Brown Act Changes Impacting Piedmont Public Meetings
Will the Council revert back to not recording, broadcasting, or archiving video recordings of certain public meetings? The cost of transparency via video broadcasts has proven to be minimal given the City budget. On the council-agenda 1.17.23
The California Brown Act has been amended and provisions changed.
NEW REQUIREMENTS:
If members participate remotely using the just cause or emergency provisions, the following additional rules apply:
• The legislative body must provide a way for the public to remotely participate in the meeting and must provide notice of how to access the meeting and offer comments
• The public must also be permitted to attend the meeting in person
• The body cannot require public comments to be submitted before the meeting but rather must be allowed in real time.
• Remote members must participate through both visual and audio (i.e. cameras and microphones on)
• Before any action is taken, remote members must disclose whether any other people over 18 years old are present in the room at the remote location and the general nature of the member’s relationship with the individual
Editors’ Note: The Piedmont Civic Association has long advocated maximum adherence to Brown Act applicable public meetings such as commissions, committees, and City Council. The Piedmont City Charter prescribes these meetings are to keep minutes, which has not been adhered to for even critically important Council appointed committees such as the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee.
The Public Safety Committee during the COVID protocols was newly recorded and live streamed. Some meetings, the Annual City Budget Workshop and the interviewing of candidates for City Council, commission and committee appointments have historically not been recorded, broadcast, or archived leaving access to only those present at the meeting.
Transparency and accountability are important to the public and should be maximized by the City Council by improving the archiving of recordings, providing minutes, and live streaming of public meetings.
READ the staff report linked below:
Changes to Brown Act and Next Steps 1.17.23
League of California Cities – report > https://www.calcities.org/news/post/2022/12/15/brown-act-changes-are-coming-to-cities-in-2023.-here-is-what-to-expect
