03/26/2015 Open Government Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 06/03/2015or of -
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GILROY OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
MINUTES
THURSDAY, MARCH 26,2015
I. OPENING
A. Call to Order and Roll Call
Chair Glines called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Commissioners: Bob Dillon, Janet Espersen, Jon Newland, Walter Glines
Absent/Excused: Robert Esposito
B. Welcome Newly Appointed Commissioner Bob Dillon
Commissioner Bob Dillon introduced himself to the group, sharing his background and
experience serving on City Commissions and the City Council.
II. PRESENTATIONS TO THE OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
A. PUBLIC COMMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS NOT ON THE
AGENDA, BUT WITHIN THE SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION OF THE
COMMISSION
There were no public comments
Commissioner Robert Esposito joined the group at 7:04 p.m.
III. CONSENT CALENDAR
A. Approval of the Minutes of December 11, 2014
There were no public comments
Motion on Consent Calendar Item A
Motion was made by Vice Chair Espersen, seconded by Commissioner Newland
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3/26/2015
and carried with a 4-0-0-1 vote, Commissioner Dillon recusing.
IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Follow up on Transparency During Gilroy's Labor Negotiation Processes
The item was introduced by City Administrator Haglund.
Commissioner Dillon asked if the city website had any "hits" information to see which
webpages were most utilized.
City Administrator Haglund stated that there were no current website analytics on the
existing site, but the new website would have the ability to compile analytics.
There was a discussion of compiling the website analytic data and use of the website to
provide public information.
The staff report was presented by Human Resources Director McPhillips, who provided
the commissioners with a handout and then showed the Commission the areas of the city
website that had recently been added to provide more labor negotiation information to the
public.
Commissioner Espersen thanked staff for providing additional information on the city
website in a more comprehensive way to further the efforts of additional transparency in
labor negotiations.
There was a further discussion of the ability for the public to now find all of the labor
negotiations information in one place without having to "dig" for the material.
There were no public comments.
The Commission accepted the report.
V. NEW BUSINESS
A. Quarterly Review of Public Records Requests Per Gilroy Code Section 17A.35 (c)
The staff report was given by City Administrator Haglund.
Commissioner Dillon asked why a subpoena for deposition was listed on the log.
City Attorney Callon explained that if the deposition was used in court trial it was an open
and public record.
There was a discussion of the report provided by the Police Department related to a
possible inaccuracy in their reporting of the category of Victim Witness records as only
Open Government Commission Minutes
3/26/2015
one single month within the quarter had been reported. The Commission asked staff to
evaluate the possible discrepancy and return with further information or corrected data.
City Clerk Freels explained that the Police Department did not have any denied requests
for records during the quarter.
City attorney Callon asked for clarification of the identification of "not CPRX on the Police
Department log.
City Administrator Haglund stated that it could be a request that was responded to but
was not requested under the public records act.
There were no public comments
Motion on Item V.A.
Motion was made by Commissioner Dillon, seconded by Commissioner Newland
and carried with a 5-0 vote to accept the quarterly report.
B. Discussion of Recommending the City Council Consider Starting Regular
Meetings at 7:00 p.m.
The item was presented by Vice Chair Espersen who shared the goal of involving more
public in the City Council meeting processes explaining that many people commuted and
were not able to make a 6:00 p.m. meeting. She then shared the meeting start timing of
all other cities in the county, explaining that Gilroy and only four other cities in the county
held their meetings at 6:00 p.m.
The Commission discussed of the Council's previous deliberations about the change of
meeting start time with examples of extended late night meetings due to the later start
time.
City Administrator Haglund explained that the Council had made the change from a 7:00
p.m. start time to a 6:00 p.m. start time after a proposal to begin meetings at 5:00 p.m.
had been proposed in 2011. He explained that in 2013 the item was once again
discussed at a Council meeting and there had been a noticeable increase in the number
of people attending meetings when they began at 6:00 p.m. He went on to describe the
late night meetings and inability for some members of the community to stay at a meeting
late into the night. He then spoke on the amount of public comments at meetings.
Commissioner Dillon explained that many people didn't routinely attend meetings, and
those that came to meetings did so to address specific items of interest and would likely
leave work earlier on these rare occasions.
City Administrator Haglund explained that items with a heightened level of interest were
placed on the agenda and noticed to begin at 7:00 p.m.
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Chair Glines spoke on the flexibility for staff to come in later during Council Meetings to
balance their work schedule. He then asked how closed sessions were agendized
suggesting that they be held at the opening of the meeting at 6:00 p.m. prior to the
regular items of business.
City Administrator Haglund stated that staff didn't always flex their schedules during
Council meeting nights and stated that Closed Sessions were agendized at the end of the
meetings.
Commissioner Esposito asked if there was any information that indicated that the other
cities in Santa Clara Co. wished to change their meeting start time to 6:00 p.m.
Chairperson Glines stated that there wasn't and then asked City Clerk Freels if there was
any discussion among City Clerk's regarding establishing meeting start times.
City Clerk Freels explained that the topic wasn't an item of discussion explaining that she
believed that the decision was really very specific to the jurisdiction and the needs as
recognized by the City Council.
Commissioner Espersen shared her belief that the change in meeting time would provide
for more public involvement explaining that the concept had come from a outcry from
members of the community several years prior, and spoke on the circulation of a petition
to do so.
City Administrator Haglund explained that he believed it was a function of the additional
transparency the city had instituted with televising and webstreaming Council meetings.
City Attorney Callon explained that in other jurisdictions her firm represented, televising
and webstreaming meetings had a big impact on the number of people attending
meetings as the public had the ability to watch the meeting without being in attendance.
There were no public comments on the item.
Failed motion on item VI.B.
Motion was made by Vice Chair Espersen to recommend the City Council begin their
regular meetings at 7:00 p.m. The motion died for lack of a second.
VI. CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORTS
City Administrator Haglund further explained that the website analytics were not available
with the existing site, but would be available with the new site that would likely launch in
June, 2015 sharing some of the details of the types of analytics available with the new
website.
The Commission discussed the importance of website analytics.
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VII. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORTS
City Attorney Callon spoke on the Hilary Clinton's email issues reminding the
Commissioners to be aware that the agency does not have control over any Commission
related email and her suggestion was to provide the city with any city related email
correspondence that was sent to their personal email accounts.
Commissioner Espersen asked for clarification of outside email versus email from the
public explaining that she had not received any from the public, only from staff.
City Attorney Callon explained that the concern was focused on email from members of
the public or other outside correspondence.
VIII. CITY CLERK'S REPORTS
City Clerk Freels spoke on the new training segments being developed on the Open
Government Ordinance, explaining that she was hoping to have something to present to
the commission at their next meeting.
IX. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS
There were none.
X. FUTURE COMMISSION INITIATED AGENDA ITEMS —SCHEDULE NEXT
QUARTERLY MEETING
The Commission requested that a presentation on the new website take place at the next
meeting, including information on the website analytics.
The Commission agreed to set the next meeting date for June 3, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
XI. ADJOURNMENT
The Commission adjourned the meeting at 8:05 p.m.
/s/ SHAWNA FREELS, MMC
City Clerk
Open Government Commission Minutes
3/26/2015