It’s no secret that City Council meetings are long. Sometimes a packed agenda pushes discussion of major issues into the following morning. Sometimes “closed session” discussions of legal or personnel issues take much longer than expected.
However, while proposals to change several rules of order for city council meetings were proposed, the city council opted on Tuesday night to table further discussion of rules changes so some of the more controversial proposals could be evaluated and debated.
What Changes?
In January, the council asked staff to explore several options to improve the implementation of council meetings. The variety of ideas entertained at that time included:
- Scheduling Closed Session meetings on alternate Tuesdays when regular meetings are estimated to run long
- Requiring increased collaboration amongst councilmembers to submit councilmember discussion items (“16 items”)
- Hearing general public input towards the end of the meeting
- Revising the rule on reducing time for more than 25 speakers registered to speak per public input section to “per agenda item.”
- Offering more public comment opportunities outside of meetings, similar to last year’s council budget workshop in relation to general public input options
- Providing council compensation information from other jurisdictions that meet earlier in the day related to Closed Session options.
In addition, and quite timely to these considerations, the council was required to implement provisions of Senate Bill 707 (SB 707), which takes effect July 1. This legislation updates teleconferencing and accessibility requirements under the Ralph M. Brown Act, or California’s Open Meetings Law. The law clarifies requirements for councilmembers attending meetings remotely, speaks to disruptions from individuals participating in-person or telephonically during meetings, and establishes restoration procedures during a telephonic or internet service disruption for remote participants.
The staff also sought clarification on some items under SB 707, including:
- A process for the city clerk to prepare and post agendas, provide public posting locations, and conduct outreach
- Establishing the order of hearing Travel Reports, the Mayor’s Highlight and City Manager’s Report, modifying the description of Special Agenda Items, and incorporating the Resolutions Category with Staff Administrative Items
- Discontinuing the 4-minute option for speakers registering to speak on only one item, and allowing for interpretation services and incorporating two-way telephone public comment
- Cleaning up language and procedures for the council to submit Discussion Items (16-items) and Closed Session
- Establishing the process for speakers to submit electronic presentation materials and the voting procedure for board and commission appointments
Staff made other options clear in the report for hearing Closed Session:
- Hear the closed session first upon a start time of 5:30 p.m., and then hear the open session when completed
- Hear closed session first upon a start time of 5:30 p.m., but set a time limit to hear the open session at a certain time (e.g. Closed Session at 5:30 p.m. with open session beginning at 7:00 p.m.)
- Within the meeting as it exists now, set a time limit, and continue closed session before Adjournment if not completed, for example, within 90 minutes of completing consent calendar items
- Hear the closed session last, before Adjournment
Another big issue is councilmember discussion items, or “16 items” on the agenda. Some thought has been given to requiring more than one councilmember to sponsor a discussion item, possibly pairing them with a local organization in support, or requiring one or two additional councilmembers (but fewer than a majority of four members)
The thinking here is that time could be saved on discussion items that lack a second from at least one additional councilmember. This might help ensure only consensus priorities are brought up for council discussion.
Public input was also considered, particularly general public input that is given that does not pertain to any agenda item. Given a desire to dedicate more time to public comment and council deliberation on scheduled agenda items, options before the council included:
- Moving public input on non-agenda items to the end, before adjournment
- Moving public input on non-agenda items to the end, before adjournment, and offering additional council meeting listening sessions (e.g., Quarterly) specifically for general public input
- Keeping general public input at the beginning of the meeting, but hearing only a set number of speakers regardless of the time requested (e.g., first 10 speakers), and then hearing the remaining speakers at the end, before adjournment
- Keeping general public input at the beginning of the meeting, hearing input for a set amount of time (e.g., no more than 20 minutes), and then hearing the remaining speakers at the end of the meeting before adjournment
Then, of course, there is the issue of the number of speakers on agendized items. One proposal is to reduce speaking time from two minutes to one minute if there are more than 25 speakers per agenda item (the rule would be exempt for public hearings or quasi-judicial items). A maximum of six minutes per speaker will still apply for members of the public speaking on multiple agenda items.
Public and Council Discussion
Several members of the public expressed opposition to the changes during public comment. Most were particularly against a call to require more than one councilmember to sponsor a councilmember discussion item, saying that they don’t feel any one councilmember should be silenced, while also expressing comfort knowing a single councilmember can raise an issue.
Recreation and Parks Commissioner John C. Smith spoke in favor of scheduling Closed Sessions on alternate Tuesdays. “Public discourse gets killed when there’s a 90-minute break, a ‘half time’ between these meetings,” he said.
He argued in favor of keeping general public input at the beginning of meetings, but would welcome a one-minute speaking limit or a maximum of one hour of general input. He even suggested that if general input is limited to 25 speakers, the speakers should be chosen at random from among those registering to speak, rather than simply the first 25 who show up early to sign up.
“I’m deeply opposed to requiring two people on an [council discussion] item from a policy standpoint,” said Mayor Caroline Torosis. “I don’t even know why we thought that was a good idea.” She later added, “It’s undemocratic; people elected us individually.”
She and Councilmember Lana Negrete suggested the agenda item was filled with so many proposals that it might be wise to give the council additional time to consider them. Councilmembers Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, and Barry Snell suggested the same, noting that the only requirement is that the SB 707 requirements be adopted by July 1.
Regarding public comment, Negrete sympathized with residents who take public transit only to have to wait and get a single minute to share their views. She favors keeping public comment on agendized items toward the beginning of the meeting.
“I do feel that the earlier the public can make their comments, the better,” she said. “We’re the ones who took on being elected officials to stay here all night; that’s our problem. I don’t think it’s the community’s problem to have to sit here and wait for us to try to talk about something at midnight.”
Hall expressed support for conducting Closed Sessions on alternate Tuesdays. He cited the importance of those decisions, including their monetary expense, and argued that those items should not be discussed late into the night. Raskin was also amenable to meeting time on alternate Tuesdays.
Despite their expressed leanings, the council agreed it needed more time. In consultation with the city attorney, Torosis moved that the rules of order proposals be continued at a future meeting and that the SB 707 compliance changes be adopted as part of the consent calendar at the June 23 meeting. Hall seconded.
The motion passed, 6-0. Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick was absent.
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