NPU-S Bylaws Meeting - THIS SATURDAY, 9/7, 11am at Outdoor Activity Center

The meeting to to collect and categorize proposed changes to the NPU-S bylaws, to be voted on at the September General Meeting, is occurring this Saturday, September 7th, starting at 11am at the Outdoor Activity Center, 1442 Richland Rd SW.

Background:
In February, NPU-S called a meeting of a Bylaws Committee to go over the current bylaws and review proposed changes. After a period of review and revision, the Executive Committee approved the proposed changes for vote at the General Meeting.

The timeline originally was to hold the vote in August, as the bylaws were introduced to the General Body at the July meeting. However, since the August meeting is typically lightly attended, and the deadline for bylaws submission to the City is end of September, it seems like a better idea to give the community extra time to review and comment on the bylaw changes. Vote will be held at the September meeting.

The directory containing the bylaws is at:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=131Em9xdTcMX9CmO_lIaBBJSV931Be5aN

There are four PDF documents in the directory:

• 2017 bylaws - the current bylaws that the NPU operates under
• 2010-2011 bylaws - a previous version for historical comparison
• The current proposed 2019 version, and
• An annotated version of the proposed 2019 bylaws.

The annotated version uses colors to show the differences between the 2017 version and the proposed version. Added sections are highlighted in green; changes sections are highlighted in yellow, and deleted sections are in highlighted in red with strikethrough.

Most of the changes are minor:

• Some sections were simply moved into more appropriate areas. For instance, Article I, section 4 was moved to Article III, section 6.
• In other cases, clarifying language was added. For instance, text on what defines an "active community association" was added in Article V, Section 3.  

There are two fundamental changes to the bylaws:

• First, the number of standing committees is collapsed from nine committees to four. The purpose of this change is to have fewer, larger committees, instead of many one-person "committees" that cannot work effectively.  This codifies the "teams" system that the NPU is currently using. All responsibilities from the previous committees are preserved, merely swept into the new committees:
• The new Land Use Committee takes on the responsibilities of the current Land Use, Zoning, and Transportation committees.
• The new Quality of Life Committee takes on the responsibilities of the Human Development and Public Safety, Environment, and Recreation and Cultural Affairs committees.
• The new Assistant Services Committee takes on the responsibilities of the Senior Services and Education committee.
• The new Policy Committee takes on the responsibilities of the APAB committee.  It also formulates NPU-S's official positions on citywide and regional issues.
• Second, the role and responsibilities of the APAB representative are enhanced. The purpose of this change is to create a system around the NPU's relationship with the City and its neighbors.  Currently, the Chair winds up being the face of the NPU, but this can lead to the NPU taking positions that are at odds with its constituency.  By creating a committee, this change hopes to ensure that the NPU's official positions reflect the will of the community.  The APAB representative is assigned as head of the Policy Committee by default, and by default the role of APAB representative is assign to the Vice-Chair. These responsibilities can be delegated to other people.

Physical copies of the bylaws will be available at the next NPU meeting.

If you have comments, questions, or suggestions, please by all means get in touch with with the Chair at chair@npu-s.org (or call 404 890 0089), email the executive committee at exec@npu-s.org, talk with your local neighborhood organization, or come to the General Meeting.