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HomeMy WebLinkAboutYoutube Transcript - 03-30-260:00 0 seconds Good evening everyone. Welcome. I think I know everyone in this room by now, but for the official record, I'm Lauren Saputo. I am the city clerk here for the 0:07 7 seconds city of Certino. It's good to see a lot of the familiar faces. Um, so I'd like to call this meeting to order. Today is 0:14 14 seconds Monday, March 30th, and this is a special joint meeting designated for all city commissions for the annual commissioner training. 0:22 22 seconds At this time, we will forgo the official roll call, but if you again haven't signed in in the lobby, please remember to do so. 0:29 29 seconds We've allowed one hour for this uh training session with 30 minutes of Q&A and public comment at the end. So yes, 0:37 37 seconds please refrain from asking your questions till the very end of the presentation. Uh this meeting is being recorded. So please come up to the 0:44 44 seconds microphone at the front to ask your questions at the end and then we'll also hold the public comment at the end as well. https://youtu.be/MTeFkvIEb24 Youtube Transcription 0:51 51 seconds Um so just to give an overview the clerk's office organizes this training annually and is required for all commission members as well as commission 0:59 59 seconds liaison and administrators. The purpose of the training is to review the roles and responsibilities relevant to conducting the work of the commission 1:07 1 minute, 7 seconds including sections contained in the commissioner's handbook. Uh so tonight we're going to be going over the city organization and governance. We're going 1:16 1 minute, 16 seconds to review the roles and responsibilities, the strategic vision, the commissioner's handbook, the Brown 1:23 1 minute, 23 seconds Act, which is how public meetings are conducted, um the conflict of interest, the political reform act, and updates in 1:30 1 minute, 30 seconds changes in laws or policies, and some technology reminders. 1:38 1 minute, 38 seconds So, we are joined today by city manager Tina Kapoor, interim city attorney Floyd Andrews, and Chief Technology Officer Terry Ghard. 1:50 1 minute, 50 seconds So, at this time, we'll turn over to Tina, our city manager. Welcome, Tina. 1:58 1 minute, 58 seconds Thank you, Lauren. Hi, everyone. Welcome and thank you for attending this annual training for commissioners. Um, again, my name is Tina Kapoor. the city manager 2:06 2 minutes, 6 seconds in Certino and I have h a couple of easy slides and then I'll turn it back to Lauren. But just to kind of give you an 2:14 2 minutes, 14 seconds overview of the city's organizational structure. So the citizens of Certino or the voters here in the city um they 2:22 2 minutes, 22 seconds select who their city council members are. So who would who would represent them in making policy decisions for the city? So that's city council. And then 2:31 2 minutes, 31 seconds city council will appoint um commissioners which are all of you and you serve as advisory body to city 2:40 2 minutes, 40 seconds council. Um there are also two staff members that are appointed uh by council which is the city manager that's me and 2:48 2 minutes, 48 seconds then city attorney that's Floyd Andrews and then as city manager I oversee all of the operations of the city. So all staff members ultimately report into me. 2:59 2 minutes, 59 seconds Um and I direct the work of city staff. 3:02 3 minutes, 2 seconds So that's the reporting structure of how city functions. 3:07 3 minutes, 7 seconds Um and in Certino we follow what's known as the council manager form of government. So what this is as as you 3:14 3 minutes, 14 seconds know is um there is there is the what like what is really important for the city for our residents and for their 3:22 3 minutes, 22 seconds representatives which are the council members um and council is the one as a body that sets the policy and the vision 3:30 3 minutes, 30 seconds for the city. So what's really important? What are the priorities? 3:33 3 minutes, 33 seconds That's council. Um and then city manager will implement that policy. So, so I along with my staff that reports to me, 3:41 3 minutes, 41 seconds we do the how, how do we bring that vision and policy priorities to life. 3:47 3 minutes, 47 seconds Um, and then city staff also has three primary roles in this kind of functioning of the city is making professional recommendations. So there's 3:55 3 minutes, 55 seconds a lot of um technical experts on my team in their fields and we bring that technical expertise to council as 4:04 4 minutes, 4 seconds they're setting policy and as they tell us what's really important we our job is to tell them how that might come into um 4:11 4 minutes, 11 seconds or become you know become reality. Uh and we also as staff we implement council direction. So council will have 4:20 4 minutes, 20 seconds their own uh ideas on how you know and what's important and how to get it done. 4:24 4 minutes, 24 seconds They ask staff for recommendations. They will consider our recommendations and ultimately provide direction and then city manager and staff will implement 4:32 4 minutes, 32 seconds that direction. Um and staff also supports the day-to-day operations. So are the streets paved? Is the water 4:39 4 minutes, 39 seconds running? And all of the other services that you receive from the city, uh that's being handled by staff. So that's the city operations. 4:50 4 minutes, 50 seconds Uh we'll go into this a little bit more uh when our city clerk and city attorney go through their slides, but at a high 4:57 4 minutes, 57 seconds level uh what is the role and scope of our uh commissions and committees? So commissions as I mentioned is your your 5:04 5 minutes, 4 seconds advisory to council. Um council will conduct recruitments and appointments throughout the year. We try to to to do 5:12 5 minutes, 12 seconds them together but sometimes there are vacancies and council will conduct those recruitments. Um there are a few um 5:20 5 minutes, 20 seconds documents that you can refer to for uh you know for understanding what as a commissioner what your responsibilities 5:27 5 minutes, 27 seconds are, what are some of the expectations that come with serving in this role and those are the commission's hand commissioner's handbook um as well as 5:36 5 minutes, 36 seconds the council procedures manual especially in section 4. Um, we are in the process of updating the commissioner's handbook and that will be going to council uh 5:44 5 minutes, 44 seconds sometime soon, but what we will make sure is we include some of those suggested changes and updates that are going to be um uh you know shared with 5:53 5 minutes, 53 seconds council for formal adoption here tonight so that you're aware of uh what's coming. Um there's also a commission 6:00 6 minutes chair meeting every two months um that the mayor ho hosts and I attend that as 6:07 6 minutes, 7 seconds well. Um, so that's that's an opportunity for the chairs of each commissions to to meet and uh confer 6:14 6 minutes, 14 seconds with staff and the mayor. Um, there's a couple other policies. These are new that we've implemented believe in the 6:21 6 minutes, 21 seconds last year or so uh which is the resident communication uh with staff policy. And there's also a commissioner business card policy that we recently introduced. 6:32 6 minutes, 32 seconds So if you have questions around those um we're available at the end. 6:37 6 minutes, 37 seconds Um, and I just want to touch upon the strategic plan. I think some of you may be familiar with this, but council had unanimously adopted a strategic vision. 6:46 6 minutes, 46 seconds This was last year in March of 2025. Um, and to kind of continue that momentum, in February of this year, we held a 6:54 6 minutes, 54 seconds council retreat where staff presented a proposal for maintaining that vision um, and include some key milestones during 7:03 7 minutes, 3 seconds the two-year uh, planning process. So this this 7:10 7 minutes, 10 seconds drawing graphic uh what we call the strategic vision is really a tool to guide decision-m and long-term planning 7:17 7 minutes, 17 seconds for the city. Um as well as to establish priorities for the city work program. 7:21 7 minutes, 21 seconds I'm sure everybody's heard that term city work program. Um so these priorities were established through the adoption of six goals as you can see 7:29 7 minutes, 29 seconds these little colorful circles. These are the six goals that council has adopted um as their official priorities. Uh 7:37 7 minutes, 37 seconds these are public engagement and transparency, transportation, housing, quality of life, environmental sustainability and fiscal strategy. 7:46 7 minutes, 46 seconds There's also three focus areas which we introduced um last year and these were fiscal resilience, small business revitalization and emergency management. 7:57 7 minutes, 57 seconds So having a strategic plan supports an ongoing maintenance for the strategic framework as I mentioned and it also 8:04 8 minutes, 4 seconds helps us establish a consistent process so there's no guesswork on how how do we help council adopt their priorities 8:12 8 minutes, 12 seconds um and it sets expectations for staff as well as the public and residents for some of the key milestones. Um and it 8:20 8 minutes, 20 seconds helps align resources among the city work program operating budget and the 5-year CIP which is the capital 8:27 8 minutes, 27 seconds improvement program. So this um this framework that was adopted is now officially going to become a strategic 8:36 8 minutes, 36 seconds plan. We're going to be bringing this forward to council at an upcoming meeting for formal adoption. Um, and I 8:42 8 minutes, 42 seconds believe that is all that I'm covering today and I will turn it back over to city clerk Lauren Sabuda. 