DATE POSTED:                              TOPIC                                                              BY

SEPT 1, 2001    Taos County Guidelines for Neighborhood Associations   DAVE Dicicco, former Taos Co Planner @ cna 3-3-00

In terms of the specific requirements stated in the Taos County Guidelines for Neighborhood Associations (prepared 09/18/95 by the Taos County Planning Department), to become a neighborhood association recognized by Taos County,
the following must be met:

1) Efforts must be made to involve as many neighbors and community representatives as possible. Membership needs to open to all residents and citizens with vested interests in your neighborhood as well as represent different racial, ethnic and economic populations.
2) Schedule bi-weekly or monthly meetings and advertise them locally through flyers in public/popular spaces, local publications such as the Taos News or radio announcements.
3) Maintain minutes and sign in sheets for all meetings.
4) Maintain copies of all public notices and attempts to inform the community of your meetings.
5) Elect two representatives to the Council of Neighborhood Associations.
6) Attend County sponsored meetings.
7) Record Boundaries at the County Clerk's Office.
8) Form bylaws and register your Neighborhood Association with the County Clerk.
9) File incorporation papers with the State Corporation Commission as a nonprofit corporation .
10) Elect officers and a Board of Directors.

Once an association has been established, neighborhood residents have the opportunity to develop a vision statement which will be enable the to be a part of the Taos County Comprehensive Plan. The vision statement should reflect current and future uses for the neighborhood's land, water, housing, and transportation needs. In addition, the vision statement should also set guidelines for the development of goals for health, social services, cultural and recreational needs. Ideally, the vision statement will assist the County in
prioritizing and budgeting for different capital improvements and guide the Planning and County Commissioners in making decisions on land use cases. If you would like a complete Copy of the Taos County Planning Guidelines for Neighborhood Associations and the State Corporation Commission Requirements for Incorporating a New Mexico Corporation for Nonprofit, contact Dina at the Western Environmental Law Center at 751-0351 or Edward Vigil at the Taos County Planning Department at 758-8681.

It is important to note that aside from the requirements of the Taos County Planning Department Regulations, there is no definition within the laws of the State nor the Town for a neighborhood association.  Thus, under the current Taos County Land Use Regulations, any group of individuals with Common interests can petition for the development of a neighborhood association provided they establish boundaries, establish bylaws, elect officials and register with the State Corporation Commission pursuant to the NM State Non-profit Act.
 
 

SEPT 1,2000           Some Suggestions for Bylaw Amendments                      by     Erich Kuerschner, LDMNA member
 

These are some of the changes to the bylaws that might be worth discussing, i.e. these are "proposed suggestions",
 posted to stimulate discussion only:  [ the links are to what the bylaws would look like, colored for change ]

Please know I am appreciate of ALL efforts to build community and I am in no way critical of any individual. All those
willing to participate are to be highly commended, especially in light of the current  low county support. But low interest
should make us even more careful that we don't deviate inadvertently from original agreements, and offend those
skeptical of NA being just another attempt for "newcomers to impose their will on the pre-existing population - see e.g.
the El Valle NA discussion on CNA )

Since the climate and county support of NA's has radically altered since this concept was initiated, some of the lack of interest could
be attributable to this, and is understandable from one perspective.

Issue number one, e.g., escaped my recognition, as well as others. The intent is merely to "fix" stuff. The basic thrust is to address
stuff that:

    1. encourages action by the board / NA
    2. clarifies the decision making process especially in terms of who members are, and
    3. makes more explicit the requirements for the NA to be legitimate, and the required board actions.

But perhaps it is best to deal with this sort of thing in a slower, more deliberate way.  Perhaps the next board could
appoint a bylaws committee to hash this out.

We are still left with the problem of making the next election legitimate; I don't have an answer to that. I previously thought we might try to fix this before the annual election on Sept 25, but now feel an attempt could make things worse rather than better.
 
 

But, For What It's Worth, here are my "suggestions":
 

1. Change the Heading of Article III from "Officers" to "Registered Agent". Add a clause as to what the responsibility
    of the agent and the board is. The current near lapse of our state (and county) standing might have been prevented if the
    nature of this had been spelled out.
 

2. Clarify who is a voting member, i.e. the role of "dues",  and the Art V, sect 3 ( re "expiration" of membership.
   We MUST remove the requirement for "poll tax" i.e., the payment of dues CANNOT be a requirement for voting membership
   rights if we wish to be recognized.
 

3. Article VII Sect 6 re the board being able to remove a board member. This should be reserved for the
   membership ? General thrust to make the board more -inclusive, rather than self perpetuating. Perhaps
   term limits? Along this lines, perhaps we should explore the implications of "at large" positions for all but the
   two associations. All these current rules, IMHO, will eventually  lead to decision making by a small, non representative group.
   Do we really wish the board to have the ability to remove  "Minority" interests?  In any case, I would like to raise
   the fact that such clauses tend to make "outsiders" feel less welcome, a problem we hopefully do not wish to
   worsen, and in fact, jeopardizes our legitimacy, and leads us to be a "kangaroo" association.

  I recognize that it is much easier not to "think outside of the box" for board members, but it is a PREREQUISITE
  to obtain the consent of the governed.  We cannot just perpetuate a core group if we ever wish to have county planning
  standing ( perhaps we don't, and the NA is now envision is a purely consensual group,  acting only on behalf of it's
  members, and not the NA in general. If so, perhaps what is needed is a change in the bylaws.

Also, this clause is one of those that is "illegal", ie see Robert's Rule of Order re Votes, esp those requiring more than a
majority vote specifically designed to protect the3 rights of minorities. This rule is a clear violation of minority right protection.
See RROR . Such a rule requires at least 2/3 majority, noticer and a trial to protect minority interests. See Sect 48, motions
requiring more than majority vote, esp table of motions requiring 2/3 vote near end of section.
 
 

4. Article X   Meetings of the board to be quarterly - these quarterly required meetings could be better noticed and explicitly
   encourage (rather than just "allow") neighborhood participation.  Some language to encourage the board to work on
   implementing the vision statement, form committees, etc.?
 

   Clarify notification, and expand on what the affairs and business of the NA are:

   a. Some language to specify that the board has the responsibility to work toward keeping/making the  NA legitimate, and
       implementing the vision statement. I will try to post the list of criteria as agreed to by the NA's and the county. These show
       up most recently in the April 2000 CNA minutes ( which  I have, but unfortunately are not in the CNA archives  for some reason).
       They also appear in the workshop that Dave Dicicco gave early last year on his "template" for moving vision statements
       to ordinance.

   b. Keep and expand membership list. Solicit interest in membership and board positions. This to me is perhaps the most
      important function of the board, i.e. to reach out to the community  and encourage involvement, and clarify who members are, and
      how voting rights are determined. IMHO, this is currently in a major  state of confusion, and serious enough to raise the
      question of  whether any actions or votes are valid.

   c. Describe the other responsibilities in more detail, e.g. the boundary issues, both between NA (e.g. Los Colonias, AS, and AH)
      and side agreements between NA to over equal protection to those members on the fringe as to those more centrally located.

   d. Make repetitive events appear in the bylaws, e.g. "cleanup day"?
 

to :  how these particular [ proposed amended bylaws ] might look: