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Search Results for: Notice & agenda requirements for closed meetings – Page 2

A&A: Does the 72 hour period for Agenda Amendments include weekends and holidays?

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Does the 72 hour period for Agenda Amendments include weekends and holidays? Q: For an amended agenda, it seems that the amendments must be made 72 hours before the meeting. Does this 72 hour period include weekends and holidays? A: The Brown Act includes weekends and holidays when computing the 72-hour requirement of section 54954.2.  The language of that section provides that “[a]t least 72 hours before a regular meeting, the legislative body of the

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A&A: Teacher terminated after closed session

FAC October 20, 2011

Q: Last weekend our son’s 4th grade teacher was fired from her “at will” employment at a local charter school. The board held a Regular Meeting and decided “immediate action” had to be taken. The teacher did not receive 24 hours notice about the meeting but was asked if she wanted to speak for five minutes on her behalf when she happened to walk by the meeting. The board then held a closed session and

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A&A: I ask for transparency; they ask me to resign

FAC January 11, 2012

Q: I have concerns that my school District has violated the Brown Act.  When the school board made our interim Superintendent a permanent Superintendent without any public input because it wasn’t properly agendized. I am also concerned that a committee I serve on has been deemed a closed door confidential meeting per the Brown Act. I am an unpaid, parent volunteer on the committee and one of several stakeholders (parents, community, retired teacher, district employees

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A&A: School Board Meetings without Notice

FAC March 18, 2010

Q: As a parent and voter, I am concerned that my school board is holding meetings in violation of the Brown Act. Our district is in contract negotiations with the teachers’ union. The following message appears on the school district website: “When meetings are called regarding negotiations, based on the provisions in California Government Code Section 3549.1, notice is not required to be given to the public.” The school board trustees have already held one

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A&A: Regularly Scheduled Special Meetings

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Regularly Scheduled Special Meetings Q: Can a regularly scheduled meeting be called a “Special Meeting” Can a Closed Session be called a Special Meeting if the “reporting out” is part of the immediately following regular meeting? A: Under the Brown Act, a “special meeting” may be called to discuss or act on a matter that is too pressing to delay until a regular meeting, or an issue that deserves extensive consideration unburdened by other business. 

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Haste in choosing new San Francisco school superintendent leaves public out

donal brown March 19, 2012

When the San Francisco School Board took action behind closed doors to begin negotiations with a replacement for a retiring superintendent, they neglected to post a notice of the meeting on the district’s website or report the action taken in the closed session, both violations of the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting law. -db From the San Francisco Examiner, March 18, 2012, by Amy Crawford. Full story

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A&A: Does the Brown Act Allow Consultant’s Report Reviewed in Closed Sessions?

FAC January 5, 2020

Q: I am working on a story about a consultant’s work for a California County. I was told recently that the Board of Supervisors heard a report in closed session last month on a pilot project the consultant had done. This has been a sensitive issue so I can understand why they’d want to hear the report privately, but I also can’t see any Brown Act exemption that would actually justify them doing it in

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A&A: Inadequate notification of Special District meetings

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Q: I report for the local community newspaper. The local Special District (Fire) has its regular meeting on the second Tuesday of each month. For quite a while the agenda was emailed to all board members and to me (upon standing automatically renewed request) on the preceding Friday. Recently the District started posting the agenda and sending the mail on Saturday. I have objected that the notice for 72 hours does not include Saturday, Sunday

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A&A: Closed sessions to “items discussed not falling within their jurisdiction”

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Closed sessions to discuss “items not falling within their jurisdiction.” Q: I am a student at community college. After a board meeting of the Associated Students was adjourned, the president of the board asked all non-board members to leave the room so that the assembled quorum could talk about “items not falling within their jurisdiction.” Was this a violation of the Brown Act? A: According to an opinion of the California Attorney General, meetings of a

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A&A: Agenda item questions

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Agenda item questions Q: Can items labeled “discussion” be voted upon as action items? Does “other administrative items,” and “other administrative items, including delegation of tasks” adequately describe taking action on appointing an already appointed established committee as a subcommittee to this group? What is a definition of a “brief description” of an item as required by the Brown Act? A: Government Code section 54954.2(a) provides that at least 72 hours prior to a regular

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A&A: Discussion of Employee Termination in Closed Session