8:56 8 minutes, 56 seconds Thank you, Tina. Okay, so a lot of the information I'm going to be covering in my slides is what I presented to you when I swore you in as a new commission 9:05 9 minutes, 5 seconds member or committee member. So I apologize if it's repetitive. Um but it's really important information and if you're a newer commissioner or committee 9:12 9 minutes, 12 seconds member maybe this is going to really help you since you've had maybe a couple meetings um under your belt now. So um okay so we're going to discuss the 9:20 9 minutes, 20 seconds commission liaison's role. Um each commission is assigned a liaison and an administrator to support the commission. 9:27 9 minutes, 27 seconds The liaison is assigned based on their knowledge and expertise related to the work of the commission. 9:33 9 minutes, 33 seconds Staff liaison's role guide the commission's work and offer technical expertise on the issues. They must remain politically neutral. The liaison 9:42 9 minutes, 42 seconds attends all meetings and develops agendas in consultation with the commission chair. This includes ensuring the appropriate business is being 9:50 9 minutes, 50 seconds covered and the necessary discussion of items are listed. 9:55 9 minutes, 55 seconds The staff leaison communicate commission recommendations and goals to council. 10:00 10 minutes The commission admins prepare the meeting agendas in coordination with the city clerk's office administrative assistant which is Lindsay Nelson. I'm 10:07 10 minutes, 7 seconds sure you've all met Lindsay um at your meetings. Um so the um admin and uh Lindsay um work to ensure proper 10:15 10 minutes, 15 seconds noticing and publication of your meeting agendas. Laza will be providing advice and assistance as much as they can but 10:23 10 minutes, 23 seconds still while following the city manager's directives. And lastly, commission liaison serve as the conduit between 10:29 10 minutes, 29 seconds commissioners and city staff. So, um please work through your uh commission liaison um if you have questions. 10:40 10 minutes, 40 seconds Um this is a list of all the commission liaison. I'm sure you're familiar with your specific um liaison for your commission or committee. 10:53 10 minutes, 53 seconds Next, we'll talk about the commission role. So the role of the commissions as a whole is to provide recommendations in their advisory capacity to the city 11:02 11 minutes, 2 seconds council. This includes rep representing the community and weighing public input on the issues and rendering the recommendations to the city council. 11:11 11 minutes, 11 seconds It's the commission acts as a body and as a majority is required on all matters. It's important to note when 11:18 11 minutes, 18 seconds speaking for yourself, not as the commission body. 11:22 11 minutes, 22 seconds Individual commission member statements and comments are not considered direction and the scope of work purpose and other primary functions of each 11:31 11 minutes, 31 seconds commission can be found in the municipal code chapter 2 which states the powers and functions of each of your commissions and committees. So I also 11:40 11 minutes, 40 seconds when I swore you all in I also provided you with a copy of the Munich code for the specific um commission uh powers and 11:47 11 minutes, 47 seconds functions um duties and scope. Um but I won't read all of your powers and functions this evening but um they are 11:55 11 minutes, 55 seconds again found in the municipal code chapter 2. 11:59 11 minutes, 59 seconds So here is arts and culture, bike pad, housing commission, library commission and the parks and recreation commission scope followed by planning commission, 12:08 12 minutes, 8 seconds public safety, sustainability teen and the tick here are audit and the newly 12:18 12 minutes, 18 seconds um newly revamped or uh return of the EDC the economic development committee. 12:28 12 minutes, 28 seconds So, commissioner responsibilities. 12:31 12 minutes, 31 seconds Um, so one of your responsibilities is to read your commissioner's handbook. It was one of the attachments of the 800 that I emailed you when you started to 12:39 12 minutes, 39 seconds serve as commissioner. Um, prepare for and participate in your commission meetings. You want to read materials and send your clarifying questions to your 12:47 12 minutes, 47 seconds staff liaison in advance. Um, you want to check your email as regularly as you can. Sometimes we get locked out. 12:53 12 minutes, 53 seconds Sometimes you're you don't meet for a month or two months or a quarter. So, um, please be sure to check your email. 12:59 12 minutes, 59 seconds Um, you're going to want to attend at least 75% of your meetings, your regular rescheduled meetings. 13:05 13 minutes, 5 seconds As a reminder, you represent the community. 13:09 13 minutes, 9 seconds Um, another requirement or responsibility is to file your form 700, your statement of economic interest, filing form 700s annually, and you want to complete your required trainings. 13:22 13 minutes, 22 seconds So attendance, our attendance policy is slightly rigid. Um attendance is really important to ensure quorum and that city 13:31 13 minutes, 31 seconds business can be conducted. Uh so you cannot miss more than 25% of your regularly scheduled meetings or three 13:38 13 minutes, 38 seconds consecutive meetings. So three consecutive meetings does include special meetings. The clerk's office does and will send a warning letter if 13:45 13 minutes, 45 seconds you are getting close to reaching that 25% threshold. Um and the attendance um council will consider removal from the 13:53 13 minutes, 53 seconds commission. So if you pass that 25% threshold of missed meetings um it is up to the city council who will consider 14:01 14 minutes, 1 second rem removing you from the commission or committee. Um your attendance record is reset uh at the beginning of each year. 14:09 14 minutes, 9 seconds So it's a calendar year. So it resets in January. 14:13 14 minutes, 13 seconds And I know some commissions meet quarterly, some meet twice a month like planning commission. So it just depends on how many regular meetings your commission or committee meet and then we 14:21 14 minutes, 21 seconds calculate that based on your 25% based on the regular meetings. So if you meet quarterly, you can only miss one regular 14:28 14 minutes, 28 seconds meeting. So please be sure if you have a quarterly commissioner committee meeting that you uh you try to make all your regular meetings. 14:39 14 minutes, 39 seconds The ethics policy. So, the city council adopted a revised code of ethics and conduct for elected and appointed officials back in November of 2023 to 14:48 14 minutes, 48 seconds promote public confidence in the integrity of local government. It contains provisions for the professional and personal conduct of members. And per 14:56 14 minutes, 56 seconds the ethics policy, all commissioners are required to maintain a high standard of civility and decorum during our proceedings. This means focusing 15:05 15 minutes, 5 seconds discussions and deliberations strictly on the merits of the policy or the project at hand, avoiding interruptions, and ensuring all dialogue with staff, 15:14 15 minutes, 14 seconds the public, and fellow commissioners remain respectful and focused on the item under consideration. 15:21 15 minutes, 21 seconds You can view the full policy of the commissioner's um you can view the whole ethics policy in your commissioner's handbook where there's a direct link to 15:29 15 minutes, 29 seconds the ethics policy. Um, and many of you have had to review the ethics policy and sign it when you were sworn in. 15:40 15 minutes, 40 seconds So, we have some required trainings. I'm sure all of you are familiar with these trainings because I remind you um ethics 15:48 15 minutes, 48 seconds training. So, ethics training um AB1234 um is a requirement. It's a 2-hour training. It's due within six months of 15:55 15 minutes, 55 seconds your appointment and then every two years after that. This covers ethical standards, decision-making, and preventing missteps. 16:03 16 minutes, 3 seconds Uh, and then the anti-harassment training. This is in place to inform officials of the laws that apply and includes examples to instruct in the prevention of harassment, 16:12 16 minutes, 12 seconds discrimination, and retaliation. This covers harassment, discrimination, retaliation, and prevention of abusive 16:18 16 minutes, 18 seconds or sexual gender- based conduct. Again, this training um is a 1-hour training. 16:24 16 minutes, 24 seconds it's due within your six months of appointment and then every two years after that. Uh many of you have some upcoming trainings or all they're all 16:32 16 minutes, 32 seconds kind of cycling through. So I did push out a lot of reminders last week. So if you got a reminder, please log into your target solutions account and and 16:40 16 minutes, 40 seconds complete that training before your due date. I would really appreciate it. Um I do hate nudging you and bothering you in email with all the reminders. So I 16:48 16 minutes, 48 seconds appreciate um your assistance with that and completing your trainings on time. 16:56 16 minutes, 56 seconds So here are some reminders. Uh again trainings like I just said many of you have gotten a lot of emails from me last week about your trainings. Um so that is 17:04 17 minutes, 4 seconds the uh app uh the the website that we use target solutions. Uh if you are a brand new commissioner committee member 17:11 17 minutes, 11 seconds and you haven't validated your account, you will need to go through this whole process to validate your account through an email. Um so if you need help with that and it's your first time, let me 17:19 17 minutes, 19 seconds know. I'm happy to walk you through that. Um, so April 1st, Wednesday, if you have not already completed your your 17:28 17 minutes, 28 seconds 2025 annual form 700, it is due. So please log into your eisclosure account and complete that by Wednesday. 