Grievance

Department of Neighborhood Empowerment Grievance Form

Thank you for contacting the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment regarding your Grievance. Your concerns are important to us. Please fill out this form as completely as possible to help expedite our determination. Please be aware that the information you are submitting is subject to the California Public Records Act.

We will NOT be able to respond to your Grievance unless you provide a valid email or mailing address.
Please note that once you click Save at the upper right corner, your Grievance will be submitted.

All witness statements must be attached on this form.

The Department will not process more than three Grievance Forms filed by the same person in any calendar year and no more than five Grievance Forms filed by the same individual in any three year period. All Grievances submitted through this portal are considered processed.

First Name

Sandra

Last Name

Pruitt

Please identify your role within the Neighborhood Council system:

Stakeholder

Phone Number

(323) 735-6006

Email Address

princessakereke@yahoo.com

Mailing Address

3640 2nd Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90018

Neighborhood Council

United Neighborhoods

Neighborhood Council Bylaws

Specific Violation Alleged

Failure to indicate the nature of your alleged Grievance will result in the dismissal of your Grievance.

Neighborhood Council Bylaw

Article Number

Section

Los Angeles Administrative Code

Section

Plan for the Citywide System of Neighborhood Councils

Section

Board of Neighborhood Commissioners Policy

Please state Policy below

Department Policy

Please state Policy below

* - Any other City code, executive directive, rule or regulation applicable to Neighborhood Councils.

Date of Alleged Violation

12-08-17

A Grievance must be filed within 30 days from the date of the event giving rise to the Grievance. Any Grievance alleging a violation relating to Neighborhood Council funding must be filed within 90 calendar days of the date the expenditure is made.

Please state below

For the past 5 years I have held a kids holiday event in Jefferson Park. This year was the most challenging. In september I presented my funding request packet to the UNNC executive committee, then in October the same funding packet was presented to the governing board. Then to my dismay on Nov. 8th, I am contacted by the VP Denise Jackson with a email that was sent to her from the treasurer, Etahn Polk, stating the packet was incomplete. My first concern is Ethan Polk not reaching out to me personally nor did he mention this fact during either of the meeting. After alot of back and forth, come to find out Etahn states he doesn't have may funding packet. Unfortunately I had misplaced mine. So now I am start to panic. I organize the entire event by myself, hence the reason I start far in advance to give myself some time to make sure the event runs smoothly for the kids in the commumity. I eventually find out that the signatory Geoff Bowen has a copy. Ethan never communicates with me. He never explained to me what additional information was needed. Geoff Bowen does. I complete the funding packet email it to Geoff. Now I'm feelong anixous so I reach out to Angela Pipkin to make sure I have all the required papers. She acknowledges that I do. Moving forward. I am again taken aback when Geoff Bowen asks me at the end of November about the invoices. Mind you I have already given him and the board this paperwork twice now. I even went to his house and got the paperwork from him. Geoff states he needs the name and phone numbers on the invoices, which he has. It had been my understanding from during this several times that the invoices were to be paid 30 days in advance. After some more back and forth, the insurance quote had expired and one of my vendors almost cancelled, but since we have a very good working relationship, since I use the same vendors, they were able to keep our event on their schedule. However, they usually confirm once they receive payment. The vendors got paid a week before the event. My concern is the manner in which the treasurer did not handle this situation at all, given he lost, or misplaced my paper, which sent this whole situation into a tailspin. My next concern is Geoff not looking over the paperwork. Those things I ould overlook if Geoff wasn't so disrepectful towards me. Both Ethan and Goeff are fairly new to the board. Geoff Bowen was appointed as the Jefferson Park rep, after I stepped down. Rather than these two gentlemen appreciating my many years of hard work and experience, they both treat me with disdain and disrespect. I feel personally attacked, because I have been at a UNNC governing board meeting when a rep did n't have any paperwork and the executive members agreed to fund the event, and they stated just for the member to get them the paperwork, later.

Please specify the exact rule and explain the facts of the alleged violation.

The rule is the UNNC board will vet the funding requests at the executive meeting to ensure anything that is necessary is done, so the funding request will be presentable for the governing board meeting.
The rule is that the treasurer will make sure all forms are completed. And the signatory will pay the vendors.
In my case the treasurer lost the paperwork and never commumicated with me directly, nor did he explain to me what additional papers wee needed.
The second violation was the signatory did not verify the paperwork, 30 days before the event.

Remedy

There are various remedies available. Please select from the list below the remedy OR remedies you are seeking.
Please be advised that the Department has sole discretion in determining whether your remedy conforms with your Grievance.

From the list below, which remedy or remedies are you seeking?

1) Warning to the Neighborhood Council board, individual board member, or, members.

2) Required corrective action of the Neighborhood Council.

3) Mandated training for the Neighborhood Council, individual board member, or, members.

4) Required mediation for the Neighborhood Council board, individual board member, or, members.

5) Suspension of Neighborhood Council board until mandated trainings are taken by board, board member, or, members.

6) Temporary suspension of Neighborhood Council Funding.

7) Placement of the Neighborhood Council board under control and supervision of the Department.

8) Suspension of individual board member or members.

9) Initiation of de-certification process or process to declare board seats vacant.

Please state why you are seeking the above mentioned remedy or remedies.

I feel mediation would be more useful because emailing back and forth several times, 13 to 14 replies is impersonal and not a good team building stratgey.

Placement to supervise the board because other than Jeff Camp the president , everyone else is fairly new to the executive committee, and or they are complicent.

Witness Information

ALL of your Witness information and Witness Statement needs to be included at this time. The Department will ONLY accept and review Witness information included at time of submission.
You can find the Witness Statement form here.

Witness 1 Contact Information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Phone Number

Witness Statement

Witness 2 Contact Information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Phone Number

Witness Statement

Witness 3 Contact Information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Phone Number

Witness Statement

If no witness, please check this box

Supporting Documents

Before submitting, please include ALL supporting documentation HERE. The Department will ONLY process and review materials included at time of submission. NOTE: The Department will only review up to 10 pages submitted. Any information submitted past 5 pages will not be taken into account.

Supporting Document

I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California that the foregoing is true and correct.

By checking this box and typing my name below, I am electronically signing this form.

Sandra Pruitt

To SUBMIT, please click "Save" on top right corner.

NC Determination

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