closed sessions

A&A: When can a public Board claim attorney-client privilege?

Q: Our municipal board, of which I am a member, recently convened a closed session meeting that was not listed as an item on the published agenda. The purpose of the meeting, which included  a city attorney, was for several board members wanted to present their case against me as a Brown Act violator.  I believe the lawyer was invited to establish a claim of attorney-client privilege to hide their actions from public scrutiny. Can

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California: Kern County supervisor agenda item raises suspicions

The listing of job description of the county administrative officer appears nearly every week on the agenda for a closed session of the Kern County Board of Supervisors, a suspicious phenomenon, writes Lois Henry for The Bakersfield Californian. A citizen watchdog says that discussions of job performance, not job description, are exempt from open meetings. -db From a commentary for The Bakersfield Californian, May 5 2012, by Lois Henry. Full story  

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California Attorney General clairifies real estate negotiations exception to open meeting law

The State Attorney General narrowed the scope of the real estate negotiation exception to the Brown Act, the open meeting law. The interpretation places higher value on the public’s right to know over local government’s interest in protecting bargaining power in real estate negotiations. -db From Best Best & Krieger Attorneys at Law, February 3, 2012. Full story  

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California: Allegations that Patterson City Council violated state open meeting law

Jim Ewert of the California Newspaper Publisher Association said that the Patterson City Council violated the Brown Act, the state’s open meeting act, when it failed to provide the identity of those who voted in a closed session for an interim city attorney. Ewert said it did not matter that the rankings of candidates occurred during a discussion, that the public had the right to know who voted which way since the council reached a

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