ATTACHMENT A
CITY COUNCIL
POLICY
CP-26-01
CITY OF VICTORVILLE
COUNCIL POLICY
SUBJECT:
Disruption of Telephonic or
Internet Services Occurring
During City Council Meetings
POLICY NO: CP-26-01
SUPERSEDES: N/A DATE: May 19, 2026
I. Purpose
This policy establishes guidelines for recessing and reconvening public meetings of the Victorville City Council in the event of a Service Disruption that prevents members of the public from attending or observing such meetings via Remote Access Service pursuant to Section 54953.4 of the Brown Act (Gov. Code §§ 54954- 54963) as added by Senate Bill (SB) 707.
II. Definitions
“Service Disruption” means any failure, outage, or other interruption to the City’s Remote Access Service that prevents members of the public from participating in a City Council meeting through such Remote Access Service.
“Remote Access Service” means the Two-way Telephonic Service and/or the Two- way Audiovisual Platform used by the City to provide real -time remote public attendance and observation of meetings.
“Two-way Audiovisual Platform” means an online platform that provides participants with the ability to participate in a meeting via both an interactive video conference and a two-way telephonic service.
“Two-way Telephonic Service” means a telephone service that does not require internet access and allows participants to dial a telephone number to listen and verbally participate.
“Presiding Officer” means the Mayor or the Mayor Pro Tem or such other officer as may be designated pursuant to the City Council Policy and Procedures Manual.
III. Applicability
This policy applies to all open and public meetings held by the Victorville City Council (“City Council”) at which remote public participation is required under Section 54953.4 of the Brown Act.1 Consistent therewith, this policy shall not apply to any City Council meeting held to:
1. Attend a judicial or administrative proceeding to which the City is a party.
2. Inspect real or personal property, provided that the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the real or personal property.
3. Meet with elected or appointed officials of the U nited States or the State of California, solely to discuss a legislative or regulatory issue affecting the City and over which the federal or state officials have jurisdiction.
4. Meet in or nearby a facility owned by the City, provided that the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the facility.
5. Meet in an emergency situation pursuant to Brown Act Section 54956.5
IV. Service Disruption Response/Recess
When the City Council becomes aware of a Service Disruption, the City Clerk shall immediately announce the Service Disruption to the public. The Presiding Officer shall then call for a recess of the open session and may convene the City Council in an authorized closed session, consistent with the Brown Act. The recess shall last for at least one (1) hour or until service is restored (whichever comes first).
V. Good Faith Efforts to Restore Remote Access Service
During the recess, City Staff shall engage in good faith efforts to restore Remote Access Service. Good faith efforts consist of the following:
1. Verification by trained City Staff of the Outage
a. Confirm if it is local or widespread
b. Test multiple devices on the network
2. Inspect Physical Connection in the M ain Distribution Frame/Intermediate Distribution Frame
1The City Council is the only legislative body in the City of Victorville meeting the new statutory definition of an Eligible Legislative Body (“ ELB”) set out in Brown Act Section 5495 3.4(e)(2). Although not statutorily required, the ELB meeting requirements will, as a practical matter, apply also to those bodies for which the members of the City Council sit ex officio as the governing boards (e.g., the Victorville Water District, the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority, the Victorville Library Board of Trustees, etc.) but only to the extent the meetings of the City Council and those boards continue to be conducted simultaneously. a. Confirm cables (ethernet, fiber and power) are securely connected b. Confirm all equipment is powered on
c. Inspect for visible damage to cables or equipment
3. Restart Network Equipment
a. Power cycle the equipment
b. Wait 30-60 seconds
c. Power the equipment back on
4. Check Internet Service Provider (ISP) Status
a. Visit the ISP outage page
b. Contact the local ISP for confirmation and the estimated restoration time
5. Run Network Diagnostics
a. Ping a known site
b. Confirm devices are receiving valid IP addresses
6. Check for Firewall or Security Blocks
a. Confirm the firewall isn’t blocking any traffic
7. Implement Temporary Alternatives
a. Utilize a mobile hotspot
b. Confirm the status of the failover connection
VI. Reconvening/Continuation Findings
Following one hour of engaging in good faith restoration efforts, if Remote Access Service has not been restored, the City Clerk shall report on the status of staff’s restoration efforts, and the City Council may reconvene to:
1. Adjourn the meeting;
2. Extend the recess to allow staff more time to engage in good faith efforts to restore Remote Access Service; or
3. Proceed with the open session portion of the meeting by adopting, by roll call vote, the following continuation findings:
a. That the City engaged in good faith efforts in accordance with the provisions of Policy CP-26-01 to restore Remote Access Service; and b. That the public interest in continuing the meeting outweighs the public interest in providing Remote Access Service.
Upon adoption of the findings, the City Council may continue the open session portion of the meeting even though Remote Access Service has not been restored.
The City Clerk shall enter a brief statement into the meeting minutes, including:
1. The nature and time of the Service Disruption;
2. The time the meeting was reconvened (if applicable);
3. Any continuation findings adopted.
VII. Policy Amendments
The City Council may amend this policy at a noticed public meeting in open session, but not as a consent calendar item.