Bylaws & Standing Rules

Current Bylaws

The Board's parliamentary guide is Rosenberg's Rules of Order, supplemented by Robert's Rules of Order as necessary.

The Neighborhood Council system was created by Los Angeles City Charter, and so SORO NC is subject to a number of federal, state, and local laws and ordinances, most notably, the Ralph M. Brown Act.

Standing Rules

Standing rules supplement the official bylaws and may be revised at any time by a majority vote of the Board.

Current Standing Committees

Updated December 30, 2022

• Board Advocacy & Development, Budget and Finance, Bylaws, Education, Executive, Homelessness,  Land Use, Outreach, Parks and Recreation, Public Safety, and Transportation
• Individual Committee Standing Rules- Purviews (including Stakeholder Membership) Downloadable PDF  
• The official quorum (minimum number of Committee Members attending in order to hold a meeting) for all SORO NC Committees shall be set at three (3), exempting Ad-hoc Committees (approved 11/17/22)

Code of Civility

Originally adopted September 5, 2007; included in rules September 15, 2011

• The standing rules shall include the SORO NC Code of Civility Printable Version  |  Web Version

Standing rule to increase SORO NC financial transparency

Passed July 10, 2009

In addition to any requirements in the Neighborhood Council Charter, the SORO NC bylaws, the Brown Act, or any other applicable law:

• That all monthly financial statements be available to the public via the SORO NC website at least 72 hours prior to a general Board meeting;
• That quarterly audits be reviewed (at a minimum) at the open Executive Committee meeting prior to submission;
• That the SORO NC website include a Finance section that compiles the NC's monthly financial statements and audits and include a link to request full financial records from DONE.

Standing rule on minimum time requirement for Board notification

Passed August 13, 2008

• To require that all Executive Reports (Board Minutes, Treasurer's Report) and all items requiring Board consideration (motions) be submitted to the Board Members at least 72 hours before a General Board Meeting or 24 hours before a Special Board Meeting. If the time limits are not met, the item will not be considered at that Board meeting but will be carried forward to the next meeting that will permit such time for consideration of the item.

Standing rule on Board vote recording

Passed August 13, 2008; revised September 15, 2011

Recording how each member voted allows for later reconsideration, per the bylaws. The revised rule no longer requires votes by roll call.

• For purposes of later reconsideration, each Boardmember's vote (or failure to vote) during general Board meetings must be recorded in the meeting minutes.

Standing rule on the responsibilities of Board liaisons

Passed September 20, 2012

• Board-appointed Liaisons (aka Public Representatives) to other public bodies are expected to regularly and proactively report to the SORO NC Board on activities and issues pertaining to both organizations; help keep communication between the two organizations open and transparent; actively identify issues of mutual concern and develop proposals for Board action; and advocate in good faith for official Board positions and recommendations. The Liaison may not vote to endorse or otherwise publicly represent a position on an issue without prior Board authorization.

Standing rule on ethics training

Passed October 18, 2012

• Boardmembers must complete State-mandated Ethics training within one month of their election/selection/appointment and every two years after that. Board members who have not taken Ethics training or whose certification has lapsed must abstain from voting on all financial and land use matters before the Board.

Communication Guidelines

Passed May 20, 2013

• To adopt the SORO NC Communications Guidelines as part of the NC’s standing rules. Printable Version

Standing rule on consent agendas

Passed December 18, 2014

• The Neighborhood Council may employ a consent agenda for the purpose of speeding meetings. Passage of items placed on the consent agenda shall be determined by a single Board vote, with no Board questions or debate allowed on any item. Public comment shall be allowed on any item on the consent agenda prior to Board action.
• Financial motions, bylaws amendments, and interim appointments to the Board may not be placed on the consent agenda.
• Prior to adoption, any item or items may be removed without debate from the consent agenda upon Boardmember request. Removed items will be considered individually under the Board’s New Business, unless otherwise tabled or withdrawn.
• Boardmembers proposing a motion may ask that their motion be added to or excluded from the consent agenda prior to the posting of the meeting agenda, although the President retains the ability to set the final agenda.

Standing rule on approved keyholders

Passed February 19, 2015

• NC mailbox keys may be requested by all Executive Committee members, as well as the Chair(s) and Vice-Chair(s) of the Land Use committee.
• Prior to obtaining a key, Boardmember keyholders must agree to return their key(s) to the Executive committee within 10 days of leaving the Neighborhood Council or stepping down as Committee Chair; and to be personally liable for any costs (including lock replacement) associated with losing their key(s) or failure to return a key within the timeline above.

Standing rule on required training for non-Board committee members

Passed May 21, 2015

• All voting members of SORO NC committees will be required to sign and abide by the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment's (DONE) Code of Conduct and the SORO NC Code of Civility.
• All committee Chairs, Co-chairs, and Vice Chairs must take all training required of the Board as mandated by DONE.

Standing rule on email access

Passed July 21, 2016

• Only current SORO NC Boardmembers, committee chairs, and liaisons may have official soronc.org email accounts. However, role-based addresses (e.g., [email protected]) may be used to forward incoming email to non-Boardmember email addresses.
• Former Boardmembers, committee chairs, and liaisons will have thirty (30) days to copy/archive content from their SORO NC email accounts after leaving Board service.