office that same evening. Those rules were submitted promptly to your office. The rules provide for DONE to select an arbitrator if there are any challenges (see "Final Election Procedures" at www.grvnc.org/NewSite/June27.htm). In addition the IEA Report was sent to your office by Peters on July 10 and again by Venskus on July 16, along with other documentation.

In conclusion, we are proud of the conduct of the June 27 election in which more than 500 stakeholders came to the polling place to vote. The election resulted in the seating of an even more diverse board than had previously existed. The new members take their responsibilities very seriously and are contributing to the overall neighborhood council program and goals.

We believe that under the city charter both DONE and the neighborhood council have an obligation to work together for the benefit of the stakeholders. This should involve at a minimum a willingness to meet together to discuss problems and seek solutions.

We, therefore, respectfully ask the following of you:

1. That you meet with Board representatives at your earliest convenience.
2. That you lift the suspension on GRVNC funding by the city.
3. That you promptly appoint an arbitrator, if you have determined that such is needed, to investigate and rule on any election challenges, as provided in the election rules.

We, the GRVNC Board, look forward to a cooperative and mutually beneficial relation with you and with the staff of DONE.

Approved by the Board by unanimous vote on August 23, 2004