At the last council meeting, there was discussion towards the end about the public meeting called by Mr. Cardenas, and how much notice should be given. Because of the short notice, most of the council couldn't be there. This is probably a good thing. They really need to careful about the open meetings and records acts.
The government code is very clear. Go to the Open Government Made Easy website and you will notice that "The Open Meetings Act (OMA) generally applies when a quorum of a governmental body is present and discusses public business." If a quorum (4) of the council had attended, it would have been an illegal meeting.
They really need to be very cautious. If a public meeting is called about an issue before the council such as pay or economic projects and it is likely that a quorum will attend, then all the requirements of the open meetings act need to be fulfilled. There used to be a provision for staff briefings, but that was removed about 5 years ago.
Well this just seems to be a result of what kind of leadership was voted into office!
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, open meetings law has changed a lot in the last ten years since Mr. Cardenas was last on council. Many loop holes have been closed, and now there is mandatory training that probably hasn't been given to the new council people and some of the rest of the city staff.
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