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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Neighborhood Councils Fight Financial Disclosure

When the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Jan. 15 to support the creation of a Neighborhood Council File Index, it seemed that neighborhood councils had won a long fought-for right. But when a motion was passed to require neighborhood councils that wished to open files to fill out statements of economic interest, a public outcry ensued that continues to be heard today. Was it necessary for neighborhood council members to disclose such detailed financial information, those who objected asked? Wouldn’t such a requirement dissuade members from opening files in the first place? Today, the public outcry over Greig Smith’s motion continues. Near mid-March, the Education and Neighborhoods Committee of the City Council will determine whether to require neighborhood councils to fill out Form 700 or a less intrusive financial disclosure form. “It’s asking too much,” said Jill Banks Barad, president of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council and founder/chair of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils. “We’re all volunteers.” Barad worries that making a requirement out of the form, in which neighborhood council members would provide information about spouses, dependents and clients, might discourage people from running for council and influence present members of councils to resign. “People felt that this was not necessary but undue, administrative bureaucracy,” Barad said. “People worried about disclosing what they felt was private information.” Even Valley Industry & Commerce President Brendan Huffman, who objected to giving neighborhood councils the right to open files, feels that Form 700 is too intrusive. “In the spirit of more civic participation, VICA is open to disclosures not as detailed,” Huffman said. A proposed alternative to Form 700 is Form 52, which Huffman said fails to require enough disclosure. Instead, VICA suggested on Feb. 19 that a new form be drawn up that requires disclosure of information such as the names of individuals who have funded or contributed to neighborhood council candidates. The proposed form would also require members to indicate if they own property within the boundaries of the neighborhood council as well as if they have received gifts from entities with business before the neighborhood council. “Let’s say a developer is proposing a project and takes it to the neighborhood council for review and approval,” Huffman explained. “If the developer has invited any of the neighborhood council (members) to dinner or to a Dodgers’ game, we should know.” Richard Alarc & #243;n, chair of the Education and Neighborhoods Committee and Seventh District councilman, believes that mandating neighborhood councils to fill out Form 700, which city officials, commissioners and staff must submit, would be a bureaucratic nightmare of sorts. “What would happen if every neighborhood council decided to open neighborhood council files?” he asked in a statement. “That would mean over 1800 forms would be submitted to the Ethics Commission for their review,something that would undoubtedly stretch their capacity.” Additionally, the City Attorney’s Office expressed concern that the motion requires the Ethics Commission to review the forms for potential conflicts of interest,something that it has never done before and that is not done even for the City’s elected officials.” Backers of Form 700 have said that neighborhood councils should be required to fill out the forms because now that they have the authority to open files they are, in effect, legislators. “Neighborhood councils are not legislators,” Barad stressed. “We are still advisory to the City Council. The City Attorney and the Ethics Commission both have ruled that. If you file a council file, first, it has to go to committee. Then it has to be voted on. Then, it goes to City Council. Theoretically, it might never get to the City Council.”

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