Town council approves bylaws changes

The Altadena Town Council voted to approve changes to the bylaws at Tuesday night’s meeting.

Despite some fiery online rhetoric this week about the changes, they were approved wiithout much discussion, with no public comment, and in an almost-empty chamber, and almost unanimously (Okorie Eizieme and Greg Middleton abstained).

Besides some changes in language, the four major revisions were:

1. A candidate must be a registered voter to run for office as a census tract representative;
2. A candidate must be a permanent resident of Altadena for at least two years prior to running for office;
3. If a member is removed for cause, they cannot run for office again;
4. If a member has resigned while under investigation and facing removal, they also cannot run for office again.

Councilmember Ruth Neilan Edwards, who chaired the bylaws committee, said that the changes put Altadena in line with other unincorporated towns, such as Crescenta Valley.

The bylaws also put in provisions that the minutes of the previous meeting must be on the council website at least 72 hours before the next meeting.

UPDATE: Councilman Phil Barela sent us this correction:

The bylaws we approved last night say that the minutes must be sent to the councilmembers 72 hrs. prior to the meeting, not posted to the website 72 hrs. prior.  I am keenly interested in this rule, since I am now keeping the minutes...

A separate bylaw states the minutes must be posted on the Council website but does not mandate a time frame for this action.