Board Outcomes - February 4, 2020

Overview

The Board met in by conference call on February 4, 2020, for its scheduled bimonthly meeting.

Attendance

Voting Attendance

Brooke Guidry, Start Corporation (Houma Seat)

Gail Gowland, Family Violence Program of St. Bernard (Plaquemines/St. Bernard Seat)

Mariah Wineski, Louisiana Coalition Against Domestic Violence (LCADV Seat)

Tarek Polite, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury (Lake Charles Seat)

Weston Schild, Capital Area Alliance for the Homeless (HMIS Lead Seat)

Non-Voting Attendance

Winona Connor, Louisiana Housing Corporation (LHA Seat) (Chair)

Eboness Black, Volunteers of America - Greater Baton Rouge (General Attendance)

Gordon Levine, Louisiana Housing Corporation (CoC Manager)

Outcomes

Board Meeting Accessibility

The Board considered a proposal to make Board meetings more accessible to non-Board members by posting meeting information (including call-in numbers) on the LA BOSCOC website in advance of each regularly scheduled meeting.

The Board voted by acclamation to table this motion while LHC staff attorneys investigate which Louisiana state laws impose which open meeting requirements, if any, on the CoC.

Board Elections

The LA BOSCOC Governance Charter contains conflicting requirements regarding elected Board seats:

  1. Elected Board members shall serve a term of 2 years, and elections for each seat shall be held after 2 years at the next available meeting of that seat’s stakeholders;

  2. Elections shall be staggered when possible.

Four elected Board seats are up for election as of February 2020.

The Board voted unanimously (4-0-0) to interpret the Governance Charter as allowing the CoC to stagger elections quarter by quarter as needed and to empower LHC to determine the order in which they are staggered.

The Louisiana Balance of State Continuum of Care is dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in Louisiana. We believe all people are entitled to safe, stable, and secure housing. We are committed to working with stakeholders across our geography, in different professional circles, and from every background to create a Louisiana in which no person lives in fear of homelessness.