Half Moon Bay City Council Special Meeting – January 9, 2026 (Closed Session)
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Half Moon Bay City Council Special Meeting – January 9, 2026 (Closed Session)
Note: The official agenda listed this meeting for January 8, 2026, but the meeting was held on January 9, 2026, as per the provided instructions.
This special meeting of the Half Moon Bay City Council was convened primarily to enter a closed session for existing litigation. The public portion was brief, consisting only of roll call, identification of closed session items, and a discussion regarding Vice Mayor Deborah Penrose’s remote participation due to illness.
Closed Session Identification
- The council identified two related lawsuits for closed session discussion: City of Half Moon Bay v. Thomas J. Gearing, et al. (San Mateo Superior Court Civil No. 21-CIV-01560) and Gearing et al v. City of Half Moon Bay (USDC Civil No. 3:21-CVJ-01802-EMC).
- Vice Mayor Deborah Penrose participated remotely via Zoom under the “just cause” provisions of the Brown Act (Government Code § 54953.8.3) because she had a contagious illness. The City Attorney confirmed that a quorum of four councilmembers was present in person and that this was the first time the Vice Mayor had used the provision that year. The annual limit for such remote participation is five times per councilmember.
- The meeting then recessed into closed session; no public comment was taken, and no other business was conducted.
Key Outcomes
- No votes or decisions were made in open session. The council proceeded to closed session as scheduled.
- The council acknowledged the Vice Mayor’s remote attendance as permissible under the Brown Act.
Meeting Transcript
I hope she will call. Oh, yeah. I get rusty pretty fast. Oh, you've been doing it six times. Yeah, but you know, like there's always several years in between like it helps. No, there's nobody else. Okay. Okay. That's just if Deborah doesn't make it onto the open session, she can still join the closed session. Yes. Huh? Shall I open them? I think she joined the other session, so we'll just not confuse her. So it's okay to open it now. I think so. I am convening the special meeting of the Haven Bay City Council for January 8th, 2026. Before I do a roll call, I will say unfortunately, Vice Mayor Penro is not able to attend in a person tonight due to a contagious illness. The Vice Mayor has notified us that she'll be attending remotely for just cause due to this issue. Pinterest City Attorney Denise Pasano has confirmed that the Vice Mayor may do so under the Just Cause Provisions of the Brown Act, pursuant to government code section 54953.8.3, provided a quorum of the council attends in person and the vice mayor attends via audio and video technology. In addition, council members may only use just cause provisions five times per year, and I think that's new. It used to be two times per year. If the body meets twice per month, given that I see four council members here in person tonight, and this is the first time that the vice mayor has attended remotely for just cause. Vice Mayor Penrose may attend remotely. Yes. Just when you're sick. If you're going to be traveling, I mean you can either say I'm not going to be available or I'm going to be available by Zoom and then I'm going to post my address where I'm at. And that's still unlimited, right? As long as we have a quorum. The traditional method is unlimited, yes. So that's what Paul did in the last meeting. It was interesting. We're working on it. It worked, it worked though. Eventually. And is as Deborah joined us? Um so we have to have two separate Zooms. Okay. So she's sitting in the private one. Okay. So we'll close this Zoom out, close out the public form, and then go into the private zoom. Okay. All right.
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