BarahonaMorenoFaxLWV

From:

"Rita Moreno" <rmoreno@mailbox.lacity.org>

To:

<julierajan@lwvlosangeles.org>

Cc:

"Herman Barahona" <hbarahona@mailbox.lacity.org>

<rmalveaux@mailbox.lacity.org>

Sent

Friday, March 07, 2003 5:55 PM

Subject

Van Nuys Neighborhood Council Election

Dear Julie:

It's been a while, I hope your doing well. I'm hoping to enlist your support on what has become a very contentious issue.

You will recall that the department had requested that the League serve as the Election Administrator for the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council's (VNNC) initial elections.

The group that served as the Interim Board made the decision to not work with the League because the League took a position against secession and the group supported it.

The group asked the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council (SONC) to serve as the administrator. We asked that they name an individual within the SONC that would be responsible, and they named Jill Barad.

The SONC has not held their elections nor have they finalized any election procedures. Nevertheless, they agreed to serve in this capacity. It appears that SONC was not given the final election procedures and were told to simply show up on election day.

I will fast forward...we now have 15 board members out of 21 seats. Nine of them ran as a slate and have all been challenged. This leaves 6 members who have not been challenged. The election procedures grant the authority to resolve the challenge to the newly elected board, but the challenged members cannot participate in the vote.

The procedures did state that a special meeting could be held to resolve the challenges, which was held last night. Given that the quorum is 11, there was no way that a decision could have been made to resolve the challenges, so DONE set the agenda to simply allow the newly elected board to grant a third party the authority to resolve the challenges.

The board passed a motion requesting that the office of the City Attorney and Councilmembers Galanter and Grueul resolve the challenges. However, in the event that was not an option, the request would be made of the LWV. The deadline is 40 days after the election, which is Thursday, March 20.

Julie, I really hope you won't say no. I know that it's difficult to step in when you didn't witness the event, but the board did not follow our recommendation to simply allow the SONC to complete the process.

I can tell you, however, that a member of the SONC that participated on the day of the election is very confident with the results of the election, and would be willing to work with you on this.

Let's talk so I can answer any questions you may have. Thanks.

Rita Moreno

Senior Project Coordinator

D.O.N.E.

(818) 756-9874

Toll free (866) LA HELPS

rmoreno@mailbox.lacity.org

From:

"Herman Barahona" <hbarahona@mailbox.lacity.org>

To:

"Rita Moreno" <rmoreno@mailbox.lacity.org>

Cc:

<julierajan@lwvlosangeles.org>; "Greg Nelson" <gnelson@mailbox.lacity.org>;

"Romerol Malveaux" <rmalveaux@mailbox.lacity.org>

<rmalveaux@mailbox.lacity.org>

Sent

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 3:1155 PM

Subject

VNNC Election Challenge

Rita,

Ken Gerstein did not leave a copy of the challenges for DONE. He only brought enough copies for the VNNC Board Members. I have already arranged to get copies from one of the Board Members. I have alreadyarranged to get copies from one of the Board members by today at 5:15PM

I will be faxing the challenges to the LWV by tonight. If you have any questions, please call me at the cel-phone at 213-216-9700.

Thank you,

Herman Barahona

Project Coordinator

Department of Neighborhood Empowerment

14410 Sylvan Street, 4th Floor

Van Nuys, CA 91401

Office Tel: (818) 756-8524

Fax

(818) 756-9630

WWW.LACITYNEIGHBORHOOD.COM

hbarahona@mailbox.lacity.org

1-866-LAHELPS

>>>Rita Moreno 03/11/03 02:47PM >>>

Dear Julie:

Thank you so much for agreeing to take a look at this issue. Per our conversation, we will schedule a meeting with those members of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council that conducted the election, for this Thursday or Friday, to discuss the occurrence of February 8, 2003.

Herman will fax the election challenges to you at (213) 368-1615. Please call him at (213) 216-9700 if you do not receive them.