06/03/2015 Open Government Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 10/08/20151
Open Government Commission Minutes
6/3/2015
GILROY OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
Minutes
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2015
7:00 P.M. REGULAR MEETING
I. OPENING
A. Call to Order and Roll Call
Chairperson Glines called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Roll Call: Chairperson Walter Glines, Vice Chairperson Janet Espersen,
Commissioner Bob Dillon, Commissioner Jon Newland
II. PRESENTATIONS TO THE OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
A. PUBLIC COMMENT BY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS NOT ON THE
AGENDA BUT WITHIN THE COMMISSION’s SUBJECT MATTER JURISDICTION
There were none.
III. CONSENT CALENDAR
Commissioner Robert Esposito joined the meeting at 7:05 p.m.
A. Approval of the Minutes of March 26, 2015
Motion on Consent Calendar
Motion was made by Commissioner Dillon, seconded by Vice Chair Espersen and
carried with a 5-0 vote to approve the minutes.
IV. MAYOR’S WELCOME TO THE COMMISSION
Mayor Gage gave his welcome to the Commission sharing much of the work the city was
planning during the next calendar year, including future development and events coming
into the area.
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V. NEW BUSINESS
A. Quarterly Review of Public Records Requests Per Gilroy Code Section 17A.35 (c)
The staff report was presented by City Administrator Haglund.
Chairperson Glines asked if the city provided responsive records regarding employee
salaries and benefits, by name.
City Administrator Haglund stated that all compensation information was provided by name
of the employee.
Acting City Attorney Faber stated that the issue of protecting the names of the employees
was litigated and lost in court, explaining that it was now a requirement of all agencies to
produce the compensation and benefits by name.
City Administrator Haglund stated that the city did it anyway for transparency reasons,
stating that the data provided was for the previous calendar year.
City Clerk Freels explained that the Bay Area News Group made the same request of all
cities in the area each year for the last several years.
There were no public comments.
Motion on Item V.A.
Motion was made by Commissioner Esposito, seconded by Commissioner Newland
and carried unanimously to accept the report.
B. Presentation of New Open Government Ordinance Training Video Segments
City Clerk Freels presented the new training video segments.
Chairperson Glines asked that the segments would be placed on the city website and
suggested that contact information be provided at the end of each video for any
questions.
Commissioner Esposito stated that the segments were significantly better than the
previous training, explaining that the timing of the segment was perfect.
Commissioner Espersen spoke on the color of the font, suggesting that a dark font be
used for more clear visibility, and there was further discussion of the preferred size of
font.
Chairperson Glines and Commissioner Espersen each shared positive comments on the
new training videos.
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Chairperson Glines asked if there was any legal requirement to specifically contact the
media with any reportable action out of closed session.
City Clerk Freels stated that the Gilroy Open Government Ordinance required the posting
of any disclosable action by the end of business the next day after the actio n was taken,
but the Brown Act and the Open Government Ordinance didn’t require th at notice be
given to the media. She further explained that the Brown Act didn’t require the posting or
publishing of the action within 24 hours, and cities reflected the clo sed session
announcement in their minutes.
City Administrator Haglund stated that the Council was required to come out of closed
session and make any verbal announcements of reportable actions.
Commissioner Espersen asked what did need to be reported out of closed session.
City Attorney Faber explained that certain closed session actions were required to be
disclosed under the Brown Act such as the approval of an agreement, but most actions
were not reportable as they were not final actions.
C. Presentation of the City’s New Website and Website Analytics
IT Manger Golden gave a presentation of the new website.
Chairperson Glines spoke on use of analytics to determine how long someone stayed on
a particular page of the website, and how many visits were made. He then suggested that
the meetings of each policy body and their agenda be available from the policy body’s
webpage for more public accessibility.
City Administrator Haglund stated that it was a good idea.
City Attorney Faber spoke on the difficulty in accessing information on other jurisdiction’s
websites.
Chairperson Glines suggested that before the website went live; the city should bring in
10 non tech people and give them 3 minutes to find a particular piece of information, to
see if they would be able to find what they were looking for.
IT Manager Golden stated that there was a Meetings Center where the commission
material was housed.
City Clerk Freels explained that the Meetings Center with the agenda and packet material
was accessible from the Commission page, but the calendar was not.
There was a robust discussion of the public needs and enhancements to the website
including the security of the website and the responsibilities of the host company.
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VI. CITY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORTS
There were none.
VII. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORTS
Acting City Attorney Faber stated that City Attorney Callon sent her regards.
VIII. CITY CLERK’S REPORTS
There was none.
IX. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS
There were none.
X. FUTURE COMMISSION INITIATED AGENDA ITEMS – SCHEDULE NEXT
QUARTERLY MEETING
Chairperson Glines stated that it would interesting to see the city revenues from Charter
cable compared to those from dish network and other types of television vendors. He
then asked if there were any funding from the other providers.
City Administrator Haglund stated that the city only received funding from Charter cable
explaining that there was no legal way to franchise with other providers.
City Clerk Freels stated that additional segments of the new Open Government
Commission trainings may be available for review at the next meeting.
Commissioner Dillon suggested that the Commissioner’s review the new website and
provide their comments to staff at the next meeting.
City Administrator Haglund stated that he would alert the Commission when the site went
live, explaining that it would be sometime during the summer.
The next quarterly meeting was scheduled for October 8, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
XI. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:43 p.m.
/s/
SHAWNA FREELS, MMC
City Clerk
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