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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC RESO 15,156RESOLUTION NO. 15,156 RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NATIONAL CITY ESTABLISHING PROCEDURES FOR PREPARATION AND POSTING OF THE COUNCIL AGENDA, AND FOR PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AT COUNCIL MEETINGS BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of National City that the following procedures are adopted for the preparation and posting of the City Council agenda, and for public participation at City Council meetings: 1. No later than 5:00 p.m. on each Friday before a regular City Council meeting, the City Manager or his designee shall post the City Council agenda on the bulletin board outside the City Clerk's office, in the Police Department lobby in City Hall, and in the library. In the event of a special meeting, the agenda shall be posted in such locations at least 24 hours before the meeting. 2. To establish a written record that the posting requirement is complied with, the City Manager or his designee shall sign a declaration as to the time and place where the agenda is posted. All declarations shall be kept on file in the City Manager's office. 3. In preparing the City Council agenda, each item of business to be transacted or discussed shall be described so as to inform the public of the nature of such business. 4. Only items of business appearing on the written agenda shall be discussed or acted upon at the Council meeting, including reports by the staff, City Council and Mayor. Items not appearing on the written agenda may be discussed or acted upon under the following circumstances: a) Upon a determination by a majority vote of the City Council that an emergency situation exists, as defined in Section 54956.5 of the Government Code. b) Upon a determination by a two-thirds vote of the City Council, or, if less than two-thirds of the members are present, a unanimous vote of those members present, that the need to take action arose subsequent to the agenda being posted. c) The item was posted for a prior meeting of the City Council occurring not more than five calendar days prior to the date action is taken on the item, and at the prior meting the item was continued to the meeting at which action is being taken. 5. At the beginning of the agenda, time shall be allotted for public oral communications, at which time members of the public may have a maximum of five minutes to speak on items of interest to the general public. If an issue is raised which does not appear on the written agenda, and City Council action is requested or required, the item shall automatically be included on the agenda for the next regular Council meeting. Although an item does not appear on the written agenda, action may be taken with respect to that item under the following circumstances: a) Upon a determination by a majority vote of the City Council that an emergency situation exists, as defined in Section 54956.5 of the Government Code. b) Upon a determination by a two-thirds vote of the City Council, or, if less than two-thirds of the members are present, a unanimous vote of those members present, that the need to take action arose subsequent to the agenda being posted. c) The item was posted for a prior meeting of the legislative body occurring not more than five calendar days prior to the date action is taken on the item, and at the prior meeting the item was continued to the meeting at which action is being taken. PASSED and ADOPTED this 16th day of December, 1986. George H. Waters, Mayor APPROVED: ONE C i ArBELL Ione , pbe11, , Ci.ty Clerk BY: /,' APPROVED AS 10d n44"4-- 41 George H. Eiser, III -City Attorney City of National City Office of the City Attorney 1243 National City Blvd., National City, CA 92050-4397 (619) 336-4220 George H. Eiser, III —City Attorney DECEMBER 8, 1986 T0: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL FROM: CITY AYIURNEY SUBJECT: CHANGES TO THE RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 On January 1, 1987, several amendments and additions to the Ralph M. Brown Act, the so-called "Open Meeting Law", take effect. The City Council, and other city boards and commissions, are bound by the provisions of the Act and are obliged to conform to its provisions, including these recent changes. The following is a description of the changes, and my recommendation as to the steps that should be taken to effectuate them. I. Posted Agenda Section 54954.2 is added to the Government Code, imposing requirements regarding the posting of agendas. The legislative body or its designee must, at least 72 hours before a regular meeting, post an agenda containing a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting. The agenda shall specify the names and location of the regular meeting and shall be posted in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public. No action shall be taken on any item not appearing on the posted agenda. Action may be taken with respect to items of business not appearing on the posted agenda only under the following conditions: 1) Upon a determination by a majority vote of the legislative body that an emergency situation exists, as defined in Section 54956.5. 2) Upon a determination by a two-thirds vote of the legislative body, or, if less than two-thirds of the members are present, a unanimous vote of those members present, that the need to take action arose subsequent to the agenda being posted. 3) The item was posted for a prior meeting of the legislative body occurring not more than five calendar days prior to the date action is taken on the item, and at the prior meeting the item was continued to the meeting at which action is being taken. DECENBER 8, 1986 PAGE TWO CHANGES TO 'nit RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 II. Public Input Section 54954.3 is added to the Government Code, imposing requirements regarding opportunites for public input at meetings of the legislative body. Every agenda for regular meetings must provide an opportunity for members of the public to address the legislative body on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the legislative body. However, no action may be taken on any item not appearing on the agenda unless the action is authorized by subdivision (b) of Section 54954.2. The legislative body may adopt regulations to ensure that these provisions are carried out, which may include a limitation on the total amount of time allocated for testimony on particular issues, and for each individual speaker. III. Special Meetings Section 54956 of the Government Code currently provides for special meetings upon giving 24 hours' notice to each member of the legislative body and to the news media. This section is amended to additionally require notice of the meeting to be posted 24 hours prior to the meeting in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public. IV. Emergency