17:38 17 minutes, 38 seconds And then planning commissioners, you complete that through the FPPC directly. 17:41 17 minutes, 41 seconds So again, that's also due April 1st as well for the planning commissioners through the FPPC portal directly. Um, April 7th, we have the proposed uh 17:50 17 minutes, 50 seconds revisions to the commissioner's handbook um being held at the city council meetings. So, uh if you're interested uh 17:58 17 minutes, 58 seconds you can um come to the April 7th meeting to talk about the commissioner's handbook. And then we are presenting revisions to the city council procedures 18:05 18 minutes, 5 seconds manual at the city council meeting of April 21st. 18:12 18 minutes, 12 seconds Okay. So, that concludes my presentation this evening. Um, I will welcome interim city attorney Floyd Andrews next. 18:27 18 minutes, 27 seconds Good evening. Thank you all for being here. Sorry, I'll take these. How I just press this to make it go. 18:36 18 minutes, 36 seconds Um, the arrow. Oh, perfect. Yeah. 18:40 18 minutes, 40 seconds So, I'm going to go over a lot of the legal standards. It's amazing how many rules there are that uh we all have to 18:47 18 minutes, 47 seconds comply with. Um I'll dive right in. Um starting with the most important one really is the Brown Act. The Brown in 18:55 18 minutes, 55 seconds the state of California um local government is meant to be transparent. 19:01 19 minutes, 1 second It's meant to be inclusive of the community. It's not meant to have um elected officials making side deals or 19:09 19 minutes, 9 seconds trading votes. And in the 70s the uh the state uh adopted the Brown Act which has 19:16 19 minutes, 16 seconds gone through various iterations. Um and it's um super important rule. Uh basically the Brown Act requires that 19:25 19 minutes, 25 seconds all meetings of the city council or any um legislative body and commissions are considered legislative bodies, 19:32 19 minutes, 32 seconds subsidiary legislative bodies. Um the Brown Act requires that all of their meetings be open to the public and 19:40 19 minutes, 40 seconds that's so that the public can join the meeting and participate um both in terms of watching the meeting and absorbing what's happening and what their elected 19:48 19 minutes, 48 seconds or appointed officials are thinking and acting on. Um but also so that they can participate in terms of public comment 19:56 19 minutes, 56 seconds and make their views known to um those governing those in the governing position. 20:06 20 minutes, 6 seconds One of the important um aspects of the Brown Act is that agendas be published 20:13 20 minutes, 13 seconds uh and um 72 hours in advance for regular meetings, 24 hours for other meetings. But the fundamental thing is 20:20 20 minutes, 20 seconds that the uh work of the body is specifically agendaized and put into the 20:28 20 minutes, 28 seconds public sphere so that the community knows what will be discussed at the meeting and it gives the community the chance to decide, oh, I care about those 20:36 20 minutes, 36 seconds issues. all show up and participate in that meeting or take the evening off if there are items on the agenda that uh the um you don't actually uh feel the 20:45 20 minutes, 45 seconds need to be participate in decision-m and the agenda um does not have to be perfect. The point of the agenda is to 20:53 20 minutes, 53 seconds be informative so the community knows what the body will be discussing. Um, and so basically it requires that each 21:01 21 minutes, 1 second item that's going to be discussed that at that meeting is included on the agenda in a relative summary format. 21:08 21 minutes, 8 seconds Just enough information so that people know, oh, I care about that. I want to show up and participate. 21:17 21 minutes, 17 seconds So we talk about meetings. What is a meeting? A meeting certainly is an agendaized time when the body gets 21:25 21 minutes, 25 seconds together and talks about the business of the body, but a meeting can happen outside of an agenda meeting. And um and 21:34 21 minutes, 34 seconds that's where you have to be very careful. Um if you have a quorum of your body which is basically a majority of 21:41 21 minutes, 41 seconds the members of the body um in a location where they are discussing the the 21:49 21 minutes, 49 seconds anything within the jurisdiction of their commission that's a meeting. So you could be at the grocery store and 21:56 21 minutes, 56 seconds meet a quorum by accident of your commission and maybe talk about something that might be on the agenda 22:03 22 minutes, 3 seconds next week and now you are having a meeting that wasn't noticed. The public is not there. That is a violation of the Brown Act. 22:12 22 minutes, 12 seconds So you need to be very careful when you're on a commission. you know who your commissioners are and you understand that you have to be careful 22:20 22 minutes, 20 seconds about discussing the business of the body with those people even if they're your close friends. Now you can if it's 22:27 22 minutes, 27 seconds a a a smaller number than a quorum you can have those conversations but it can 22:34 22 minutes, 34 seconds be risky because um not only is a discussion alto together of a quorum in 22:42 22 minutes, 42 seconds one place um a violation of the Brown Act if it's not at a published meeting but there's this thing called serial 22:49 22 minutes, 49 seconds meetings and that's where oh let's see that's not on this it let me move forward 22:57 22 minutes, 57 seconds We're getting to serial meetings somewhere. I'm just going to jump into what they are. A serial meeting is where a a smaller number than a quorum talk 23:06 23 minutes, 6 seconds about the um subject matter that uh is the subject of their commission and then 23:14 23 minutes, 14 seconds they split up and they talk to their two friends about the same information. and all of a sudden the opinions of the 23:22 23 minutes, 22 seconds members of the body are being shared with a majority outside of a public meeting. That's a that's the concept of 23:32 23 minutes, 32 seconds a serial meeting and that also is a violation of the Brown Act. So even if you're just meeting with your friend and you're talking about the um subject 23:39 23 minutes, 39 seconds matter of your commission, you have to be careful because you don't know if your friend is going to forget and then share your opinion with their friend and all of a sudden you have a Brown Act 23:47 23 minutes, 47 seconds violation. So, it's just better not to discuss the business of your commission outside of an agenda meeting. 23:59 23 minutes, 59 seconds There are three kinds of meetings. 24:00 24 minutes Regular meetings, those are the meetings that are um the schedule that's set at the beginning of the year. Um and then there are special meetings when maybe 24:08 24 minutes, 8 seconds for some reason um uh an item has come to the attention of the chair that needs to be addressed immediately. They'll call a special meeting. And then there 24:16 24 minutes, 16 seconds are adjourned meetings. And that's basically where you're in a meeting and you don't get through all the business and the chair um um doesn't adjourn the 24:25 24 minutes, 25 seconds meeting. The the chair closes the meeting for and sets a specific time when everybody's going to get back together to finish talking about the items on that agenda. 24:34 24 minutes, 34 seconds And then emergency meeting is where certain emergency circumstances happen in the community and the body needs to meet right away. And then the body can 24:43 24 minutes, 43 seconds call an emergency meeting even without notice. just we need an emergency um and so they can have a meeting like maybe a natural disaster or something like that. 24:55 24 minutes, 55 seconds So what is not a meeting? Since meetings can happen anywhere, um uh it's important to understand also what is not a meeting. Individual contacts like I 25:04 25 minutes, 4 seconds mentioned um staff briefings when there's less than a quorum present. 25:12 25 minutes, 12 seconds Social or ceremonial gatherings, conferences, seminars, open and publicized community meetings. 25:24 25 minutes, 24 seconds kind of like what we have here. Um, so long as a legislative body is not speaking about the subjects, the subject matter that is the uh topic of their 25:33 25 minutes, 33 seconds commission and meetings of other legislative bodies. So, let's say that you're um uh 25:41 25 minutes, 41 seconds planning on attending a conference that is being put on by uh Cal Cities and you know there are other people in the community that are going to be even on 25:49 25 minutes, 49 seconds your commission that are going to be at that seminar or or that event. That doesn't mean you can't go or if the 25:56 25 minutes, 56 seconds majority of you are there that you're violating the Brown Act. You can still attend those kinds of seminars. The key 26:03 26 minutes, 3 seconds is that you don't um attend them together as a group. You go individually. You might say hi to your 26:11 26 minutes, 11 seconds other commission members, but you're certainly not talking about the business of the body that you're a member of. And 26:18 26 minutes, 18 seconds it's even uh you could even be in the same uh presentation and listening to the same seminar, but it would be best 26:25 26 minutes, 25 seconds to be at different tables so that you're not um um subtly communicating your opinion about a subject matter that might come before your commission. 