OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

City Council Special Meeting on Brown Act Training - May 6, 2025

City Council — Tuesday, May 6, 2025
BodyBerkeley, California
SessionCity Council
DateTuesday, May 6, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 55:07

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

Okay, we have reached a quorum.

0:03

Wow, this feels louder than normal.

0:05

Um I'm going to call our meeting to order.

0:08

It is Tuesday, May 6th, 2025.

0:13

And I'm calling to order the special meeting of the Berkeley City Council.

0:17

Clerk, can you please take the role?

0:20

Yes, Councilmember Kirstenwani is currently absent.

0:24

Kaplan is currently absent.

0:26

Bartlett is currently absent.

0:28

Councilmember Trigum.

0:29

Present O'Keefe.

0:32

I am here.

0:33

Blackaby.

0:34

Here.

0:34

Lunapara.

0:36

Here.

0:36

Humber is currently absent.

0:38

And Mayor Ishii.

0:40

Here.

0:40

Okay, quorum is present.

0:42

Okay.

0:43

Today's special meeting item is a presentation and discussion.

0:46

Um Brown Act training from the City Attorney's Office.

0:49

So thank you all so much for being here.

0:50

I'm going to pass it over to you.

0:53

And thank you, by the way, to all the staff that are here as well.

0:56

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

0:58

Thanks for allowing us to come before you and present on the Brown Act, which is essentially the sunshine laws that are enshrined in in California state law.

1:08

And we have our own sort of mini version of it in.

1:11

Can you hear me?

1:12

Just go ahead and pull it closer to you.

1:14

Yeah.

1:14

Got it.

1:14

Okay.

1:15

And yeah.

1:16

Right up in your mouth.

1:17

I know it's close, but it'll help us.

1:19

Perfect.

1:20

I have the whole team here.

1:23

We have Sam Harvey.

1:25

Um, Deputy City Attorney Sam Harvey, who is very familiar and super ingrained in Brown Act issues and advises on Brown Brown Act issues and conflict issues all the time.

1:37

Uh Steve.

1:38

Heilis.

1:40

Um actually both of them are also secretaries to the open government commission.

1:45

So it's a very appropriate role for them to be here.

1:48

Um myself and we have Nate Dahl, who's the assistant to the city attorney, and um did a tremendous job putting this presentation together for us.

2:00

We can still write in.

2:04

All right, good afternoon.

2:05

So jumping right in, um, the basics of the Brown Act are to ensure that the public's business is done in public.

2:13

All meetings of legislative bodies are open to the public, adequately noticed, stick to the agenda, and allow the public to speak on agenda items and on any non-agenda matter within the council's jurisdiction.

2:30

All legislative bodies of the city are covered by the Brown Act.

2:35

That includes the City Council, Council Committees, Commissions and Boards, and any bodies that are created by charter ordinance resolution or formal action of a legislative body.

2:50

An ad hoc committee is not a legislative body covered by the Brown Act.

2:56

This is a narrow exception.

2:58

Um has to be less than a quorum of the legislative body, nor no formally fixed meeting schedule, no continuing purpose, so not a standing committee, and it's advisory to the parent body, like the council.

3:19

So agenda requirements.

3:22

Um agendas must be posted 72 hours before a regular meeting or 24 hours before a special meeting.

3:29

The Berkeley City Council regular meet uh uh meeting agendas are posted 11 days before the meeting, so even more um than the requirement in the interest of giving the the public advanced notice of the uh items being discussed at the meeting.

3:44

The notice must include the time and place of the meeting and provide a general description of each item of business, sufficient to provide the public with notice of what will be discussed and what action might be taken.

3:56

Um the legislative body must not take action or discuss any items that are not on a posted agenda.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Government Ethics████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Procedural████████████████████████████████32%
Public Engagement██████████████████████22%
Disability Rights██2%
Summary of Proceedings

City Council Special Meeting on Brown Act Training - May 6, 2025

The Berkeley City Council held a special meeting on May 6, 2025, at 4:30 PM (noticed start time) for a worksession focused on Brown Act training presented by the City Attorney's Office. The meeting included a detailed presentation on the state's open meeting law, followed by questions and answers from councilmembers. One member of the public provided comment. No formal actions or votes were taken.

Roll Call

  • Present: Councilmembers Tregub, O'Keefe, Blackaby, Lunaparra, and Mayor Ishii. Absent: Councilmembers Kesarwani, Taplin, Bartlett, and Humbert. Quorum was present.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Carol Morasovic (via Zoom) asked about the Brown Act implications of the same public comment being heard by two different policy committees with different council members, potentially creating a quorum discussion across committees. The City Attorney's Office responded that such discussion at noticed meetings would be permissible under the Brown Act.

Discussion Items

  • Brown Act Training Presentation: Deputy City Attorneys Sam Harvey, Steve Heilis, and Nate Dahl delivered a presentation covering the basics of the Brown Act, including definitions of meetings, serial meeting prohibitions (daisy chain and hub-and-spoke models), agenda posting requirements (72 hours for regular, 24 hours for special meetings), teleconferencing rules, public comment periods, social media guidelines, closed session exceptions, and enforcement mechanisms. Real-life examples of violations were provided. Councilmembers asked clarifying questions about committee referrals, hub-and-spoke scenarios involving members of the public, social media interactions, teleconferencing accommodations, and best practices for maintaining Brown Act circles. The City Attorney's Office advised contacting their office for specific fact-pattern inquiries.

Key Outcomes

  • No votes or formal decisions were made. The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn, seconded by Councilmember Bartlett, which passed unanimously.
  • Councilmembers received updated training materials and were reminded to consult the City Attorney's Office for Brown Act compliance questions.

Meeting Transcript

Okay, we have reached a quorum. Wow, this feels louder than normal. Um I'm going to call our meeting to order. It is Tuesday, May 6th, 2025. And I'm calling to order the special meeting of the Berkeley City Council. Clerk, can you please take the role? Yes, Councilmember Kirstenwani is currently absent. Kaplan is currently absent. Bartlett is currently absent. Councilmember Trigum. Present O'Keefe. I am here. Blackaby. Here. Lunapara. Here. Humber is currently absent. And Mayor Ishii. Here. Okay, quorum is present. Okay. Today's special meeting item is a presentation and discussion. Um Brown Act training from the City Attorney's Office. So thank you all so much for being here. I'm going to pass it over to you. And thank you, by the way, to all the staff that are here as well. Thank you, Madam Mayor. Thanks for allowing us to come before you and present on the Brown Act, which is essentially the sunshine laws that are enshrined in in California state law. And we have our own sort of mini version of it in. Can you hear me? Just go ahead and pull it closer to you. Yeah. Got it. Okay. And yeah. Right up in your mouth. I know it's close, but it'll help us. Perfect. I have the whole team here. We have Sam Harvey. Um, Deputy City Attorney Sam Harvey, who is very familiar and super ingrained in Brown Act issues and advises on Brown Brown Act issues and conflict issues all the time. Uh Steve. Heilis. Um actually both of them are also secretaries to the open government commission. So it's a very appropriate role for them to be here. Um myself and we have Nate Dahl, who's the assistant to the city attorney, and um did a tremendous job putting this presentation together for us. We can still write in. All right, good afternoon. So jumping right in, um, the basics of the Brown Act are to ensure that the public's business is done in public. All meetings of legislative bodies are open to the public, adequately noticed, stick to the agenda, and allow the public to speak on agenda items and on any non-agenda matter within the council's jurisdiction.

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