City Council

A&A: Redaction of investigative report

Q:  An outside attorney is employed to investigate a city council member. The client is the city council. May the attorney redact information and not provide the client with the entire file? The outside attorney heavily redacted a report and will not permit members of the city council to review the entire file. The city attorney is party in investigation proceedings regarding harassment by council member. Is not the client entitled to the entire file

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A&A: Can ID Be Required to Make Public Comment?

Q: At City Council and Planning Commission meetings they have a sign next to the public-comment podium that says “Please state your name.”I think it might even ask for address.  I believe it is in violation of the Brown Act to require people to say their names. It is important in this community that people not have to state their name as an unfortunate individual who has done work for the city council has a

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A&A: Councilman asks intern on date via city issued cell

Q: I have learned that a city councilman was sending text messages to a city intern, asking her for a date. I would like to file a CPR request for the text messages sent from his city issued Blackberry. I’m sure they (the councilman and the city attorney) would try to argue that such a message was personal but I feel that the text was a form of sexual harassment, was improper, and was a

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City Clerk requires Ad Hoc reports to be in announcements

Q:Why would our city clerk require city Commissions to move all ad hoc reports and standing committees from agenda items to the announcements portion of the meeting? They are not listed on the agenda unless the ad hoc specifies the exact language of the action/recommendation for our city council. Then it gets more complicated because an agency of the city can be listed on the agenda but a standing committee from one of the neighborhood

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