26:40 26 minutes, 40 seconds We talked about serial meetings. That's that wagon wheel concept where the opinion of one person is transmitted to the other person and another person and 26:48 26 minutes, 48 seconds all of a sudden a quorum of the body knows how everybody's going to vote before the body actually comes together to vote. 26:59 26 minutes, 59 seconds social media. So since the uh um ubiquitous of Facebook and so many other 27:07 27 minutes, 7 seconds social media platforms um social media has become a mechanism where people can get around the Brown Act and so the 27:16 27 minutes, 16 seconds legislature has now focused on that and um come up with clear guidelines about the use of social media. Uh recently 27:24 27 minutes, 24 seconds new um I really could use some water I'm going to keep going and maybe 27:31 27 minutes, 31 seconds somebody will Thank you. Um, recently the state legislature specifically focused on social media and identified 27:40 27 minutes, 40 seconds that's actually a really useful tool uh uh for our democracies. Uh prior to that they were uh the um laws were a little 27:49 27 minutes, 49 seconds reluctant and um um created real barriers for the use of social media um 27:56 27 minutes, 56 seconds by elected or appointed officials. But it's such a great way to reach people that I think the legislature has seen 28:03 28 minutes, 3 seconds that they that it's useful tool. So what you can do as an elected or appointed official Oh, thank you so much. 28:19 28 minutes, 19 seconds You can um answer your constituents questions online and um you can 28:26 28 minutes, 26 seconds communicate with the public online. Um although you can't communicate with your 28:35 28 minutes, 35 seconds other um commissioners about the business of the commission online. So 28:43 28 minutes, 43 seconds similarly uh in a public setting you can uh communicate with your community 28:50 28 minutes, 50 seconds members um you can communicate with people that you might be in a club with. 28:56 28 minutes, 56 seconds um to a certain extent you can talk about the business of the city with your friends but you can't 29:04 29 minutes, 4 seconds communicate with a majority of the commission in public I mean or even in private at all um in your personal life. 29:12 29 minutes, 12 seconds Same with social media. You can use social media to connect with people but you can't use social media to 29:20 29 minutes, 20 seconds communicate with other commissioners on your own committee or your own commission. 29:27 29 minutes, 27 seconds You can't even um if you see that one of your commissioners has um expressed an opinion that you agree with that's 29:35 29 minutes, 35 seconds within the subject matter of your commission, you can't like it or give a smiley face or even respond to it because that's just like if you were 29:43 29 minutes, 43 seconds communicating, you know, to agree on their specific opinion about something. 29:53 29 minutes, 53 seconds So, now we'll move on to agendas. 29:57 29 minutes, 57 seconds At the meeting, when you do get to the meeting and you're there with your other fellow commissioners, the meeting is 30:04 30 minutes, 4 seconds there to talk about what's on the agenda. It's not a social setting. Um, and so when you get to the meeting, you 30:12 30 minutes, 12 seconds uh the chair will move through the agenda and the body will address the items on the agenda. 30:20 30 minutes, 20 seconds um if something's even if it's not um necessarily a social conversation, if 30:29 30 minutes, 29 seconds there's some other item within the jurisdiction of the body that you really want to talk about and it's not on the agenda, you can't talk about it. And 30:37 30 minutes, 37 seconds that's because the agenda is published for the community to understand what you're going to be talking about and show up if they want to be a part of it. 30:45 30 minutes, 45 seconds So if all of a sudden you go off of the agenda and you start talking about some other aspect of the let's say workload 30:53 30 minutes, 53 seconds of the commission um then the public isn't get a chance to be there and participate in the conversation and 31:00 31 minutes listen to your conversation. So you have to stick to the agenda. 31:07 31 minutes, 7 seconds So as I said the agendas are generally published 72 hours in advance. That also gives all the commissioners enough time 31:14 31 minutes, 14 seconds to review what the agenda is, read the materials, and prepare for the meeting so that you'll be prepared when you arrive at the meeting to discuss the 31:22 31 minutes, 22 seconds items on the agenda with your fellow commissioners. 31:29 31 minutes, 29 seconds There are a few things that can be talked about um in a meeting that aren't that may not be on the agenda, and it's a short list. 31:39 31 minutes, 39 seconds brief reports or announcements. 31:41 31 minutes, 41 seconds Sometimes a meeting will even agendaize brief reports or announcements without any detail about what they will be and then people can give their brief report 31:49 31 minutes, 49 seconds let's say on a meeting that they went to at another city or whatever. 31:56 31 minutes, 56 seconds Obtaining legal advice um at at in any public meeting if legal advice needs to be given or sought that can be done doesn't have to be agendaized. 32:07 32 minutes, 7 seconds asking clarifying questions reasonable um referring an item to staff like for 32:14 32 minutes, 14 seconds instance saying oh I just remembered that this would be a good idea and saying staff maybe you can look into that and we can talk about at some 32:22 32 minutes, 22 seconds future agenda you can do that during a meeting even it's even if it's not agendaized and um responding to public comment 32:30 32 minutes, 30 seconds briefly so even at the council meetings you'll notice when people have public comment. 32:37 32 minutes, 37 seconds It doesn't turn into a back and forth with the council. Um it's just meant for public to um express, you know, whatever 32:45 32 minutes, 45 seconds it is they uh would like to express at the time. And the the body can briefly respond back to that individual, but it doesn't turn into a conversation. 32:59 32 minutes, 59 seconds So, as I mentioned, public participation is key to our democratic process. 33:05 33 minutes, 5 seconds And um it provides the opportunity for the community to interact with the commission and let the commission or the 33:14 33 minutes, 14 seconds legislative bodies know what they're thinking or feeling um and and perhaps how they would like to see the commission move forward. 33:26 33 minutes, 26 seconds Um also, uh the public has the right to review documents to review um your commission's documents. they have the 33:35 33 minutes, 35 seconds anything that's not privileged is something that can be sought through the public records act. And so that's something to be thinking about when you 33:44 33 minutes, 44 seconds are participating on a commission, knowing that the documents that you prepare, even your emails, uh, anything 33:52 33 minutes, 52 seconds having to do with the commission, unless it's privileged, meaning it's really part of the attorney client privilege. There are not many privileges really. 34:01 34 minutes, 1 second For the most part, everything you write uh, is available for the public to request and review. So, it's important 34:09 34 minutes, 9 seconds to keep that in mind. It's something very different than, you know, your personal communications uh in separate parts of your lives. 34:20 34 minutes, 20 seconds Enforcing the Brown Act. Um if the Brown Act is violated, then the 34:27 34 minutes, 27 seconds public have the right, anybody in the public has the right to um raise their hand and say that was a Brown Act 34:34 34 minutes, 34 seconds violation and you need to cure it. And um to curate curing the action is um you 34:42 34 minutes, 42 seconds whatever the body was deciding at the time when a brown egg violation occurred 34:49 34 minutes, 49 seconds can be voided and then it has to be relooked at by the body at a future date. 34:56 34 minutes, 56 seconds If it's regularly happening, then somebody in the community can say um we need to have um a a policy that 35:06 35 minutes, 6 seconds says that you cannot do this anymore. We need to um officially uh enjoin you from violating the Brown Act. Oftentimes for 35:15 35 minutes, 15 seconds that you would need to file with the court, file with the courthouse. 35:20 35 minutes, 20 seconds And then um the attorney's fees, which is um uh an important um penalty for the 35:26 35 minutes, 26 seconds city. If somebody experiences a Brown Act violation and they hire a lawyer and the lawyer sues the city and the city 35:34 35 minutes, 34 seconds loses, the city has to pay the legal fees. there generally isn't um a a 35:40 35 minutes, 40 seconds reward to the person who um called out the Brown Act violation, but the city does have to pay the legal fees and go 35:49 35 minutes, 49 seconds through that process. Um, and in very extreme cases there can be criminal prosecution, 35:58 35 minutes, 58 seconds but I think for the most part your city representatives take the Brown Act very seriously and um make every effort not 36:07 36 minutes, 7 seconds to um, you know, even sort of get to the edge of compliance. 