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File Number: 23-447 Since the initial formation of the Board, the City has worked proactively to recruit student members. Related efforts have included paid advertisements in local newspapers including the San Leandro Times, notifications and related outreach to local school districts, colleges and universities, along with various other social media outreach campaigns to elicit student applicants. Nevertheless, recruitment for the student positions has been extraordinarily challenging and both seats on the CPRB remain vacant. Because the CPRB is officially a nine-member board, the legal definitions of what constitutes both a quorum and a majority are based upon that nine-member structure, irrespective of the fact that two of the nice seats remain vacant. As a result, these sustained vacancies have generated substantive impacts to the Board’s ability to conduct its business, and in particular when greater than two members of the Board are unable to attend a given meeting. For example, the February 2023 Board meeting was cancelled for lack of quorum at the time due to excused absences by two members of the Board (coupled with the two student and the District 3 vacancy that existed at that time). Additionally, the board’s ability to achieve a majority is similarly impacted even when all seven members are present since the definition of a quorum is based on the official nine-member composition of the Board. As a result of these challenges, the CPRB identified the student vacancies as an ongoing issue area in its annual report that was submitted to the City Council in June 2023. Additionally, the CPRB formally discussed the matter at its July 19, 2023 meeting. As part of its deliberations on this issue, several potential solutions were identified, including the following three proposals that received considerable attention and discussion: A)Eliminate the 2 student seats, thereby making the CPRB a 7-member body. B)Convert the 2 student seats to “ex-officio” status and eliminate their attendance and training requirements that are otherwise applicable to the rest of the Board. As ex-officio members they also would be unable to vote, and their attendance or absence at meetings would have no bearing on the Board’s ability to achieve a quorum or majority vote. C)Convert the 2 student seats to At-Large appointments. Such a structure would largely mirror how all of the City of San Leandro’s other 9-member Boards and commissions operate. Additionally, the CPRB discussed incorporating some type of aspirational language that would indicate the Mayor should attempt to prioritize filling these seats with students, if feasible. At the conclusion of the discussion, no clear consensus emerged among the three options above, though a plurality of the CPRB (4 members) favored option “C”. The above-described issue and the discussions/outcome of the CPRB’s deliberations related thereto were subsequently presented to the City Council Rules Committee at its July, 2023 meeting, along with the application materials from one local student who submitted an application to serve on the Board. Following extensive discussion, the Rules Committee unanimously (among the two Committee members present) directed staff to proceed forward with developing proposed ordinance changes that would effectuate Option C and to include language affirming the City Council’s desire for the Mayor to prioritize nominating students or youth for those two seats. The Committee noted that by prioritizing both students or youth for Page 3 City of San Leandro Printed on 12/21/2023