ACTION:
____________________________
Clerk/Secretary
Department: City Attorney Item No: D1
Prepared by: Walter Chung, City Attorney Meeting Date: January 23, 2024 Approved by: John Conley, City Manager Agenda Location: Discussion SUBJECT: AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS
RECOMMENDATION: Discuss ad-hoc committee and other committee options on homelessness and provide direction to staff.
CORRELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS: Homelessness and housing.
PRIOR ACTION: During the City Council’s December 7, 2023 workshop, the City Council directed staff to agendize options for an ad hoc committee (Vote: Consensus).
STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT: Ad-hoc committees created by the City Council are allowed per state law. The only legal concern is whether an ad-hoc committee is subject to the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. That determination depends on the composition of the committee, the purpose of the committee, and the duration of the existence of the committee.
The Brown Act applies to the legislative bodies of local agencies. The Brown Act broadly defines “legislative body” to include nearly every type of decision-making body of a local agency. These legislative bodies include any board, commission, committee, or other body of a local agency created by charter, ordinance, resolution or formal action of a legislative body. In other words, subordinate bodies created by a legislative body, whether these subordinate bodies are permanent or temporary, advisory or decision-making, are generally deemed to be a legislative body under state law. However, there are limited exceptions to this general rule.
One of these exceptions is an ad-hoc committee. An ad-hoc committee is a subordinate legislative body that meets the following requirements: (1) the ad-hoc committee is comprised solely of less than a quorum of the City Council, and (2) the ad-hoc committee meets for a short duration of time to gather information about a single discrete subject matter. If an ad-hoc committee created by the City Council meets these two elements, that ad-hoc committee will not need to comply with the Brown Act.
On the other hand, if the ad-hoc committee created by the City Council does not meet both of the above requirements and/or one of the following scenarios apply, the committee created by the City Council will be subject to the Brown Act. The Brown Act will apply to ad-hoc committees in the following situations:
•if citizens are members of the committee,
•if less than a quorum of the City Council meets with representatives of another legislative body to perform a task, this would create an advisory committee consisting of the representatives from both agencies, or
AGENDA
REPORT
CITY COUNCIL
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
SUCCESSOR AGENCY
BUENA SANITATION DISTRICT
JOINT POWERS FINANCING AUTHORITY
Discussed ad-hoc committee and other committee options on homelessness. Created a Brown Act Standing Committee made up of Mayor Franklin and Deputy Mayor Melendez with remaining Councilmembers as ex-officio members. The Committee Chair will rotate with Deputy Mayor Melendez starting off as Chair.
ACTION:
____________________________
Clerk/Secretary
Department: City Attorney Item No: D1
Prepared by: Walter Chung, City Attorney Meeting Date: January 23, 2024 Approved by: John Conley, City Manager Agenda Location: Discussion SUBJECT: AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS
RECOMMENDATION: Discuss ad-hoc committee and other committee options on homelessness and provide direction to staff.
CORRELATION TO CITY COUNCIL GOALS: Homelessness and housing.
PRIOR ACTION: During the City Council’s December 7, 2023 workshop, the City Council directed staff to agendize options for an ad hoc committee (Vote: Consensus).
STATEMENT ON THE SUBJECT: Ad-hoc committees created by the City Council are allowed per state law. The only legal concern is whether an ad-hoc committee is subject to the state’s open meeting law, the Brown Act. That determination depends on the composition of the committee, the purpose of the committee, and the duration of the existence of the committee.
The Brown Act applies to the legislative bodies of local agencies. The Brown Act broadly defines “legislative body” to include nearly every type of decision-making body of a local agency. These legislative bodies include any board, commission, committee, or other body of a local agency created by charter, ordinance, resolution or formal action of a legislative body. In other words, subordinate bodies created by a legislative body, whether these subordinate bodies are permanent or temporary, advisory or decision-making, are generally deemed to be a legislative body under state law. However, there are limited exceptions to this general rule.
One of these exceptions is an ad-hoc committee. An ad-hoc committee is a subordinate legislative body that meets the following requirements: (1) the ad-hoc committee is comprised solely of less than a quorum of the City Council, and (2) the ad-hoc committee meets for a short duration of time to gather information about a single discrete subject matter. If an ad-hoc committee created by the City Council meets these two elements, that ad-hoc committee will not need to comply with the Brown Act.
On the other hand, if the ad-hoc committee created by the City Council does not meet both of the above requirements and/or one of the following scenarios apply, the committee created by the City Council will be subject to the Brown Act. The Brown Act will apply to ad-hoc committees in the following situations:
•if citizens are members of the committee,
•if less than a quorum of the City Council meets with representatives of another legislative body to perform a task, this would create an advisory committee consisting of the representatives from both agencies, or
AGENDA
REPORT
CITY COUNCIL
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
SUCCESSOR AGENCY
BUENA SANITATION DISTRICT
JOINT POWERS FINANCING AUTHORITY
01/23/2024 D1 1 of 2
MEETING DATE: January 23, 2024 PAGE 2
SUBJECT: AD-HOC COMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS
4881-4658-6268, v. 1
• if the committee has the authority to hear and consider issues within the subject matter jurisdiction of its parent legislative body, and the committee’s authority does not need to be periodically renewed (for example, the existence of the committee is open-ended).
If the City Council desires to form a committee with either (1) continuing jurisdiction over homeless issues, or (2) creation of a committee that meets on a more regular or fixed schedule, then the City Council will be creating a standing committee and not an ad-hoc committee. Standing committees are subject to the Brown Act.
In summary, ad-hoc committees require the participation of less than a quorum of City Council members, can only be tasked by the City Council to deal with a single discrete subject matter, and the committee exists only for a short duration of time. If all of these elements are not met, the City Council is still free to create an ad-hoc or standing committee and that committee will be subject to the Brown Act.
FISCAL IMPACT: Discussion regarding the creation of ad-hoc committees does not have a direct fiscal impact.
EXHIBITS:
None.
01/23/2024 D1 2 of 2