Approve updates to the bylaws for Community Services Action Board (CSAB). (No general fund impact) (Sullivan)

The Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency, in partnership with the Community Services Action Board, is seeking to edit board bylaws to reflect changes to the configuration of the nine-member board that complies with statutory and regulatory requirements (42 U.S.C. 9910). The bylaws currently state that CSAB should seat three district representatives, three low-income representatives, and three private organization or community-based representatives, for a total of nine. It is recommended to flex the Low-Income Sector board members between three members to five board members and flex the Private Sector board members between three members to one member, while maintaining the nine-member board configuration. This recommendation has been authorized by the California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) and accepted by CSAB.

Yolo County HHSA, CSAB, and counties nationwide are dealing with difficulties maintaining active membership for local government board assignments and quorum for meetings. Yolo County HHSA has struggled to maintain an active tripartite board of community members. Even though the county currently has applications for seats on the board, the applications do not currently align with the approved structure of the board. Therefore, it is being requested to allow for flexibility between Low-Income and Community-Based seats. As stated by the bylaws, a CSAB quorum requires “a majority of the non-vacant seats” to attend any given meeting. Given the previously mentioned issues with vacant seats and pending applications not aligning with current structure of the CSAB board, the decision to flex the board Low-Income and Community-Based seats would alleviate or resolve current membership and quorum issues. 

This configuration has been pre-approved by the funding agency (CSD) and all CSAB members are in agreeance. This updated configuration would improve overall board efficiency and still accurately represent the target population of CSBG funds.

In addition to updates to the board configuration, updates have been proposed to provide better clarity around Chairperson and Vice Chairperson requirements, conflict of interest policy, new member orientation processes, and regular review of bylaws. 

The updated bylaws have been reviewed and approved by Yolo County Counsel to ensure the CSAB bylaws remain current and fully compliant with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations, and continue to reflect the best practices in governance for representation, membership, officers, conflict of interest and updated procedural verbiage.