36:19 36 minutes, 19 seconds communication protocols. 36:21 36 minutes, 21 seconds So, as a member of a city commission, um that um provides you with a certain 36:28 36 minutes, 28 seconds amount of status in the community and um also of uh influence over um policies within the city. 36:38 36 minutes, 38 seconds So, it's important to separate your city communications from your personal communications. 36:45 36 minutes, 45 seconds And um that's what this communication protocols uh that's the concept here. Um it's important to keep your official 36:55 36 minutes, 55 seconds positions and communications separate from your own personal um belief system or you know casual conversation. 37:05 37 minutes, 5 seconds And this is especially true when you're dealing with other bodies, other um 37:12 37 minutes, 12 seconds organizations that are doing the city's business, like for instance, the city's contractors 37:20 37 minutes, 20 seconds or uh other agencies that the committee might be working with, whether it be the county or any other governmental agency. 37:28 37 minutes, 28 seconds All of those relationships, the city with those entities are really important. And so it's important that 37:35 37 minutes, 35 seconds you don't in your role as commissioner wearing your commissioner hat like direct try to direct the in or influence 37:44 37 minutes, 44 seconds those other entities. Um uh that really that direction really comes from city council and then is implemented through 37:53 37 minutes, 53 seconds city staff. And there's so much uh behind the scenes happening in the city 38:00 38 minutes through the staff trying to implement the council's direction uh that it's easy to kind of get in the way there. So you should be mindful. 38:12 38 minutes, 12 seconds So um just recently we have had some major updates to the Brown Act um in Senate Bill 707. 38:21 38 minutes, 21 seconds One is that members should be I think this might have been part of the rule before, but members should receive a copy of the Brown Act when they become 38:29 38 minutes, 29 seconds um a member of a Brown Act body. And I think that you all did receive that and we've had these new updates that are 38:37 38 minutes, 37 seconds coming. So you may be receiving another version of that with new updates. But just having the Brown Act so you can read it and know what it says. It's useful and important. 38:48 38 minutes, 48 seconds The other uh thing that SB77 has done is um um sort of like further um uh ex um 38:58 38 minutes, 58 seconds ma further uh facilitated the ability to have hybrid meetings for commissions. 39:05 39 minutes, 5 seconds Uh, city councils have been able to do hybrid meetings for a while, really since COVID and um, and I know that uh, 39:14 39 minutes, 14 seconds the council approved hybrid meetings even before the uh, effectiveness of 707 which they were uh, that was uh, 39:21 39 minutes, 21 seconds available for them to do and this further cottifies this process. 39:26 39 minutes, 26 seconds It requires that the commission have a functioning audiovisisual connection so that the me members of the public can 39:35 39 minutes, 35 seconds participate um from a remote location both video and through audio. 39:43 39 minutes, 43 seconds It also allows commissioners on occasion to participate in the meetings remotely. We'll talk about that in a minute. 39:53 39 minutes, 53 seconds Um SB77 also discussed community outreach and with respect to um commissions and advisory bodies. Um it 40:02 40 minutes, 2 seconds specifically uh indicates that the city should have a web page for each commission and the web page should show 40:10 40 minutes, 10 seconds what the um schedule of meetings is and um I think it should have uh a link to the meeting minutes that kind of thing. 40:19 40 minutes, 19 seconds So the community who's interested in the subject matter of your commission can follow what's happening 40:27 40 minutes, 27 seconds and then it also inre created a teleconferencing disruption rule and um I think a lot of cities ours included 40:35 40 minutes, 35 seconds have had occasions when our telecommunications goes down and 707 now provides sort of a roadmap for that and 40:44 40 minutes, 44 seconds when the communications go down if you're having a a audio audiovisisual meeting. Um then you have to try to fix 40:54 40 minutes, 54 seconds the connection for an hour and if you are able to fix the connection sometime during that hour that's great and if 41:02 41 minutes, 2 seconds you're not able to fix it during that hour after the hour is up then you don't have to have the audio visual running you can continue your meeting. So, let's hope that Zoom works well. 41:16 41 minutes, 16 seconds Um, so we talked about the uh social media and how 707 is actually um sort of opening the doors a little bit for 41:25 41 minutes, 25 seconds commissioners to communicate um so long as they're not violating the Brown Act using um Facebook etc. 41:35 41 minutes, 35 seconds Okay. So now that we're having these audio these te these remote meeting uh opportunities with the uh audiovisisual 41:44 41 minutes, 44 seconds connection um it allows for members to participate in these meetings from remote locations. 41:54 41 minutes, 54 seconds Uh there for a long time has been the idea of this classic um ability to participate from a in in a 42:03 42 minutes, 3 seconds meeting from a remote location. And that in the past has required that the individual participating remotely post 42:12 42 minutes, 12 seconds the agenda at their location um and um uh allow the public to participate from their remote location. 42:23 42 minutes, 23 seconds that rule has been extended. Um the only thing that's changed is that a after July 1st you don't have to post your agenda anymore. 42:38 42 minutes, 38 seconds And then we have two new relatively new um ways to uh participate remotely. One 42:46 42 minutes, 46 seconds is through this idea of just cause and um under the just cause uh 42:54 42 minutes, 54 seconds uh provision, you either have to be caring for family 43:01 43 minutes, 1 second or uh it's basically a long list of ways that your life requires you to stay at 43:10 43 minutes, 10 seconds home or stay in a location because you're taking care of a sick relative, because somebody's in the hospital. Um, uh, there it's a detailed list. I'm not 43:18 43 minutes, 18 seconds going to go through all the details, but it's not just, you know, oh, anytime I can do this. It really has to do with 43:25 43 minutes, 25 seconds when your private life is requiring uh, based upon certain circumstances that you stay at home. You know, even like 43:33 43 minutes, 33 seconds for instance, if you're ill with a contagious illness, that sort of thing. 43:40 43 minutes, 40 seconds Uh, and then there's the emergency, which is very limited. It really has to do with oh there is a big earthquake so none of us can really get to the meeting 43:48 43 minutes, 48 seconds and so um that allows for a remote meeting. 43:55 43 minutes, 55 seconds These meetings under the just cause um scenario for bodies that meet once a month like most of your bodies do um it 44:04 44 minutes, 4 seconds allows commissioners to take advantage of that just twice during the year. 44:15 44 minutes, 15 seconds Okay, that's the Brown Act. Now, we're going to talk about Rosenberg's Rules of Order. 44:23 44 minutes, 23 seconds Rosenberg's rules of order. It's a document that you might have seen before. It looks like this with the big gavvel kind of. Yeah. Um, so there's 44:32 44 minutes, 32 seconds various rules of order that, um, public bodies in this country uh, work from. One is Robert's rules. It's very thick. 44:40 44 minutes, 40 seconds It's what our parliamentary systems are using, you know, in DC and in 44:46 44 minutes, 46 seconds Sacramento. Uh in California, it's since we had Mr. Rosenberg, who I think was in 44:54 44 minutes, 54 seconds um Sacramento, he boiled down the Robert's rules into a much more simplified and userfriendly version that 45:03 45 minutes, 3 seconds works great for cities. Most cities in California use uh Rosenberg's rules and uh it's I don't know something like 15 45:12 45 minutes, 12 seconds pages. It's no seven pages. It's worth reading. You can easily download it online and um and it's on the Cal City's 45:21 45 minutes, 21 seconds website. And so Rosenberg's rules basically provide a roadmap for dealing 45:28 45 minutes, 28 seconds with um uh agendaized items for a body to you know come to terms with talk 45:35 45 minutes, 35 seconds about debate and then eventually vote on um items of action that the commiss that 45:42 45 minutes, 42 seconds your commission will be deciding. Um, 45:51 45 minutes, 51 seconds one of the main functions of Rosenbergs is that the meeting is run by the chair. 45:58 45 minutes, 58 seconds There's one person who is responsible for keeping everybody together on the same page moving through the process so 46:07 46 minutes, 7 seconds that the body can make decisions and that's the chair. 46:11 46 minutes, 11 seconds It's very important to be respectful of the chair and to know that the chair's role is to keep the moving the meeting 46:17 46 minutes, 17 seconds moving and um so if the chair is you know asking you to refocus on the topic it's important that you follow the lead 46:26 46 minutes, 26 seconds of the chair so that the commission can be efficient and effective. 