Asked & Answered

A&A: Circumstances for closed meetings

Circumstances for closed meetings Q: For what reasons can a legislative body have a closed meeting? A: Meetings of any “legislative body” of a “local agency” as those terms are defined in California Government Code sections 54592 and 549451, respectively, may hold closed sessions for the following reasons: —To discuss and decide whether an applicant for a license or license renewal who has a criminal record is sufficiently rehabilitated to obtain the license (Gov’t Code

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A&A: Applicability of Brown Act to public charter schools

Applicability of Brown Act to public charter schools Q: Is the Board of a Public Charter School bound by the Brown Act? A: The answer to your question depends on whether the public charter school was “created by” an elected legislative body—or receives funds from a government agency and whose governing body includes a member of the legislative body—for the purposes of the Ralph M. Brown Open Meetings Act and is therefore subject to the

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A&A: Availability of agendas

Q: What is the obligation of a body that is required to comply with the Brown Act with regards to informing the public of how to access their agendas and minutes? Direct requests to the body for agendas and minutes has been ignored.  Is there a procedures or process that public citizens should be aware of? A: The Brown Act does not require government bodies to keep minutes. However, under section 54957.5 of the Brown

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A&A: Authority to call school district special meetings

Authority to call school district special meetings Q: I attended an emergency meeting of the School District that was called not by the president but by one of the directors on behalf of the manager. The president wasn’t informed of the meeting until it was all set up and an agenda posted. The lone director stated in public (meeting is taped) that he called the meeting, saying he as a lone individual can call the

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A&A: Agendas and sufficiency of “brief general descriptions”

Agendas and sufficiency of “brief general descriptions” Q: In accordance with Section 2.20.140(B)(3) of the Purchasing Ordinance, the City Manager is allowed to waive the request for proposal procedure and approve master professional service agreements with two firms pp to $100,000. I asked that the item be pulled and rescheduled because it did not describe the services (HR/Personnel) that the contracts were for.  The City Attorney stated it was fine as is and did not

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