Agenda

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INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE

Meeting Date:	10/08/2018
Subject: Commission for Women Status Update
Submitted For:	David Twa
Department:	County Administrator
Referral No.:	IOC 18/9
Referral Name:	Commission for Women Review
Presenter:	Julie DiMaggio Enea	Contact:	Julie DiMaggio Enea (925) 335-1077

Information

Referral History:

In September 2017, the IOC held a discussion about problems that had been reported concerning the Commission for Women including a spate of member resignations, inability to achieve a meeting quorum, blurred responsibilities, disagreement over the Commission's mission, factions and fragmentation, open meeting act errors, and loss of interest among some of the membership.

In February 2018, IOC staff presented five recommendations to address the problems identified by some of the former and current Commission members. Commission member Joey Smith and former Commission member Beth Mora commented that the officer duties of the Commission were rotated annually but the Commission's subcommittee leadership had no formal rotation of officers. They emphasized that the formation of the Friends Group and the Commission's increased dependence on the Group for funding resulted from the elimination of County funding for the Commission many years ago. Ms. Mora commented that several of the former members of the Commission were disappointed that the Board of Supervisors had not yet dismantled and re-established the Commission as a completely new entity. Attached for reference is the Commission's April 2, 2018 response to the IOC staff recommendations.

The Committee generally concurred with staff's recommendations and preliminarily recommended to the Board that the size of the Commission be reduced from 20 to 15 members to improve cohesion and also the probability of achieving a meeting quorum. The Board approved this recommendation on April 24. Assuming the Commission would thus be able to convene proper meetings, the IOC requested the Commission to consider the remaining CAO recommendations and possible bylaws update, and report back to the IOC in October.

Referral Update:

Since June 2018, Emlyn Struthers of the Clerk of the Board's Office has forwarded four membership applications to the Commission for Women. In mid-September, Commissioner Joey Smith confirmed receipt of the applications. Ms. Smith told Ms. Struthers that the Commission had met the week prior to review the applications and that all eight members were present for this. We were unable to confirm if that meeting had been properly noticed. The Commission website shows neither an agenda nor minutes for a September meeting.

The Commission website is not up-to-date. According to their minutes, they last met on May 18, 2018 (http://www.womenscommission.com/agenda.html). The Clerk's Office was unable to find any agenda or announcement of a May 18 Commission meeting. Also, according to the minutes from each of the 2018 meetings, the Commission appears to have met without a quorum of members present. The May 18 Commission minutes indicate that some discussion occurred regarding the recommend bylaw changes, but there is no further information in the minutes.

The Commission for Women has a small group of very devoted members who try to keep the Commission moving forward. However, they currently do not have enough members to do their business. In April of this year, the Board of Supervisors reduced the Commission's membership size from 20 seats down to 15 to assist them in achieving a meeting quorum, which is now 8. Even with the 5-seat reduction, the Commission appears to be struggling to achieve a quorum. Last month, the Board accepted another resignation from the Commission.

Recommendation(s)/Next Step(s):

CONSIDER status report on the Commission for Women and any action to be taken.

Attachments
Women's Commission Response to CAO Recommendations for Bylaws Modifications_4 -2-18