46:32 46 minutes, 32 seconds Um your agenda will have different items that you'll be working you'll be working through. Some of them will be action items and an action item it needs a 46:40 46 minutes, 40 seconds motion, it needs a second and it needs a vote and if it gets a majority vote then 46:47 46 minutes, 47 seconds that is the action of the body. Um the process for getting there without a road 46:53 46 minutes, 53 seconds map can be um messy and you know not clear. Uh Rosenbergs gives us a a very clear and effective road map. 47:04 47 minutes, 4 seconds Basically, the chair announces the agenda item and then staff will introduce it, meaning describe what the agenda item 47:13 47 minutes, 13 seconds is. Then commissioners have the opportunity opportunity to ask clarifying questions. Um, oh, I didn't 47:21 47 minutes, 21 seconds understand what this part of the agenda item is. Please describe. So they get their so a during your um during the 47:30 47 minutes, 30 seconds agenda item you as commissioners will have your questions answered by the staff member so you understand what the 47:37 47 minutes, 37 seconds um item is that you're working on. Then the chair will ask oh then the chair will open the floor for public comment. 47:47 47 minutes, 47 seconds And so before the commission makes any action or even before commissioners state what they think about the action 47:54 47 minutes, 54 seconds item, they're hearing the public um give their opinions. So that's the time for the public to uh let the commission 48:02 48 minutes, 2 seconds understand what they are thinking. Once the public comment is done, then the chair asks for a motion and it's 48:09 48 minutes, 9 seconds basically to get the the debate process going. And so the chair will ask is there a motion? and somebody will say, 48:16 48 minutes, 16 seconds "I have a motion. I move, let's say, the recommended action." Um, and then the chair will ask if there's a second. And 48:25 48 minutes, 25 seconds if there's a second, then you now have a motion that you're going to be debating. 48:31 48 minutes, 31 seconds And so then you move into discussion, basically debate on the item. And during debate, maybe it becomes clear to some 48:37 48 minutes, 37 seconds other commissioner that actually that motion isn't so workable. We should change it in some way. And that's when 48:46 48 minutes, 46 seconds that person can say, "Oh, I I I have a second motion. I I would like that we move this substitute motion and describe 48:54 48 minutes, 54 seconds the substitute motion." And then the chair will ask, "Is there a second?" And if there is, then now you have the 49:01 49 minutes, 1 second substitute motion. So you have the original motion and the substitute motion. And you've had a lot of debate. 49:07 49 minutes, 7 seconds And at some point it will become clear that debate and conversation is over. 49:13 49 minutes, 13 seconds it's all been talked through and then the chair will ask um let's get let's take a vote on the 49:21 49 minutes, 21 seconds substitute motion. You always start from the last made motion and then the chair will call for a vote and if the 49:30 49 minutes, 30 seconds substitute motion gets a majority in favor then that is the ruling of the commission. If not then the chair will go to the original motion. same thing. 49:40 49 minutes, 40 seconds If nothing gets a majority, then you're back to the drawing board debating what's happening. Um, but that's sort of 49:47 49 minutes, 47 seconds the process for moving an item um through the decision-making process until you 49:55 49 minutes, 55 seconds get a majority vote and then you move to the next item on the agenda. 50:01 50 minutes, 1 second I know on commissions sometimes it's not as um um rigid, if you will. um at at city 50:11 50 minutes, 11 seconds council and at planning commission meetings. Um generally I I think the body really tries to stay um kind of in 50:19 50 minutes, 19 seconds that uh Rosenberg's rules of order order but um it's useful at the at the 50:26 50 minutes, 26 seconds commission level as well but I think not as you know it's uh fundamental there 50:33 50 minutes, 33 seconds there is room for um uh creativity if you will uh from the chair etc. But 50:41 50 minutes, 41 seconds Rosenberg's rules is a good way to get things done. 50:48 50 minutes, 48 seconds We just went through that. Okay. Now we're going to talk about conflicts of interest. Really important area. 50:57 50 minutes, 57 seconds So, all of the conflicts of interest rules 51:04 51 minutes, 4 seconds focus on making sure that the decision- making of the body is 51:10 51 minutes, 10 seconds um achieving goals that are good for the community, not achieving goals that are good for an individual. 51:20 51 minutes, 20 seconds So, we'll start out with um government de government code 1090. 51:32 51 minutes, 32 seconds A public officer or employee may not make contracts in which they are financially interested. 51:41 51 minutes, 41 seconds It's the idea of um using your position to enrich yourself in any way. 51:50 51 minutes, 50 seconds So, if you're on a commission that is going to be recommending um um let's say 51:56 51 minutes, 56 seconds an arts advisor to the city council, you as a member of that commission 52:04 52 minutes, 4 seconds cannot be um an employee of that advisor. Uh you can't be on the board of directors of that advisor. You can't 52:12 52 minutes, 12 seconds have any financial interest whatsoever in that entity. If you do, then you're conflicted. 52:19 52 minutes, 19 seconds And that's really where 1090 is going. 52:27 52 minutes, 27 seconds The political reform act is similar. 52:34 52 minutes, 34 seconds Uh political bodies, public officials may not make or influence government decisions in which they know or should 52:42 52 minutes, 42 seconds know that they have a financial interest. So 1090 is a broader statutory 52:50 52 minutes, 50 seconds structure that includes um what's discussed in in the political reform act, but it's really quite broad. 53:00 53 minutes So it will include some activities that aren't discussed in the political reform act. Um, when thinking about all of 53:07 53 minutes, 7 seconds these kinds of conflicts, it's always about whether you have a personal uh financial or even other interest. But 53:16 53 minutes, 16 seconds really, it's about finances, a personal financial interest in the outcome. And if you do, it doesn't mean that you that 53:23 53 minutes, 23 seconds it's bad that you have a financial interest. It only means it's bad if you vote on it. If you have a financial interest, you must recuse yourself. 53:40 53 minutes, 40 seconds And um this third bullet point it says effect on official must be distinguishable for uh from effect on the public generally. 53:51 53 minutes, 51 seconds So there might be some things that you will be advocating for. Um, let's say you're advocating for bike lanes and you 54:01 54 minutes, 1 second really uh you ride bikes and you want bike lanes and um that's absolutely not 54:08 54 minutes, 8 seconds a conflict because that's uh your uh uh what's this viewpoint of the world 54:16 54 minutes, 16 seconds that we should have bike lanes and you like bike lanes. Um, but if your home is right next to where the bike lane is 54:24 54 minutes, 24 seconds going to be and um and that either makes the bike lanes uh positive things for you or a negative thing for you, that's 54:34 54 minutes, 34 seconds when maybe you do have a conflict. Um, so I I hope that's clear. 54:43 54 minutes, 43 seconds And when you do have a conflict, you have to recuse. For the most part, conflicts are based upon financial interests, but they can also be based 54:51 54 minutes, 51 seconds upon um where you own real estate 54:58 54 minutes, 58 seconds or uh if you're um a real estate um uh 55:06 55 minutes, 6 seconds agent and you're working on a deal where the city might be buying a piece of property or not, that might impact your commission, things like that. 55:20 55 minutes, 20 seconds Now, we're going to talk about campaign contributions. This is a new uh a new statute that went into effect, 55:28 55 minutes, 28 seconds I think it was like three years ago, two maybe called the Lavine Act. 55:34 55 minutes, 34 seconds And it basically it forbids 55:42 55 minutes, 42 seconds an individual to make a campaign donation of $500 or more. 55:54 55 minutes, 54 seconds Um when 56:07 56 minutes, 7 seconds you will be asking the commission or the council to take a vote on something that you have a financial interest in. 56:17 56 minutes, 17 seconds So, if you're a real estate developer and um you're you know that you're going to be asking the council to approve your 56:24 56 minutes, 24 seconds project, then for a year before you ask for the decision and a year after you ask for 56:32 56 minutes, 32 seconds the decision, you cannot have made a campaign contribution to any of the individuals who will be voting on that. 56:40 56 minutes, 40 seconds And so that's, you know, uh, uh, that would apply to even a small contract like I want to be selling the lunches 56:49 56 minutes, 49 seconds to, um, the city, uh, on their special occasions and I'm trying to get that contract. 56:58 56 minutes, 58 seconds I can't now make a donation to anybody on the city council uh, because the city council will be approving that contract. 57:05 57 minutes, 5 seconds And it applies to city staff, too. 57:08 57 minutes, 8 seconds If you're going to be asking a city staff person to approve a contract that you have a financial interest in, um, 57:16 57 minutes, 16 seconds you can't be making contri campaign contributions 57:31 57 minutes, 31 seconds and gifts are another important um way of being conflicted. Um, officials are prohibited from receiving 57:38 57 minutes, 38 seconds gifts of as $10 or or more from a lobbyist. 