California: Grand jury finds Oak Valley Hospital District violated open meeting law

The Stanislaus County civil grand jury said the Oak Valley Hospital District had violated California’s open meetings law by failing to adhere to guidelines on agendas, the conduct of meetings, serial meetings and the release of confidential information and public information. The hospital district acknowledged the violations and said they were corrected before and during [...]

California: St. Helena council accused of holding illegal ‘serial meeting’

The California Newspaper Publishers Association (CNPA) is claiming that the St. Helena City Council violated the Brown Act, California’s open meeting act, when a town administrator sent a memo to council members of instructions to its Housing Subcommittee. In a series of e-mails, council members suggested changes to the instructions and approved them. Jesse Duarte [...]

A&A: “Briefings” on controversial project really serial meetings?

Q: The planning commission was given six days to review a 117 page packet for a very controversial project for the gateway of our city, which has not been developed. The day before the commission hearing, the city manager held a series of “briefing” meetings with groups of the 2-3 planning commissioners at a time [...]

A&A: A Group of City Council Staffers Can Constitute a Serial Meeting, too

Q: Our organization arranged a private meeting of some community stakeholders on a issue that will be coming before a city council committee, and we invited members of the staff of the three councilmen who make up that committee. However, we were told that only one staff member could attend, because any more would make [...]

A&A: Engaged couple running for school board a conflict of interest?

Q: I am a journalist preparing a story about two potential members of the local School Board. One is the recent city manager of the city who quit the post and the other is a current councilwoman who is not running for re-election this Nov. Both, though are running for the school board, and the [...]

A&A:Board Conducting Public’s Business Via Private Emails

Q: It became apparent yesterday morning that the Board of Directors of our Community Services District is conducting a significant portion of its business via email.  The emails would have originated from at least six personal private computers. Such email has not been made part of the public record. Under CPRA I have requested copies [...]

Crescent City: Town government bodies may be stretching open meeting laws

A reporter for the Daily Triplicate writes that while “two-by-two” meetings held by the City Council and Harbor Commission are legal since they do not constitute a quorum, the practice may not realize the greatest potential for open government. -db The Daily Triplicate Commentary February 01, 2010 By Kurt Madar Non-public events are being used [...]

Los Angeles D.A. says Brown Act effective deterrent

Los Angeles County District Attorney staff members say they enforce the Brown Act aggressively but seek compliance rather punishment and has only had to bring two civil suits to enforce the act in the last eight years. They urge public officials to embrace the act rather than treat it as an obstacle. -DB Metropolitan News-Enterprise October 2, [...]

A&A: Serial Meetings 101

Serial Meetings 101 Q: A citizen here has asked the DA to investigate Riverside County supervisors for possible violation of the “serial meetings” provision of the Brown Act. Could someone explain to me exactly how a series of two-person conversations can violate the act? On a five-member board, if A discusses X with B, and [...]