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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Celestina León, District Manager of Brooklyn Community Board 4
4:54:46
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152 sec
Celestina León, District Manager of Brooklyn Community Board 4, testified about the challenges faced by community boards as small independent city agencies with volunteer-based leadership. She focused on district office operations and highlighted issues with various city agencies supporting community boards, particularly the Office of Technology and Innovation (OTI) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
- León emphasized the need for better communication and support from OTI, including more liaisons and advance notice of changes affecting community board operations.
- She pointed out decreased collaboration and transparency from OMB, leading to concerns about access to reliable budget information.
- León advocated for increased baseline funding for community boards, including the addition of planners as outlined in the city charter.
Celestina León
4:54:46
Good afternoon.
4:54:47
My name is Celestina Leung and I'm the district manager of Brooklyn Community Board four which serves Bushwick as well as the facilitator of the future of community boards working group which includes district managers and assigned staff from all five boroughs.
4:55:00
I joined my colleagues to highlight the unique challenges we face as the smallest independent city agencies that have a volunteer based leadership and the opportunities to further address them.
4:55:10
While both board members and the district office have been tasked with additional responsibilities in the absence of consistent guidance and resources, my testimony will focus specifically on district office operations.
4:55:22
For context, as you know various mayoral agencies and offices are tasked with supporting community board operations such as the Office of Technology and Innovation, Office of Management and Budget, and the Mayor's Community Affairs Unit.
4:55:33
The borough presidents facilitate human resources administration.
4:55:36
There is no overall centralization or standard oversight beyond this forum.
4:55:41
And I will further elaborate on Office of Technology and Innovation challenges.
4:55:45
One liaison for all 59 community boards as was raised by a colleague, when they are out of the office there isn't a designated point person to address issues.
4:55:53
Board operations are potentially disrupted until that liaison returns.
4:55:57
There's a lack of communication and clear staff structure.
4:56:01
The agency has failed to provide notice to the boards in advance of implementing a transition of community board data to a different platform.
4:56:09
If the liaison is not responsible for that notice, then OTI needs to identify the most appropriate staff.
4:56:15
And a recent example of no notice provided when remote access portal is down and changes are made, all boards rely on that portal to access city time, FMS, and the street activity permit office.
4:56:26
There's an opportunity here for OTI to build a more collaborative, informed relationship with the boards by providing advance notice for supporting changes.
4:56:34
The office of management and budget, a decrease collaboration and transparency with the boards has led to a variety of concerns including access to reliable budget information.
4:56:43
Various colleagues have situations that they may share in further detail.
4:56:46
Historically, the OMB community board budget team has supported the boards understanding the district office budget by providing easy to understand breakdowns, not a crystal report, and sought to resolve matters in a collaborative manner.
4:56:58
And I will skip ahead to other opportunities for community board support.
4:57:02
We know that there's legislative action and potential charter reform to increase our baseline funding.
4:57:08
We hope that this includes planners for community boards which is an unfulfilled need already in the charter and we welcome the opportunity to testify as agencies in this forum.
4:57:18
Thank you.