California: District Attorney cuffs Novato City Council for open meeting violation

The Marin County District Attorney criticized the Novato City Council for deciding at the last minute to discuss an issue without informing the public. The issue concerned affordable housing, of great interest to the public. The council agreed to readdress the matter at a future meeting. -db From the Marin Independent Journal, August 16, 2011 [...]

A&A: How to file a Brown Act complaint

A: The City Planning Commission considered an item not on the agenda, discussed it, and voted to deny it. I want to file a complaint. Where can I find what to do, the timeline, and a sample complaint? Q: If you feel that the Brown Act was violated, the first step would be to send [...]

A&A: Bundling agenda action items silences public input

Q: I would like to question the legality of a new practice our school board school board to “bundle”  regular action items on the agenda. At the only regular board meeting of August 2010, after approving the consent calendar, the board approved the regular agenda items as presented. Their own by-laws state an agenda item [...]

A&A: Public comment limited to three items on Water Quality Board agenda

Q: A draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit was submitted for comments. A final permit ignored most comments, but made three small changes. The first and only public hearing is coming up , but the agenda states that oral comments will be limited to the three changes. Thus, no important points can be [...]

A&A: Inadequate notification of Special District meetings

Q: I report for the local community newspaper. The local Special District (Fire) has its regular meeting on the second Tuesday of each month. For quite a while the agenda was emailed to all board members and to me (upon standing automatically renewed request) on the preceding Friday. Recently the District started posting the agenda [...]

A&A: Agenda item questions

Agenda item questions Q: Can items labeled “discussion” be voted upon as action items? Does “other administrative items,” and “other administrative items, including delegation of tasks” adequately describe taking action on appointing an already appointed established committee as a subcommittee to this group? What is a definition of a “brief description” of an item as [...]

A&A: Agenda posted on-line

Agenda posted on-line Q: Can the legislative body of a state-funded entity discontinue sending notice of standing meetings by reasoning that agendas/minutes are posted on its website? To me, it does not meet the requirement that the public’s business be conducted in an open a manner as possible. A: If you have a request on [...]

A&A: Opening closed session agenda items by a city council

Opening closed session in mid-meeting Q: Can a city council vote to open a closed session agenda item for the public record? A: There are at least two possible answers to your question, depending on the particular situation. First, after a closed session, a city council is generally required to disclose certain information about that [...]

A&A: “Amended” agenda for public meeting

“Amended” Agenda must meet 72-hour notice rule Q: Recently, I attended a local school board meeting in which an “Amended” Agenda was made available for the public after the regular agenda had already been published. This “amended” agenda was made available less than 72 hours before the meeting. Is this procedure OK? A: California Government [...]

A&A: Can the public place items on a City Council agenda?

Can the public place items on a City Council agenda? Q: Does the Brown Act or case law provide the right of public members to place items on a City Council agenda? A: Neither the Brown Act nor case law create a general right for the public to place items on the agendas of public [...]

A&A: Obligation to stated agenda

Obligation to stated agenda Q: Labor law requires that in order to negotiate a new contract the union’s proposals must be presented in a public meeting. The School District agendized the sunshining of a teamsters union contract proposal but did not have the proposal available at the meeting or place the proposal on its website.  [...]