A new Mill Valley social media policy on town council members’ use of personal web accounts to converse with fellow council members and the public has been sidelined pending a California Supreme Court ruling on a San Jose case. The town wants to open access for community members while adhering to the Brown Act prohibition on conversations between council members constituting “meetings.” (Marin Independent Journal, August 9, 2015, by Adrian Rodriguez)
Marin County supervisors are trying to settle a lawsuit over their closed meetings to deliberate on rules for creekside development. The First Amendment Coalition (FAC) joined environmentalist David Schnapf in challenging the supervisors’ claim to secrecy based on lawyer-client privilege and that the meetings were part of the “deliberative process.” FAC’s Peter Scheer considers the issue an important test case on access to legislative proceedings. “…debate should be conducted in an open and transparent process, and it should be informed with all relevant information and records,” said Scheer. (Marin Independent Journal, August 7, 2015, by Nels Johnson)
An editorial in Riverside’s The Press-Enterprise, July 28, 2015, applauds the county supervisors for their plans to live stream meetings of agencies and commissions under the Brown Act. One supervisor said it would be interesting to see if any of the entities refused to provide that access.
A California appeals court ruled that the Newhall County Water District was not in violation of the Brown Act in holding a closed session in 2013 to discuss a lawsuit against another water agency. The appeals panel wrote that the Newhall agency provided sufficient information to the public about their pending legal moves and opportunities for public input. (Courthouse News Service, July 23, 2015, by Nick Cahill)
A faculty union of the Rancho Santiago Community College District sued over a contract signed by the district and two Saudi Arabia technical colleges. The union contends that the district made the decision on the contract without consulting the faculty, failing to post meeting agendas or minutes and to provide opportunities for public comment until late in the decision process. (The Orange County Register, July 21, 2015, by Brooke E. Siepel)