Publisher's note: Every so often, there is a movement to get the Altadena Town Council to comply with the Brown Act about public meetings. Jamie Bissner is local businessman, a board member of the San Gabriel Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District, and a member of the Altadena Town Council. Bissner contributes this view on what Brown Act compliance would actually mean to Altadena.
by Jamie Bissner
The Brown Act was passed in 1953 and originally was a 686 word statute. That has grown substantially over the years -- it is now six short of 16,000 words. The Brown Act solely applies to California city and county government agencies, boards, and councils. The state government does not have to abide by the Act.
Brown was enacted as a concern over informal, undisclosed meetings held by local elected officials at which matters could be discussed and an outcome formulated without participation, input or information from constituents and concerned members of the public. More importantly was that the public had been excluded from what information contributed to decisions by elected and appointed officials.
While not a silver bullet ending all graft, corruption, and backroom deal-making, the Act is certainly an inhibiting factor while providing the electorate with a means to punish those who seek personal gain at the taxpayers’ expense. While a truly noble endeavor, the Act has greatly expanded over its 58-year life in efforts to curb or eliminate character flaws and flawed characters. That defines a quixotic pursuit as there are those among us immune to morals and abidance of the rules. In point of fact the Act has frequently been used by members of the electorate who, while either well-meaning or themselves morally flawed, employ Brown as a bludgeon to inhibit very qualified and moralistic participants in the law- and policy-making arena.
There have long been complaints in Altadena related to the Altadena Town Council (ATC) and their refusal to adopt Brown as part of their bylaws. Nothing could be better than for us to do so but concurrently nothing could be worse for the unpaid volunteers donating their valuable time and diversity of knowledge in efforts to inform our Fifth District Supervisor of our needs on a consensus basis.
Town Council: a collective voice
A brief history of the ATC : Born in the early Seventies by a group of pioneering and concerned citizens and business people, it is said that ATC was the first organization of its kind in California. These folks sought to be the tip of the funnel, with the entire town comprising the mouth of said funnel, which would convey our needs and concerns to the Supervisor in a civil, rational and informed manner.
With perhaps 32,000 residents back then, it was logical to speak with a collective voice so as to be heard and helped. The alternative was either tens of thousands of voices in the wilderness demanding satisfaction separately, or the voices of only the most prominent and influential being heard
This model has served us well for nearly forty years. The Council has no revenue stream beyond donations, as well it should be. The ATC Executive Committee members were named as defendants in a civil suit unrelated to Brown about 18 years ago and the collective costs of defending themselves approached $10,000. They prevailed in court after about two years with each having to bear the cost of their own defense attorney.
The following link leads to the Act in its entirety and should be perused before reading on: http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/displaycode?section=gov&group=54001-55000&file=54950-54963
Brown Act requirements
Several of the important Brown stipulations:
- Regular meetings with a 72 hours advance posted notice of agenda
- Open meetings
- A regular place for meetings to occur
- Special meetings require a 24 hour advance posting
- Emergency meetings require a one hour advance posting to the press. (Tim likes that one most.)
- Closed session may be held under very limited circumstances
- Gatherings of any kind, anywhere that includes a quorum must adhere except under very narrow guidelines
- In the interest of open meetings and information flow to the public gavel to gavel recordation’s of all that is conducted, word for word, is mandatory
- Disclosure of all finances on the part of all members of ATC and subcommittees. This includes real estate holdings, stocks & investments, employment, business relationships, and many others.
Additionally there is a provision for adherence to the Act on the part of Standing Committees of which the Altadena Town Council (ATC ) has had many including Land Use, Traffic, Art, Emergency, Public Relations, Beautification, Education, Website, and Finance. Each of these committees and their members would be obligated to adhere to the above provisions and all others.
Brown increases personal risk
There are many and myriad additional provisions in those nearly 16,000 words. A perceived violation of any provision could result in a criminal or civil filing against the ATC itself as well as the individuals comprising the ATC or their subcommittees. Once a filing is made, it becomes part of one’s permanent court record available to the public as well as creditors and insurers whether acquitted or prosecuted. You must petition the Court to have it removed.
While you are a defendant in a civil action the stated damages represent a lien on your credit, limiting your ability to use credit cards, apply for an auto loan, anything. Should the claimant state damages of $100,000 then there’s your reduction in creditworthiness. Defendants can purchase a bond to post against the amount, usually costing ten percent.
Generally civil actions take two to five years to be adjudicated. In the course of adjudication it will be necessary to retain counsel at perhaps a $5,000 retainer as well as pay certain filing fees related to your defense. Attorneys charge $250 to $350 per hour against the retainer which must be replenished when exhausted. This seems a rather formidable ongoing threat to face when lending your efforts to the betterment of the town.
ATC members are currently “protected” under the Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation Act (SLAPP) -- a rather thin layer of armor which inhibits attorneys from assuming a trivial case but does not prevent filing in pro per by the unhinged.
What constitutes a quorum is a bit scary in that some of the standing committees have three members with two comprising a quorum. Members would have to choose their booth carefully when dining out lest someone perceive some shenanigans and files on ‘em. Fishing buddies would henceforth be a taboo while volunteering their time. So much for the Bridge Club on Tuesday nights. There goes my social life.
BTW, ad hoc committees would be exempt but for any member who is not part of the ATC. Then compliance is mandatory.
Compliance creates expenses
I am in full support of a lot of the Brown Act and I get it. That said we would need staff to ensure compliance. Salary for staff would inevitably come from public funds. This then creates further adherence to Brown and other state mandates such as ethics and sexual harassment training.
Now; in light of the previous highpoints of the low points I must say that an attorney of record for the ATC would be mandatory He would be charging against a $2500 retainer at $250 per hour.
The recording of all the ATC and standing committee meetings at perhaps $600 each would be prohibitive but required. While you can set out your old reel-to-reel and record the meeting you better pray the broken cassette doesn’t go unnoticed as it could result in the “three hots and a cot” county accommodation. I’ve been there and it’s a highly overrated B&B.
It would be necessary to have a paid clerk to ensure that all public postings and other timely requirements are in compliance. The annual gathering and filing of financial documents and more would be conducted by the clerk as well. We would also have to conduct a certified election each year at a cost of perhaps $50,000.
Finding the revenue
In summary: In reality the ATC is a very large homeowners association where the homeowners are not obligated to pay a monthly fee. ATC has no revenue stream beyond passing the hat and has no capacity to spend one taxpayer penny, as it should be. We also don’t employ a code officer full time in this town to check that your garage door has been open more than 15 minutes in a two hour period as some incorporated cities do. I know we’ve had code bombs in the past but you ain’t seen nothing in the way of code bombs ‘till you have a town in need of a revenue stream in order to finance compliance with state mandates.
Brown cannot be adopted here under our current format. We who serve cannot afford it nor do we want to face the threat of litigation or the many extra hours of our time to be in full compliance.
For those with the fallback position of our need to incorporate so we can be a real city and comply with Brown all I have to say is knock your socks off, good luck with that and let me know how it works out. We do not have the tax base ratio to be self-supporting. We need a broader mix of commercial, light manufacturing, retail and residential to get there.
Let’s just say we do incorporate. Cities need revenue to enable the Mayor and the Council to have a retreat in Palm Springs in the fall and a fact finding junket to Maui in the early spring. That’s where a full time code enforcement officer comes in as well as a parking officer and parking meters. In Sierra Madre their very proactive code officer spends some Sundays citing homeowners for constructing shelving in their garage without a permit from the building department, kid you not! Let’s not forget business licenses for anyone conducting work or operating a business in town.
