BACKGROUND
Mayor Byrne requested that the City Council review City Policy C89-02, City Council Meetings, Orders of Council, Agenda Packets, Minutes of Meeting and Agenda Distribution (“Policy”) and discuss potential updates. The Policy is Attachment 1 to this Staff Report.
Proposed Changes to Policy
On March 31, 2025, there was a discussion at the City Council meeting regarding possible changes to the Policy. The changes discussed during that meeting included the following which are shown in track changes to the Policy (Attachment 2) and a clean version accepting those changes (Attachment 3):
1. Agenda Preparation – the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem will look 3-6 months ahead when planning the Council agenda.
2. Meeting Procedures - Requiring presentation slides to be made available to Council and the public by 5 pm on the Friday before meetings.
3. Set specific start times for items likely to draw high public interest (e.g. street addresses).
4. Acknowledge receipt of written public comments (emails/letters).
5. The Mayor will ask for the number of people who wish to speak on a particular item and may adjust the public comment time accordingly.
6. Include general public comment on Regular Meeting agendas, but not Special Meeting Agendas.
7. Ask speakers to avoid repeating prior comments and instead express agreement with the previous comment.
8. Add this language to the City Council Agendas: Brown Act Requirements: general public comments must be on matters related to matters of the legislative bodies jurisdiction. Comments on agenda items must relate to that agenda item. Anyone who does not follow these requirements of the Brown Act in person or via teleconference will be muted.
9. Add to the Meeting Procedures the option for some Council discussion before public comments.
10. Curfew - Implement a 9:30 pm meeting curfew. Council must vote to continue the meeting past 9:30 pm.
11. Hold appeal hearings on a separate meeting date during the day, if possible.
Other Items for Further Discussion/Direction
Other items that were discussed at the Council meeting on March 31, 2025 which have not been included in Attachment due to a need for further discussion and direction include the following:
1. Extraordinary Business Items - Keep to 3 min per item
2. Consider adding a special meeting later in the month, or start meetings earlier in the day, such as 3 pm.
3. Consider the Monterey meeting model, with an afternoon session general public comment, a dinner break/closed session, and an evening session with another general public comment period.
4. Consider ordering public comments by duration with the following preference: 1-minute speakers first, followed by 2-minute and then 3-minute speakers. The are no provisions in the Brown Act which expressly allow such a preference. Further research can be done upon direction by the City Council.
5. Consider whether the City can give preference during general public comment to City residents. There are no provisions in the Brown Act which expressly allows such a preference. Further research can be done upon direction by the City Council.
6. Consider the Coastal Commission process of going on line before the meeting to register for public comment. The Coastal Commission is a State agency and the meeting procedures are governed by the Bagley Keene Act instead of the Brown Act which applies to local agencies. Further research can be done upon direction by the City Council.
7. Consider a time limit for the general public comment period. Note: The current Policy reserves to the Council the right to limit the duration of Public Appearances to thirty minutes total.