The Yolo County Health and Human Services Agency in partnership with the Community Services Action Board is seeking to edit board by-aws to reflect the decision to minimize the number of board members from 15 to 9. The bylaws currently state that CSAB should seat five district representatives, five low-income representatives, and five private organization or community-based representatives, for a total of fifteen. The recommendation to minimize has been authorized by the funding agency California Department of Community Services and Development (CSD) and accepted by CSAB.
Yolo County HHSA, CSAB, and counties nationwide have been dealing with unprecedented levels of adversity as the global pandemic has officially ended and in-person requirements have resumed, notably for local government board meetings. Yolo County HHSA has struggled to maintain an active tripartite board of community members, and it has impacted Yolo County’s ability to achieve a quorum, which has impacted Yolo County’s ability to meet CSBG deliverables. As stated by the CSAB bylaws, a quorum requires “a majority of the non-vacant seats” to attend any given meeting. Given the previously mentioned issues with meeting attendance, the decision to minimize the board from fifteen (15) to nine (9) would alleviate or resolve the inability to achieve a quorum. Reducing the number would call for a reconfiguration of the board seats with an updated configuration seating of three district representatives, three low-income representatives, and three private organizations or community-based representatives. This configuration has been accepted/pre-approved by the funding agency (CSD), and all CSAB members are in agreement. This updated configuration would improve overall board efficiency and still accurately represent the target population of CSBG funds.
In addition to this new configuration, CSAB is seeking to update its bylaws in reference to District appointments. The update would ask all Districts to appoint a representative, with two district representatives serving as alternates. District representatives would rotate as alternates every two years.
Yolo County has received $389,789 for the Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) for calendar year 2024. CSAB has approved a recommendation to utilize the funding to request a permanent CSBG analyst position as part of the FY24/25 Recommended Budget process and to direct the additional funding to Emergent Need/Direct Client Services. The CSBG analyst will help bring long-term stability and create historical knowledge which will support the homeless Continuum of Care and the CSAB board. The permanent CSBG analyst will use institutional knowledge to be able to meet Community Service Block Grant (CSBG) deliverables timely and ensure that the current and future CSBG Program maintains compliance and follows Government regulations. The CSBG analyst will help make CSBG more efficient and make the program cost effective. By making the program more efficient, the CSBG analyst would be able to use additional funding resources from other county programs that include Emergent Need/Direct Client services that help the most vulnerable populations.
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