City Council
259 N. Wilma Avenue
Ripon, CA 95366
MEMO
To: Honorable City Council
From: Lisa Roos, City Clerk & Finance Director
Date: 09/08/2026
Subject: SB 707 - Disruption of Meetings Policy
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Staff recommends the Council adopt this resolution approving the City of Ripon’s Disruption of Meetings Policy to comply with applicable State laws.
BACKGROUND:
The Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code section 54950 et seq.) imposes open meeting requirements on local legislative bodies. In 2025, the Legislature adopted Senate Bill 707 (SB 707), which establishes new requirements for teleconferencing, remote public access, and public meeting participation for eligible legislative bodies.
The City Council is the only City legislative body subject to the new SB 707 requirements.
These requirements do not apply to the Planning Commission, Recreation Commission, or other City committees.
DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS:
SB 707 requires the City Council to provide remote public participation and adopt procedures addressing disruptions during public meetings, whether due to service or members of the public.
Remote Public Participation
SB 707 requires eligible legislative bodies to provide the public with a means to remotely hear and observe meetings and participate in real time. Remote participation may be provided through a two-way audiovisual platform or two-way telephonic service, together with live webcasting. A one-way webcast (livestream) alone does not satisfy the interactive participation requirement.
To comply with these requirements, the City will resume using Zoom for City Council meetings.
Members of the public may participate remotely through Zoom or by telephone using the Zoom call-in feature. The City will continue to allow public comment in person and via e-mail to the City Clerk using the Public Comment Form.
Remote participants will be provided the same opportunity to address the City Council as those attending in person, including the same time allotment.
When the Mayor announces the beginning of an agenda item, remote participants wishing to speak may use Zoom’s “raise hand” feature or the telephone equivalent of entering *9 to notify the City Clerk they are requesting to speak. Following the staff presentation, the Clerk will provide the Mayor with the list of individuals requesting to address the City Council. The Mayor will then recognize each speaker and provide the applicable time allotment. Following public comment, remote speakers will not engage in back-and-forth discussion with the Council, and the Mayor will proceed with comments from individuals attending in person.
Meeting Disruptions
The City Council is committed to conducting public meetings in a manner that is respectful and consistent with applicable law. Public participation is an important component of the City’s decision-making process, and members of the public are encouraged to communicate their views on matters to the City Council, whether in-person or remote.
Disruption due to Service
SB 707 requires the City to adopt procedures addressing disruptions to telephone or internet service that prevent members of the public from observing or participating in a meeting remotely. The policy must also address the City's efforts to restore service.
The proposed policy establishes the following procedures if there is a technological disruption of service:
o The Mayor or designee will immediately announce a service disruption to the public when it becomes known and the Mayor shall call a recess for up to one hour while staff makes a good faith effort to restore service.
o After one hour, if service has not been restored, the Mayor or designee will provide an update on staff’s efforts. The Council may then reconvene to adjourn the meeting, extend the recess, or continue the meeting.
Disruption due to a Member of the Public
If an individual is participating in-person or by remote access and their conduct during a public meeting becomes disruptive and interferes with the orderly conduct of a meeting, the proposed policy establishes the following procedures:
o The Mayor or their designee will first warn the individual whose conduct is disputing the meeting and advise that continued disruptive behavior may result in their removal. o If the behavior continues, the Mayor may direct staff to mute or remove the individual from the meeting.
In the event of in-person disruption of a meeting, State law also allows for similar procedures to be applied that can result in the removal of a person from a meeting. In the interest of fairness and equity, staff has made these procedures applicable to both inperson and remote attendees.
The proposed policy is required to be adopted in open session and is not intended to be adopted solely as a consent-calendar item.
The attached Disruption of Meetings Policy incorporates the statutory requirements of SB 707 and Government Code Section 54957.95 and establishes procedures for responding to disruptions while maintaining transparency, public access, and continuity of City Council meetings.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
Attachments:
1. SB707 -Disruption of Meetings Policy
RESOLUTION NO. 26-33
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
RIPON ADOPTING A DISRUPTION OF MEETINGS POLICY
WHEREAS, the Ralph M. Brown Act (Government Code section 54950 et seq) imposes open meeting requirements on local legislative bodies; and WHEREAS, on October 3, 2025, the Governor of the State of California signed Senate Bill 707 (SB 707), which established new requirements related to teleconferencing, remote public access, and public participation in meetings; and WHEREAS, SB 707 requires certain legislative bodies to adopt a policy addressing disruptions to meetings; and
WHEREAS, Government Code section 54953.4 requires eligible legislative bodies to provide members of the public a real-time opportunity to attend and participate using a two-way audiovisual platform or a two-way telephonic service, and a one-way webcast does not, by itself, satisfy that requirement; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is the only legislative body of the City of Ripon required to comply with those SB 707 requirements, which do not apply to the Planning Commission, the Recreation Commission, or other City committees; and
WHEREAS, the policy must establish procedures for recessing and reconvening meetings when a technological disruption prevents member of the public from accessing, observing or participating in a meeting through the required two-way telephonic or audiovisual platform; and
WHEREAS, Government Code section 54957.95 authorizes a legislative body to warn, mute, and, if necessary, remove a person whose behavior actually disrupts, disturbs, impedes, or renders infeasible the orderly conduct of a meeting, including immediate removal of a person engaging in the use of force or a true threat of force; and WHEREAS, the policy must outline the City’s process for attempting to restore service to the remote participation option of the meeting, should there be a disruption of telephonic or internet services; and
WHEREAS, the City Council finds that adoption of the attached Policy will promote transparency, public access, orderly conduct of meetings, and compliance with the Brown Act as amended by SB 707; and
WHEREAS, the City desires to adopt the Disruption of Meetings Policy to comply with current laws.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Ripon hereby adopts the City of Ripon Disruption of Meetings Policy, as attached hereto in Exhibit “A”.
PASSED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Ripon this 8th day of September, 2026, by the following vote:
RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]
MOVER: Daniel de Graaf, Council Member
SECONDER:Michael Restuccia, Council Member
AYES: Gary Barton, Dean Uecker, Michael Restuccia, Daniel de Graaf ABSENT: Leo Zuber
THE CITY OF RIPON,
A Municipal Corporation
By ________________________________
GARY BARTON, Mayor
ATTEST:
By: ___________________________
LISA ROOS, City Clerk