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Discussion of Employee Termination in Closed Session Q: In 2007, the City held its last budget study session and on the closed session my job, as Director of Finance, title or position was never put on for discussion, nor was my job title put on for closed session since I started with the City. The next morning the mayor and the City manager were waiting for me to terminate my employment with the City. The

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A&A: Workshops v. Special Meetings

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Workshops v. Special Meetings Q: Today I walked out of a special meeting called in less then 72 hours which was labeled board special meeting/workshop. It was just a workshop called to discuss how to deal with the media. I asked for our attorneys opinion in this, and they felt that since we posted the agenda 24 hours in advance of the meeting it was ok, and no laws would be broken if we went

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A&A: Is it a Brown Act violation to move item from closed to open session?

FAC March 13, 2014

Q: I believe the City Council  violated the Brown Act at a recent meeting when councilmembers voted 5-0 to move a closed-session item, described only with the name of an individual to the Regular Agenda. Can you tell me if it was proper for the City Council to move a closed-session item to the Regular Agenda during the Open Meeting without proper notice that it would be discussed in open session? A: If the City Council moved

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Tehachapi superintendent responds to allegations of Brown Act violations

firstamendment June 2, 2009

In defending his district against allegations made by the Kern County Grand Jury of open government violations, the school superintendent said that the school board published their agendas sufficiently and took public comment on the reassignment of a middle school principal. -DB Tehachapi News May 28, 2009 STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO GRAND JURY REPORT As you know, the Tehachapi Unified School District Board of Trustees made a decision to reassign a principal. The result of

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A&A: aa-Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and the Brown Act

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Housing Authority Board of Commissioners and the Brown Act Q: I have a couple of questions regarding the Board of Commissioners for the Housing Authority of my city and the Brown Act. 1.) The posting of the Agenda for Board meetings lists out the items to be discussed and the order in which to do so. In all such postings the agenda item for public comment is listed after all other items for discussion have

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A&A: Brown Act Violation Concerns Over Closed Session Protocols for Employee Evaluations

FAC January 19, 2021

Q: At a special meeting of a California legislative body, an employee was suddenly put on paid administrative leave. The closed session agenda item was added to a special meeting just over 24 hours before that meeting and stated: Public Employee Performance Evaluation/Discipline/dismissal/release (Government code section 54954.5 and 54947(b)) title: [employee title]. The employee was told verbally the day before that the item was added but he did not get written notice and was not

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A&A: Special Districts: County Water District

firstamendment June 13, 2009

Special Districts: County Water District Q: Gov. Code Sect. 25120 gives requirements for notice and hearings for a Board of Supv. to pass or amend a ordinance.   What about a special district, i.e. a county water district? A: Govt. Code Section 25120 provides only that “[t]he enacting clause of all ordinances of the board of supervisors shall be as follows: ‘The Board of Supervisors of the County of _____ ordains as follows.’” Special districts are

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A&A:Public comments on water rates closed, item still on agenda

FAC November 24, 2009

Q: The current City Council Agenda contains the following item: “DISCUSSION AND POTENTIAL ACTION ITEMS. Introduce and Waive the First Reading of One of the Three Ordinances Relating to Establishing Rates for Water Service Fees.” Here is the problem. We are not being allowed to comment about this item at all, even though it has been on multiple Agenda’s and postponed multiple times. The City Attorney says we can’t comment on it because the Prop

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San Diego county school board cancels meeting to comply with open meeting law

donal brown February 25, 2010

The Grossmont Union High School District cancelled a special meeting to consider a threatened lawsuit after the media were not given adequate notice of the meeting. -db East County Magazine February 23, 2010 CAJON, Calif. – In response to a request by East County Magazine, the Grossmont Union High School District has announced cancellation of tonight’s special meeting. As noted in our story earlier today http://www.eastcountymagazine.org/node/2818 , ECM notified the district that the meeting was

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Santa Barbara university student council suddenly closes meeting

donal brown January 28, 2010

The Associated Students Legislative Council at the University of California, Santa Barbara closed a part of their Wednesday night meeting without prior notice or disclosing before hand their reasons prompting complaints that the state’s open government laws had been violated. -DB Daily Nexus January 28, 2010 By Elliott Rosenfeld and Mackenzie Weinger The Associated Students Legislative Council barred all members of the public yesterday from a portion of their regular Wednesday night meeting. At 6:15 p.m.,

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