HomeMy WebLinkAbout05 - City Council Policies A-6 & A-10 - CorrespondenceBrown, Leilani
From: Laura Curran [lauracurran @mac.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 11:50 AM 7, � � i
To: Dept - City Council #„ 5
Cc: Kiff, Dave; Brown, Leilani
Subject: proposed changes in Public Meeting procedures (- g- 1:3
Council Members & City Staff
Attached are questions and comments related to the proposed changes in Public Meeting procedures for Newport Beach
City Council meetings. Please include these questions in the Public Record.
Thank you for your consideration of these comments and commitment to transparency and public participation in the local
governing process.
Comment Period /Consent Calendar Comments
The modification to make the length of Public Comment on Agenda items to be consistent at 3 minutes each is
reasonable.
Please review and consider these comments related to the process as described in the Staff Report
The Staff Report statement reads:
Comments on Consent Calendar items will also be limited to 3 minutes.
1. This should be clarified to state that "(Public) Comments on each Consent Calendar item will be limited to 3 minutes."
This is consistent with the language related to items pulled by a Councilmember for Discussion, i.e.
If a Consent Calendar item is pulled, members of the public may speak on each pulled item for up to three (3) minutes,
unless the presiding officer has granted the speaker's request for additional time.
Limiting Public Comment on the entire Consent Calendar to 3 minutes, rather than per item, would mean that the amount
of time for comment would be limited if a person wishes to speak on multiple items and ask the Councilmembers to
consider pulling them for Discussion.
2. When will Councilmembers request an item be pulled from the Consent Calendar, i.e. before or after Public Comment?
3. Will Councilmembers be able to pull an item for Discussion both before and after Public Comment?
Comments on Non - Agenda items
City Council Policy A -6 is proposed to be amended to allow public comments on non- agenda items to be heard following
scheduled public hearings. This change recognizes the value of residents' time by not requiring residents attending a
public hearing to sit through public comments on non - agenda items, unless they so desire.
1. Comments on Non - Agenda items should remain where they currently are on the agenda. These Non - Agenda
comments are usually limited in number and take limited time. On the other hand, Public Hearings are often some of the
longest items on a meeting agenda, for example if a Planning Commission decision is being appealed, or a new facility is
proposed. Members of the Public who wish to comment on a matter and for example, as for future consideration of an
item, were in the past discouraged when they were required to sit through lengthly Public Hearings in order to ask a
question of Council or bring a matter to Council attention for Future Consideration.
The prior change by Mayor Henn which moved the Comments on Non - Agenda items earlier in the agenda was positive
and should remain in place.
A -6 - Agenda Items Placed on Agenda by City Council:
A -6, #2 States:
2. Members of the City Council may place items on the agenda for discussion by submitting a title or topic sufficient
to satisfy the requirements of the Brown Act on or before 5:00 p.m. on the Tuesday preceding the meeting at
which the item is to be discussed.
Does this mean that an item can be placed on the Agenda for discussion at 5pm, on the same day as the Council
Meeting?
If this is the case, is this also considered a 'Notice to the Public' for items that are to be noticed reviewed in 2 City Council
meetings prior to being voted upon?
-If so, the ability to add items between Friday and Tuesday prior to Council reduces the eliminates the opportunity for
members of the Public to plan to attend Council to listen to discussion related to an item, and could limit the amount of
Public input.
Sincerely,
Laura Curran
12/0612012 12:36PM FAX 9496501191 HAWKINS LAW OFFICES
LA.W OFFICES OF ROBERT C. HAWK'S-- IN
January 7, 2013
Via Facsimile
Keith Curry, Mayor
Members of the City Council
City of Newport Beach
3300 Newport Blvd.
Newport Beach, California 92663
^il—r g as Ti Ni l
16000210004
Re: An Open Letter regarding January 8, 2013 Agenda Item No. 5 (Consent Calendar) re
"Setting Procedural Rules" from the City Manager's "Insider's Guide ".
Dear Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council:
Thank you for the opportunity to comment to comment on the captioned matter. This firm
represents Friends of Dolores and others in the City in connection with the captioned matter.
Efficiency is limiting citizen involvement. Last April 7"' (attached), I wrote a letter to the editor
of the Daily Pilot about the importance of citizen involvement, transparency, and how the Newport
Beach Council and staff seemed to regard citizen involvement as an annoyance. Despite personal
attacks, no one denied my contentions. Now, the City Council and staff prove my statements correct
and seek to move far away from transparency.
The City has already attempted to limit this annoyance and plans to curtail it more. In November
2012, the City changed it's policy and required all written comments from the residents and voters be
submitted by the end of business on the Monday before a Council meeting. This severely curtails the
public's time and ability to comment on important local matters.
Now, the City Council and Staff have proposed to limit live public comment and involvement at
Council meetings. Agenda Item No. 5 for the January 8th Council meeting which is on the consent
calendar is about policies and procedures for Council meetings. Sounds benign, huh? Who cares?
How bad can it be?
