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 in the St. Helena Star quoted Jim Ewert of the CNPA, “This is exactly the kind of back-room discussion that the Brown Act was intended to prohibit when it was drafted. This was the kind of conduct that was in the crosshairs of the legislature.” -db

From the St. Helena Star,  April 21, 2011, by Jesse Duarte.

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