A&A: Urgent meeting scheduled for July 4 seemed to circumvent the public process

Q: Our municipality has filed for bankruptcy. As part of this ongoing nonsense the town officials have been doing what ever they can to be sneaky and underhanded. Recently they held a special meeting on July 4. The meeting was to transfer money from a special tax fund for a purpose specifically excluded from use by the bond measure. Since the shortfall in the fund to receive the money had been known for two months, urgency is not really a good reason for holding the meeting on a holiday.

The meeting was held within the 24-hours notice rule.  However no clerk was present to record the minutes. The meeting was held in the normal town meeting room but was not televised as is usual and customary for town meetings. The cameras were present but not turned on. Staff never attempted to activate them nor contacted the persons who do. Nor was it streamed on the internet as per usual. I feel that this will become a common occurrence in order to circumvent the public process and open meeting laws. Is there anything that can be done?

A: It looks like the city may have complied with the minimum requirements of the Brown Act.

Unlike an emergency meeting, an agency need not have a stated reason for holding a special meeting. The Brown Act requires only that a special meeting be noticed at least 24 hours before the time for which the meeting is called, and that the notice must be delivered to each local newspaper and television station that has requested the notice, and posted in a place that is freely accessible to the public. Govt. Code section 54956.

And although the Brown Act requires that the public be given access to audio and video recordings and minutes of meetings should such recordings or minutes be made, Govt. Code section 54953.5, the law does not actually require the agency to take minutes or make recordings of open sessions.

The law thus does not provide you any remedy here. You may want to check the agency’s bylaws to see if it has violated any of its own rules. But otherwise your best strategy may be to direct media and other public attention to the city’s actions.

Bryan Cave LLP is general counsel for the First Amendment Coalition and responds to FAC hotline inquiries. In responding to these inquiries, we can give general information regarding open government and speech issues but cannot provide specific legal advice or representation.