12/05/2017 Open Government Commission Regular Meeting Adopted 05/10/20181
Open Government Commission Minutes
12/5/2017
GILROY OPEN GOVERNMENT COMMISSION
Minutes
December 5, 2017
I. OPENING
A. Call to Order and Roll Call
Chairperson Esposito called the meeting to order at 7:18 p.m.
ROLL CALL:
Present: Chairperson Robert Esposito, Commissioner Jon Newland, Commissioner
James Weaver
Absent: Commissioner Alison Beach
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
A. Approval of the Minutes of September 28, 2017
Motion on Item III.A.
Motion was made by Commissioner Weaver, seconded by Commissioner Newland
and carried with a 3-0-1 vote to approve the item (Commissioner Beach absent).
IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
A. Review of PowerPoint Presentation for Annual Presentation to Council
The item was introduced by City Clerk Freels.
Commissioners discussed the presentation material and added quotations around the
code citation and included comparative numbers of records requests to the prior year.
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There were no public comments.
V. NEW BUSINESS
A. Quarterly Review of Public Records Requests Per Gilroy Code Section 17A.35 (c)
The staff report was presented by City Clerk Freels. She then provided a description of
the clearance letter category of records that was listed on the Police Department Log.
There was a discussion of the request for High Speed Rail records and changes in the
staff support for the project from traffic engineering to planning, which had made finding
the records more challenging.
There were no public comments.
Motion on Item V.A.
Motion was made by Commissioner Weaver, seconded by Commissioner Newland
and carried with a 3-0-1 vote to approve the item (Commissioner Beach absent).
B. Selection of Vice Chair
The Commissioners decided to postpone the item to th eir next meeting to allow a full
Commission to be present.
VI. CITY CLERK’S REPORT
City Clerk Freels announced that she was in the final stages of the process of hiring a
Deputy City Clerk and would be bringing her new Deputy to the Commission’s next
meeting.
There was a discussion of the growth of the profession due to changes to the public
records act and transparency in government and the need for highly qualified skilled
professionals within the City Clerk’s Office.
VII. CITY ATTORNEY'S REPORT
Assistant City Attorney Houston spoke on her recent training for the City Clerk’s
Association of California, with a focus on the San Jose PRA case and building the
administrative record for litigation.
A. Update on the California Law Revision Commission Proposed Recodification of
the California Public Records Act
Assistant City Attorney Houston then described the work of the California Law Revision
Commission in re-codifying the California Public Records Act and her involvement with
the League of California Cities Public Records Act Committee in addressing the changes.
She concluded by explaining that the Commission was now fine tuning a draft that would
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ultimately re-number the California Public Records Act.
VIII. REPORTS OF COMMISSION MEMBERS
There were no reports.
IX. FUTURE COMMISSION INITIATED AGENDA ITEMS - SET NEXT MEETING DATE
The Commissioners selected February 15, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.
IX. ADJOURNMENT at 7:51 p.m.