The San Juan Bautista City Council violated the state open
meetings law Saturday after having an open discussion with some
residents at a scheduled
”
town hall
”
gathering without posting an agenda listing specific topics, the
city attorney has acknowledged.
With a full table of five city council members, a quorum of the
legislative body, the San Juan Bautista council discussed such
matters as becoming a charter city, installing traffic cameras and
giving a 5 percent break to downtown businesses offering public use
of bathrooms. The council openly discussed these issues and others
with the public and without properly posting specific topics on an
agenda
– as required in California’s Brown Act governing open meetings.
The penalty for breaking the law is a misdemeanor, while civil
remedies include voiding any actions potentially undertaken by a
legislative body.
The San Juan Bautista City Council violated the state open meetings law Saturday after having an open discussion with some residents at a scheduled “town hall” gathering without posting an agenda listing specific topics, the city attorney has acknowledged.
With a full table of five city council members, a quorum of the legislative body, the San Juan Bautista council discussed such matters as becoming a charter city, installing traffic cameras and giving a 5 percent break to downtown businesses offering public use of bathrooms. The council openly discussed these issues and others with the public and without properly posting specific topics on an agenda – as required in California’s Brown Act governing open meetings. The penalty for breaking the law is a misdemeanor, while civil remedies include voiding any actions potentially undertaken by a legislative body.
When the Pinnacle objected to the format during Saturday’s meeting, council members and the city manager denied any wrongdoing. But their own city attorney, who was not in attendance at the San Juan Bautista Community Center for the town hall, acknowledged Monday that they violated the law.
A small group of about 10 citizens joined the council in the meeting. City Manager Steve Julian sat in the audience, along with a sheriff’s deputy and a public works employee.
The Brown Act is an open meetings law that forces government officials to properly notice the public of meeting times and specific subjects up for discussion or action. The Brown Act is put into effect anytime there is a quorum, or a majority, of officials gathered to speak or receive information. In a flyer, the meeting was advertised as a “free exchange of information on issues of community-wide importance,” but did not detail subjects.
Two days after the meeting and in response to a Pinnacle inquiry, City Attorney George Thatcher admitted in a written statement that the Brown Act had been broken.
“You are correct that a notice and agenda in compliance with certain Brown Act requirements were not posted prior to the meeting,” Thatcher said in an e-mail response. “Staff was advised to do so but inadvertently a formal notice was not posted, thus, at a minimum, there was no publicly circulated brief general description of agenda items.”
The Pinnacle has submitted a public records request for all documents related to the town hall meeting. Regardless of the meeting format, an itemized agenda also has to be made available to the public, said Jim Ewert, legal adviser for the California Newspaper Publishers Association.
Without agenda topics, council members are barred from commenting to the public or other members on such topics under their jurisdiction, Ewert said.
“They cannot engage with any member of the public or themselves. If they cross that line, they are in violation.”
After the newspaper last week noted concerns about the meeting’s format, Julian responded prior to the meeting by stating it was a “study session” and it was okay under the San Juan municipal code. In addition, Julian had said the city has held the town hall meetings for years under the same rule.
No votes occurred during Saturday’s meeting, but the board did decide to look at installing additional stop signs through town streets and offering a 5 percent discount on businesses’ water bills if they allowed public use of restrooms, which are scarce in the Mission City. In one of the main topics of discussion, council members brought up the idea of turning San Juan Bautista into a “charter city.”
For the full story, pick up a copy of Tuesday’s Free Lance or go to www.freelancenews.com.
