County Supervisors Seek Leeway in Brown Act

The Board of Supervisors today, on a 3-0 vote, directed the county's legislative advocates to seek some room for the supervisors to meet behind closed doors with the governor and the U.S. president for the purpose of discussing threats to public buildings or services.

"The proposal simply gives the Board of Supervisors the same access that the law currently provides to the district attorney and the attorney general and others,'' including the sheriff, said Supervisor Michael Antonovich, who recommended the action.

His proposal follows a recent finding by the district attorney's office that the board violated the Brown Act -- the state's open meetings law -- in meeting with Gov. Jerry Brown last September to work out the details of implementing AB 109, which gave the county responsibility for managing state prison parolees and for jailing non-serious, non-violent, non-sexual offenders.

Supervisors Gloria Molina and Zev Yaroslavsky abstained from voting on Antonovich's proposal.

The move comes as the board, and Yaroslavsky in particular, is taking some heat for attempting to change the rules governing public comment at board meetings.

Yaroslavsky proposed changes last month that would codify the amount of time members of the public have to speak on agenda items and formally set a three minute limit for speakers wishing to address multiple items. That limit was routinely employed, without any formal changes to the rules, before Yaroslavsky took over as board chair.

The supervisor has defended the move as a way to manage comments by residents who sign up to speak on a laundry list of agenda items each week, including one who told a reporter he signed up on all the issues just "annoy
the board.''

Yaroslavsky says he is simply trying to restore decorum and create a reasonable balance between all the county's stakeholders.

But the move sparked significant opposition and charges that the changes were in violation of the Brown Act. The proposal has been put on hold while the county's lawyers work to find common ground with community groups opposed to the changes.