57:44 57 minutes, 44 seconds And you'll all be officials. So, if a lobbyist wants to give you a gift of $10 or more when you're at um maybe, you 57:51 57 minutes, 51 seconds know, one of these Cal's events, you can't take that. 57:58 57 minutes, 58 seconds and gifts valued uh over 630 or more from a single source in the previous 12-month period. 58:08 58 minutes, 8 seconds So, the $10 is for lobbyists and it's $630 for any gifts. 58:24 58 minutes, 24 seconds And then there are some exceptions, gifts from family members, hospitality, gifts in a dating relationship, etc. 58:37 58 minutes, 37 seconds And then there are also common law conflicts of interest. And common law conflicts are um 58:46 58 minutes, 46 seconds are are kind of harder to prove. And basically it's where you have 58:54 58 minutes, 54 seconds so decided in a quasi judiciary a quad a quasi adjudicatory 59:03 59 minutes, 3 seconds uh proceeding like for instance at the um planning commission where you have 59:10 59 minutes, 10 seconds decided already how you're going to vote on a project yay or nay 59:16 59 minutes, 16 seconds so that you're not in a position to hear the evidence and testimony and 59:23 59 minutes, 23 seconds other information provided to you during the meeting during when the item comes up and you've already made up your mind. 59:32 59 minutes, 32 seconds Then you're really biased and conflicted and not able to um be open to the evidence and make a decision on behalf of the body. 59:51 59 minutes, 51 seconds What generally is not a common law conflict of interest though is if you 59:58 59 minutes, 58 seconds um if you are uh if you believe in bike lanes and then you vote for the item 1:00:05 1 hour, 5 seconds that wants bike lanes. That's just your you know that's your viewpoint in the world. It's it might be why you were 1:00:14 1 hour, 14 seconds appointed to the commission or it might be why you were elected to elect uh to office. 1:00:22 1 hour, 22 seconds It's a little bit of a fine line. 1:00:28 1 hour, 28 seconds The financial conflicts of interests are much more clear and also uh to a certain extent uh more 1:00:35 1 hour, 35 seconds damaging to a city when there is a financial conflict of interest. 1:00:42 1 hour, 42 seconds Um, and then we talked about how uh we're bringing um the commissioner's handbook with some updates to council. 1:00:49 1 hour, 49 seconds And just I'll just go through a few of them. We'll I we'll see um how they come out after the vote, but um we're talking 1:00:58 1 hour, 58 seconds about having the council appoint um alternates to commissions that would 1:01:05 1 hour, 1 minute, 5 seconds allow the commission to um uh more readily achieve quorum because the alternate could step in when um one of 1:01:14 1 hour, 1 minute, 14 seconds the commissioners is absent. And it would also allow an alternate to be um 1:01:22 1 hour, 1 minute, 22 seconds appointed if there's a vacancy on the commission. 1:01:28 1 hour, 1 minute, 28 seconds And then um I think the uh commission uh procedures will be the handbook will be updated to 1:01:36 1 hour, 1 minute, 36 seconds describe the difference between a commissioner's personal views and the commission's views and discussing uh 1:01:44 1 hour, 1 minute, 44 seconds communicating uh about your commission's views uh with people in the community 1:01:50 1 hour, 1 minute, 50 seconds and with the city council. So that if you if your commission has taken a 1:01:57 1 hour, 1 minute, 57 seconds position on something um then when you're communicating about that, if you're if you have a different viewpoint 1:02:06 1 hour, 2 minutes, 6 seconds than what the majority has decided, you're certainly welcome to communicate your viewpoint, but it's just important 1:02:12 1 hour, 2 minutes, 12 seconds that you do it in a way that um it doesn't tend to represent what the full body decided. 1:02:20 1 hour, 2 minutes, 20 seconds Because if the full body took an action uh and you're on that commission then and you are expressing what the 1:02:29 1 hour, 2 minutes, 29 seconds full body's position was then you should be accurate in terms of expressing what the full body decided. It doesn't mean that you can't personally also express 1:02:38 1 hour, 2 minutes, 38 seconds your opinion. You just need to make sure that it's clear that that's what's happening. 1:02:43 1 hour, 2 minutes, 43 seconds Um, I think it'll also be talking about emails and the use of the official email, which is really important that 1:02:50 1 hour, 2 minutes, 50 seconds when you are um communicating from um the position of being a a commissioner that you're using 1:02:59 1 hour, 2 minutes, 59 seconds your um city email. And it's useful for city staff because we do receive these 1:03:07 1 hour, 3 minutes, 7 seconds public records act requests and um it's much more uh effective for us to search 1:03:14 1 hour, 3 minutes, 14 seconds our the city's email to find responsive documents that must be produced than to ask are you going to talk about this? 1:03:23 1 hour, 3 minutes, 23 seconds Oh, good. Yay. 1:03:25 1 hour, 3 minutes, 25 seconds Um and then let's see. The other is um I think it's already kind of the policy, but it'll be uh um clarified in the 1:03:34 1 hour, 3 minutes, 34 seconds commissioner's handbook that commissioners should only serve on one body at a time, not on two commissions at a time. All right. Thank you so much. 1:03:45 1 hour, 3 minutes, 45 seconds Careful. 1:03:47 1 hour, 3 minutes, 47 seconds So, hello everyone. I'm Terry Gart, the CTO for the city of Certino, and I have our very last slide of the evening. So, 1:03:54 1 hour, 3 minutes, 54 seconds almost done here. Um so just a couple technology reminders. Uh the first is cyber security training. We do have 1:04:02 1 hour, 4 minutes, 2 seconds cyber security training for um any uh city users that have a us a city email 1:04:09 1 hour, 4 minutes, 9 seconds account, right? Um and the cyber security training is the beginning of each month. You have a short training. 1:04:17 1 hour, 4 minutes, 17 seconds It's 3 to 10 minutes. And then in October we do have a lengthy 45minute training for cyber security awareness 1:04:25 1 hour, 4 minutes, 25 seconds month. Um and then email and per city email and personal emails. Um so we are 1:04:35 1 hour, 4 minutes, 35 seconds asking as um uh Floyd just mentioned that you use um your city email for any 1:04:43 1 hour, 4 minutes, 43 seconds city business and you keep your personal email separate. We don't forward emails to our personal uh inbox or send uh city official emails from our personal inbox. 1:04:54 1 hour, 4 minutes, 54 seconds You keep the two separated. Um and that as she mentioned is um because they're subject to PAS, public record requests. 1:05:02 1 hour, 5 minutes, 2 seconds Um and so we need to be able to search those those records. Um the next is international travel. Um please inform 1:05:11 1 hour, 5 minutes, 11 seconds both your leaison and it anytime um you travel internationally 1:05:18 1 hour, 5 minutes, 18 seconds um we need both which country and the dates that you will be um traveling. 1:05:23 1 hour, 5 minutes, 23 seconds This help in helps to ensure that uh access to your email is not interrupted because we do get pinged on um those 1:05:32 1 hour, 5 minutes, 32 seconds messages and we will shut down your account if we don't have notification ahead of time. So please be aware of that. Um, and then of course anytime if 1:05:41 1 hour, 5 minutes, 41 seconds you have any questions or concerns IT related, uh, we do have the email for help desk as well as the phone number 1:05:49 1 hour, 5 minutes, 49 seconds assigned here. And I will follow up with an email after just reiterating these these points so you have them in your inbox. Thank you very much. 1:06:06 1 hour, 6 minutes, 6 seconds I need my little stool. 1:06:09 1 hour, 6 minutes, 9 seconds Okay, thank you um everybody. So um at this time we're going to officially open for public comment since this is a notice meeting. So are there any members 1:06:18 1 hour, 6 minutes, 18 seconds of the public that would like to speak on this item? 1:06:23 1 hour, 6 minutes, 23 seconds Seeing none, we're going to close the public comment period. Um, and if anyone has questions on all this important information that we just presented to 1:06:30 1 hour, 6 minutes, 30 seconds you, please come to the microphone here and we will be happy to answer and address any of your questions. 1:06:37 1 hour, 6 minutes, 37 seconds Do not be shy. We are here. 1:06:46 1 hour, 6 minutes, 46 seconds Hello. Uh, this is my name is Gopal. I'm from a park and rec uh commission. So a couple of uh uh questions maybe 1:06:54 1 hour, 6 minutes, 54 seconds clarifications. Number one the training we used to get uh once the training is completed doesn't matter it's the cyber 1:07:02 1 hour, 7 minutes, 2 seconds security training or any of them we used to get a confirmation saying that it is done used to be it's no more. So what happens is that 1:07:11 1 hour, 7 minutes, 11 seconds whenever you go and uh finish the training since it's a monthly training and then it says completed on that web 1:07:18 1 hour, 7 minutes, 18 seconds page but when you go back to your uh email again you don't get anything so sometime you forget so if you going to click on it again it allows me to take 1:07:26 1 hour, 7 minutes, 26 seconds it again so there's no indication of whether I have completed or not it used to be there but it's gone I think that should be a 1:07:34 1 hour, 7 minutes, 34 seconds which which training are you referencing which training you take it on it monthly you said that So the the bianual uh training for 1:07:42 1 hour, 7 minutes, 42 seconds ethics and harassment training the target solutions uh system should predominantly on the monthly training and even monthly you just talked about 1:07:50 1 hour, 7 minutes, 50 seconds it right the cyber security training so the C it may be the to the co this is yeah so Terry would you like to because it's 1:07:58 1 hour, 7 minutes, 58 seconds recorded um so it does when you take the when you 1:08:06 1 hour, 8 minutes, 6 seconds finish the course online within the app it tells you you complete did the training and then you won't get a reminder to complete it. If you haven't 1:08:13 1 hour, 8 minutes, 13 seconds completed it, you will continue to get those reminders. 