In calling an urgent closed session at the end of its regular meeting to discuss a real estate deal, the Portola Valley City Council failed to notify the public of the agenda and time of the meeting 72 hours in advance thereby, according to one expert, violating the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law.
Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association, questioned that the council had to take “immediate action.” Ewert noticed that the mayor said the meeting was called to update the council which “presumes or implies that no action was required but that it was an informational session. If you’re going to inform somebody, that’s not a need for a closed session.” -db
From The Almanac, April 5, 2011, by Dave Boyce.