Morano questions CB panel on Intro 322 appointments

My one question on the community board front for anybody that wants to answer it is, what do you think of the idea of allowing council members to appoint half the community board members in a binding rather than an advisory manner?

For anybody.

Yeah, just turn your mic on if you do want to comment.

I was going to say, I'm the chair of my local community board, and it's a really robust review that happens now.

And the community board actually has the opportunity to opine, to say, oh, you know, this person has come to meetings.

They're interested in the community.

They volunteer.

And especially for new council members, that's just not available.

So I really think it should be the current system that we have where the borough president works with the council members to determine from the pool of people that have applied who would be the best fit for that community.

Our board has not taken a stand on this, so this is my personal opinion at this point.

Thank you.

Anybody else have a personal opinion they want to share?

Well, of the witness table.

Yes, so personal opinion, I agree with what the chairperson said, where

Yes, exactly.

Yeah, just to reiterate, right?

So yes, I agree with that, where it would have to be

Like, basically, the two things that would have to work would be a borough president's office that would be equally engaging with that city council member, right?

Just because if one of those two weren't participating in, like, full faith, then that would fall apart.

I don't, because my concerns would be...

Not only some of the politicization, but also just the fact that you would need both parties to see, hey, who's saying lip service that they're coming to the community board meetings and engaging versus who's actually doing so.

So I think that partnership, I think if both parties are engaging in good faith with each other, then yes, I'm a fan of that.

But I do have hesitation just outright.

Last time we were together and spoke about this, I said that in Brooklyn it didn't feel like it would have a practical

impact because the borough presidents that I've been district manager while they've been BPs, and there's three of them, have always honored the nominations.

And the only time where there was a glitch in that system was when the council members did not turn in names for their nominations.

And then whose responsibility was it to fill those slots?

Some borough presidents argued that without nominations, those were going to be vacancies, and others understood the language of the charter to direct them because it says borough presidents shall and I think council members may.

So I think that's where the glitch could continue, even if this were to pass, is what happens if names aren't forwarded by council members?

So I would, if the council does consider this, I would look at that potential gap.

And there's a theme today where there's some things already written into the language of the charter and the law.

And if it's not being enforced now, and instead we're just introducing new laws on top of the ones that aren't being enforced, then there's a systems problem that should also be considered.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Right on my, okay.

Thank you everybody, you're fabulous.

I love community boards, I love district managers.