1:08:17 1 hour, 8 minutes, 17 seconds Sorry, not the reminder, it's a confirmation. If we typically we used to get the confirmation you successfully completed the training, right? As an email. Yes. Okay. 1:08:25 1 hour, 8 minutes, 25 seconds And now it's gone. So assuming that you forget after some time I say oh did I finish it or not? Then I have to go back 1:08:33 1 hour, 8 minutes, 33 seconds because no completion when I go again it again allows me to take it. So I maybe I've done twice thrice because it it doesn't give me the confirmation. 1:08:42 1 hour, 8 minutes, 42 seconds If you go back into it, it will tell you that you've completed it. It allows you. 1:08:47 1 hour, 8 minutes, 47 seconds Um but we will look into the to the emails. I don't know why it did before and now it's not. We'll look into that for you. Sure. Sure. Thank you. The 1:08:54 1 hour, 8 minutes, 54 seconds other question maybe to the attorney one is that I think the social media I just want a clarification. 1:09:00 1 hour, 9 minutes We have u Yes. we can uh when public ask some questions or some concerns we can 1:09:07 1 hour, 9 minutes, 7 seconds respond to them. Um yes the social media is like Facebook, Insta, whatnot but 1:09:13 1 hour, 9 minutes, 13 seconds what about uh the chat applications like WhatsApp, WeChat all of them. Does that fall under social media? because a lot 1:09:22 1 hour, 9 minutes, 22 seconds of people ask for it and then when we say yes, yes, some others may give you a like or smiley or whatn not on the 1:09:30 1 hour, 9 minutes, 30 seconds WhatsApp side would that consider as a violation of the Brown Act on WhatsApp or WeChat chat or any of the 1:09:39 1 hour, 9 minutes, 39 seconds chat because I'm part of some other groups. It's like no specific group. 1:09:43 1 hour, 9 minutes, 43 seconds It's like community group and others. So they may bring some concerns but um as an individual or even as a commissioner 1:09:50 1 hour, 9 minutes, 50 seconds I wanted to tell them that hey this is what the city does. So when I respond people may like and do it. It could be a 1:09:59 1 hour, 9 minutes, 59 seconds fellow commissioner or somebody might have responded without even knowing who responded I might say liking it. My question is does those chat 1:10:08 1 hour, 10 minutes, 8 seconds applications fall under social media or not? They do. And if you are liking another commissioner's 1:10:17 1 hour, 10 minutes, 17 seconds um uh statement about something within the jurisdiction of the commission, you shouldn't be doing that. 1:10:23 1 hour, 10 minutes, 23 seconds Yeah. It's not the commission, is the public asked the question in the chat. Yeah. 1:10:29 1 hour, 10 minutes, 29 seconds So, if it's just you and the public and your other commissioners aren't involved in that conversation, then I think you're fine. But if other commissioners 1:10:36 1 hour, 10 minutes, 36 seconds join the conversation, then you have to not participate. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. 1:10:51 1 hour, 10 minutes, 51 seconds Good evening. Hi. 1:10:52 1 hour, 10 minutes, 52 seconds Hi. Thank you for the training. Um it's very informative. Uh one question that I have is that it has to do with the commissioner's handbook. Right in the 1:11:01 1 hour, 11 minutes, 1 second like the second paragraph or third paragraph, it specifically says that commissioners are not to uh supervise 1:11:08 1 hour, 11 minutes, 8 seconds city staff. Um, it seems to be a gray area and I was just wondering if you could give a couple of examples of what might be seen as directing city staff. 1:11:21 1 hour, 11 minutes, 21 seconds Thank you. 1:11:22 1 hour, 11 minutes, 22 seconds Yes, introduce myself. I'm Connie Cunningham, Housing Commission. 1:11:25 1 hour, 11 minutes, 25 seconds Thank you, Connie. Um, I will try to answer that and if uh city manager Tina Gapor thinks I she wants to add, she's welcome to add. Um, but uh commissioners 1:11:34 1 hour, 11 minutes, 34 seconds and committee members do not direct staff. Um, so to be clear, uh, the the role of the commission or the commissioner is to serve on the 1:11:42 1 hour, 11 minutes, 42 seconds commission and, um, to set policy and make decisions and to bring them up to city council, uh, to formalize the policy and the decisions. Um, so again, 1:11:50 1 hour, 11 minutes, 50 seconds commissioners don't they're not supposed to be directing, um, city staff. Uh, does that help answer that or we're going to have Tina 1:11:58 1 hour, 11 minutes, 58 seconds expand on that just briefly um, since you asked for an example. So, an example of commissioners 1:12:05 1 hour, 12 minutes, 5 seconds directing staff could be um if you're in a commission meeting and there's, you know, um some good ideas being generated 1:12:13 1 hour, 12 minutes, 13 seconds and as a commissioner you tell staff to then go do that project or work on that project. It could be seen as 1:12:22 1 hour, 12 minutes, 22 seconds commissioner directing staff. Um you may suggest that you know that this this is considered if uh you know and then staff 1:12:31 1 hour, 12 minutes, 31 seconds leaison will then need to come and talk to their department heads and to me to see if this is something that we could be doing operationally and it's a good 1:12:38 1 hour, 12 minutes, 38 seconds idea for us to consider but there could be some gray area there. So just be careful in how um you know how you're 1:12:46 1 hour, 12 minutes, 46 seconds suggesting and sharing your good ideas so it doesn't seem like you're asking staff to work on it or providing direction. So, does that help? 1:12:55 1 hour, 12 minutes, 55 seconds Thank you very much. 1:12:59 1 hour, 12 minutes, 59 seconds I I had a question for the city attorney. Um, I believe the common law conflict slide said decision should be 1:13:08 1 hour, 13 minutes, 8 seconds based on evidence in the record. Can you clarify if that is evidence in the written record specifically and if 1:13:15 1 hour, 13 minutes, 15 seconds during the hearing a decision required something that was in the written record but was missing, 1:13:23 1 hour, 13 minutes, 23 seconds how the body should deal with that. I'll give you a specific example. Let's just say we have a state law. The state law 1:13:30 1 hour, 13 minutes, 30 seconds says um you're exempt from taking certain actions in certain neighborhoods or certain um colored maps. Let's just say that. 1:13:42 1 hour, 13 minutes, 42 seconds And there is a clause that then says you can wave the exemption subject to certain findings. But if the findings 1:13:50 1 hour, 13 minutes, 50 seconds were not in writing by the um by the lead agency for the hearing, what action should the body take? 1:14:01 1 hour, 14 minutes, 1 second And I can repeat the question if you'd like. 1:14:04 1 hour, 14 minutes, 4 seconds It is a complicated question and I'm not sure I really followed it. It might be more detailed than is appropriate for this setting, but maybe take one more 1:14:12 1 hour, 14 minutes, 12 seconds shot. May maybe just stating it very simply. If a vote on an agenda item requires the 1:14:20 1 hour, 14 minutes, 20 seconds consideration of the record, the evidence on record and a written evidence is not part of that agenda 1:14:29 1 hour, 14 minutes, 29 seconds packet, what action should the body take? 1:14:37 1 hour, 14 minutes, 37 seconds You know, I would probably need to look more into that, but I don't think that it would be a failure that the information isn't there if it was 1:14:44 1 hour, 14 minutes, 44 seconds already in the public sphere and available. 1:14:48 1 hour, 14 minutes, 48 seconds Uh, let's say it's not in the public sphere. This is a specific written evidence that was missing as a part of 1:14:55 1 hour, 14 minutes, 55 seconds the written attachments in the agenda item. 1:14:59 1 hour, 14 minutes, 59 seconds Well, who's to say that it's missing that it had to be there in the first place? In other words, it's it's it's nuanced based upon what's being asked of 1:15:07 1 hour, 15 minutes, 7 seconds the entity and what the record needs to be for that particular item. So, I don't think that there's a a clear because one 1:15:15 1 hour, 15 minutes, 15 seconds could say, oh, this piece of evidence should have been in the record, but actually there's a really good argument why it wasn't. So, it really depends on the facts of the question. 1:15:24 1 hour, 15 minutes, 24 seconds Yes. And and so specifically going back to the example I was giving, let's say the staff resolution had a finding that was 1:15:34 1 hour, 15 minutes, 34 seconds conditioned on the lead agency's recommendation. However, the lead agency's recommendation is not part of 1:15:41 1 hour, 15 minutes, 41 seconds the written record and I can take it offline if this is too confusing. Would you prefer we go offline? 1:15:48 1 hour, 15 minutes, 48 seconds Yeah, I think so. Thank you. 1:15:56 1 hour, 15 minutes, 56 seconds Are there any other questions this evening? 1:16:03 1 hour, 16 minutes, 3 seconds Well, if there are no other questions, thank you for your time. Thank you for continuing to volunteer and serving your community. This meeting is adjourned. 1:16:10 1 hour, 16 minutes, 10 seconds Thank you. Yeah.