Meetings Section 54956.5 of the Government Code currently authorizes emergency meetings without complying with the 24 hour notice requirement of Section 54956. Section 54956.5 is amended to permit a legislative body to hold emergency meetings, in the case of an emergency situation involving matters upon which prompt action is necessary due to the disruption or threatened disruption of public facilities, without complying with the 24 hour notice and posting requirement of Section 54956. DECEMBER 8, 1986 PAGE THREE CHANGES TO THE RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 For the purposes of Section 54956.5, "emergency situation" means: 1) A work stoppage or other activity which severly impairs public health, safety, or both, as determined by a majority of the legislative body. 2) A crippling disaster which severly impairs public health, safety, or both, as determined by a majority of the legislative body. Even where an emergency meeting is authorized, the mayor or his designee must provide the news media with one hour's prior notice of the emergency meeting by telephone. The legislative body may not meet in closed session during an emergency meeting. The minutes of the meeting, a list of all persons notified of the meeting, a copy of the votes taken, and any actions taken during an emergency meeting must be posted for at least 10 days after the meeting takes place. V. Judicial Review Under existing provisions of the Ralph M. Brown Act, it is a misdemeanor for a member of a legislative body to knowingly attend a meeting where action is taken in violation of the Act. However, action taken in violation of the Act is nevertheless valid. Section 54960.1 is added to the Government Code to authorize individuals to commence a legal action to obtain a judicial determination that actions taken in violation of certain provisions of the Act are null and void. Prior to bringing such an action, the individual must make a written demand on the legislative body to correct the challenged action. Within 30 days of the demand, the legislative body must correct the challenged action, or inform the individual of its decision not to do so. An action cannot be determined to be null and void if any of the following conditions exist: DECEMBER 8, 1986 PAGE FOUR CHANGES TO YhF RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 1) The challenged action was in substantial compliance with the Brown Act. 2) The challenged action taken was in connection with the sale or issuance of notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness or any contract, instrument, or agreement thereto. 3) The challenged action taken gave rise to a contractual obligation, including a contract let by competitive bid, upon which a party has, in good faith, detrimentally relied. 4) The action taken was in connection with the collection of any tax. VI. Award of Court Costs and Attorneys' Fees Existing provisions of the Brown Act authorize an award of attorneys' fees where a plaintiff establishes that a local agency has violated the Act. Section 54960.5 of the Government Code is amended to extend these provisions to a suit where a legislative body's action is declared null and void. The local agency may also recover costs and attorneys' fees where it prevails in such a suit, if it can establish that the suit was frivolous and lacking in merit. VII. Recommendations for Implementation In many respects, AB 2674 constitutes a substantial departure from our existing procedures. My recommendations for implementing these changes are as follows: 1) The meeting agenda must be posted in an area "freely accessible" to the public for 72 hours prior to a regular meeting, and 24 hours before a special meeting. Although the bulletin board outside the City Clerk's office is a logical posting place, it may not meet the "freely accessible" requirement since City Hall is closed on weekends. Therefore, I recommend that the agenda be posted no later than 5:00 p.m. on each Friday before a regular Council meeting on the bulletin board outside the Clerk's office, in the Police Department lobby in City Hall, and in the library. The agenda shall also be posted in such locations at least 24 hours before a special meeting. DECEMBER 8, 1986 PAGE FIVE CHANGES TO THE RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 2) To establish a written record that the posting requirements are complied with, it is recommended that the City Manager or his designee sign a declaration as to the time and place where the agenda is posted. These declarations would be kept in the City Manager's office. 3) The agenda must contain a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed at the meeting. This description must be reasonably calculated to inform the public of the nature of the business being transacted. 4) Currently, our agenda allows the City Council and staff to raise issues for discussion under "reports", although these issues are not previously identified on the agenda. This practice would violate the new Brown Act provisions, unless one of the exceptions to the posting requirements appearing in Section 54954.2 (b) applies. It is recommended that only items of business appearing in the written agenda be discussed or acted upon during Council meetings, unless one of the exceptions contained in Government Code Section 54954.2 (b) applies. 5) The present practice is to allow members of the public five minutes each to discuss issues before the Council. Allowing the public to speak on "items of interest to the public" is now a requirement of the Brown Act. Additionally, the Council may adopt regulations with respect to this public input. However, if a member of the public discusses an issue not listed on the agenda, do the new posting requirements preclude the Council fran taking action on or discussing that item? Tb accomodate the requirements as to public input, it is recommended that any matter raised by a member of the public and requiring City Council action automatically be placed on the next agenda for such action, unless an exception to the posting requirements are found to exist under Section 54954.2 (b). It is further recommended that our present procedure for permitting oral communications, limited to five minutes for each speaker at the beginning of the agenda, be continued. DECEMBER 8, 1986 PAGE SIX CHANGES ¶EO THE RALPH M. BROWN ACT; AB 2674 VIII. Conclusion The above recommendations are included in a proposed resolution which I have prepared. If adopted, this resolution would constitute a set of guidelines for compliance with AB 2674, as well as a ready reference for the City Council, staff, and members of the public. Initially, it is unavoidable that implementation of these new legal requirements will be somewhat awkward. However, after a period of adjustment, I believe we will all be able to deal with them comfortably. GEO1 E H. EISER, III City Attorney GHE:ng cc: City Manager