It's important, and it's bad. This time, they propose to further curtail live citizen involvement in
Council meetings in several ways. First, the current policy allows members of the public to remove a
matter from the consent calendar and comment on that matter separately. The proposed change is to
eliminate the ability of residents and voters to remove matters from the consent calendar.
Second, they propose to truncate the amount of time that the public may comment. Currently,
the policy allows public comments for five minutes on agenda items and three minutes on non - agenda
items. The proposed policy change is to shorten the time to three minutes.
110 Ncwport C triter Drive, SUltc 200
Newport Beach, CiBI&Tnta 92660
(949) 650.5550
Fax; (949) 650.1181
12/06/2012 12:36PM FAX 8486501181 HAWKINS LAW OFFICES 160003 /0004
v
The Hun. Mayor Curry
Members of the Cky Council l January 7, 2013
Third, and most surprisingly, along with the proposal that eliminates the public's ability to
remove items from the consent calendar, the propose policy change seeks to limit public comments on
the entire consent calendar (and items not removed for discussion by a Council member) to three
minutes. Our City has used the Consent Calendar on a whole host of important issues which require full
and public discussion including the second reading of ordinances and resolutions, public acquisition of
private properties such as 1499 Monrovia, drafting the high fire zone maps, and other important issues.
Indeed, the City Manager has admitted that at times, he places things on the consent calendar so that
they may be removed and discussed prior to other items. This proposed change would eliminate the
public's ability to control these and other important issues.
As I wrote on April 7', efficiency is not a true goal of a city government. (See also my
November V letter to the editor re "Measure EE gets an F for efficiency). The true goals are: service,
regulation, addressing local issues and citizen involvement. Now that we move into the new $150
million City Hall that we residents and voters are paying for, the Council doesn't want to hear from us?
Come on! I urge you to oppose this change: Write, call or email to your Council Member; Attend the
meeting and voice your opposition; Call City Hall and express your outrage. I urge the Council to reject
this measure. Join me in opposing this continued assault on transparency and citizen involvement in our
City government.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment on the captioned matter. Please provide me with
notices regarding the captioned matter. We will provide further and additional comments on the
captioned matter in a timely manner.
Of course, should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.
RCH/kw
2riclosures as indicated
cc: heilani Brown, City Clerk
110 Newport Canter Drive, Suite 200
Newport Tleach, California 92660
(949) 650.5550
Fax: (949) 65 0-1181
12/06/2012 12:38PM FAX 9496501191 HAWKINS LAW OFFICES 160004 /0004
Mailbags Don't limit citimn involvement at City ball - Daily Pilot http:// www. dailypilot .conVnews /opinior✓tn -dpt- 00408- mailbag - 201...
dailypilot.com/news /opinion /tn-dpt- 00408- mailbag- 20120407,0,1224360. story
Daily Pilot
Mailbag: Don't limit citizen involvement at City Hall
8:27 PM PDT, April 7, 2012
Involved citizens are the key to local government. In
the past, I have always lauded the city of Newport
Bcadh for its citizens' involvement.
Now, not so much.
Mayor Nancy Gardner's latest newsletter contains an
interesting reflection on "managing the city as a
business." She notes that a gentleman spends a large
amount of time at City IIall "reviewing various
things." She asked City Manager Dave Kiff how much
staff time it takes to assist the gentleman in his review;
his estimate was about 10 hours per week.
She noted that it was good to have involved citizens,
but "it seems like a lavish gift of public services to one
individual." She acknowledged, though, that having such citizens may avoid problems, such as
occurred in the city of Bell.
advertisement
Although elected officials, such as Gardner, and city staff, such as Kiff, may regard citizen
involvement as an annoyance, it is not. It is precisely what good local government is all about. The
city lost track of this last year when there was an attempt "to manage the city as a business."
Businesses are all about profits, not services. The city is all about services, including; providing
information to interested citizens, not profits. Neither staff nor the council can manage the city like a
business, because it isn't a business. Local government is about services, local regulations, addressing
local problems and, yes, citizen involvement.
Indeed, citizen involvement is the key to local governments, and it is especially important to the city
of Newport Beach. With the multiple conflict problems without the appropriate reeusals, the
reemergence ofthe good of boys network, citizens' committees and advisory panels run by
high- priced consultants, not the local citizens who used to run such committees, and, of course, their
desire to "get the (City Council] meeting over early," the council and the city have lost their way.
As I said when I resigned from the Planning Commission, good local government is all about affording
local citizens the ability to provide invaluable input into all aspects of our local government (including
the siting of an extended hours bar near homes). Involved citizens will make sure that things get back
on track.
Robert C. Hawkins
1 of 117/2013 12 :29 PM
12/06/2012 12:35PM FAX 9496501181 HAWKINS LAW OFFICES
Law Offices of Robert C. Hawkins
110 Newport Center Drive, Suite 200
Newport Beach, California 92660
(949) 650 -5550
Fax: (949) 650-1181
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Leilani 13rown, City Clerk
(949) 644 -3039
From: Robert C. Hawkins
Client/Matter: Firm
Date: January 7, 2013
Documents: Comments on 1/8/13 Agenda item No. 5
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