Open Meeting Laws Reviewed for Residents

It was billed as a "Brown Act, Fair Political Reform Act and Council Policies and Procedures Study Session" and meant to help residents understand what kind of "open meeting" rules the city staff and City Council are supposed to abide by. And, through that understanding, to enable those residents to gain important information they desire from the city by learning what obligations the city has to provide such information.

Why is that important? Because Morro Bay is an unusual community containing many residents who actively take part in monitoring what the city does operationally and then use that to get the information to make their monitoring more effective. But if they don't understand what the rules are — what information the city staff and Council are obligated to give them access to — that can only stunt their "need to know."

So the Study Session held on Tuesday, May 21, as a practical matter, mostly benefitted the already-motivated residents in becoming more informed about city business that affects them directly. Such residents have a sense that it affects them in a concrete and potentially-significant way.

Those residents have gained invaluable knowledge about the city over the years, but what all but a very few don't know is how to ferret the essentials for "opening up" City Hall to obtain information that rarely appears in Council meeting agendas and city staff reports.

The new majority on the Council, which has vowed to provide opportunities for residents to become involved in city matters, is carrying out that pledge by organizing the Study Session. They seem to be fully aware that the active residents, who have learned a lot about how the city functions, will benefit most from such a study session (other sessions on a variety of topics are expected in the future). But likely nothing would satisfy the new Council majority as much as new residents learning from the May 21 Study Session.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Study Session is that such an event for residents is probably rare, if not unprecedented, on open meeting laws. It fulfills the new Council majority's commitment to involving more and more residents in the activities of city government. (Probably for the first time, residents recently participated in the selection of a new planner/project director for the Water Reclamation Facility, previously known as a wastewater treatment plant.)
Morro Bay city attorney Rob Schultz presided over the Study Session and touched upon many facets of the Brown Act — established in 1953 but often amended, the California Fair Political Reform Act, and the Council's Policies and Procedures, adopted in 2002. He did not mention how often the latter has been amended. He said he has conducted open sessions on the Brown Act numerous times.

His power point presentation (Attorney Presentation - 20 May 2013) included a page on the basics of the Brown Act:

Brown Act in a Nutshell
An agenda that describes each item of business must be posted 72 hours before regular meetings.
A meeting occurs when a council majority gathers to hear or discuss city business.
It is unlawful for a council majority to develop "collective concurrence as to action to be taken" outside of a meeting.
The public is entitled to speak at meetings to both agenda items and other city business.

He continued with an Overview of the Act:

Who's Covered
Meetings
Agendas
Closed Sessions
Enforcement

However, there were no printed explanations for any of the overview points.

Some of the power points were hard to understand. For instance:

Enforcement
Action can be voided after demand for cure.
Criminal Prosecution
Misdemeanor
State of Mind is "intent to deprive the public of information” to which it is entitled.
Tape Recorded Closed Sessions

And other points were skipped during his presentation, which was also televised. The Brown Act session can be seen on recordings shown at Brown Act Session.

Schultz is a very experienced attorney, having started as the city's attorney 16 years ago. But he is not trained as a teacher who can converse on the level of people unschooled in law. His power point showed it in places.

There are nonprofit organizations like CalAware, that has published a book called "Open Meetings in California." Written by its general counsel Terry Francke, it says Cal/Aware's mission "is to educate citizens on how to exercise their rights so as to maintain an open and responsive government."

The book says CalAware regularly holds seminars on open government all over California to address these questions:

 — What exactly are the people's rights when it comes to the operations of local legislative bodies?
 — What notice is sufficient?
 — What information must be revealed?
 — Just how can the people exercise the rights insured by the Brown Act?

Some residents think inviting a CalAware representative to discuss these questions with Morro Bay residents might be a productive "step two" in helping those residents learn what they need to know about ensuring their government continues to adopt openness as its hallmark.

Belted Kingfisher Image on Banner by Cleve Nash