WTF California: Brentwood Planning Commissioner Removed, Feather Alert Proposal and Hate Crimes

Under the Brown Act, the City Council cannot discuss any matter until the public has been given at least 72 hours advance notice. This is done by placing the item on the agenda and then publishing the agenda at least three days before the meeting. The City of Brentwood usually publishes on the Thursday afternoon before the meeting, four days in advance, well before the 72 hour deadline. Most agenda items are placed by staff. These are for routine business that comes before the city, like project applications, required filings, budgeting, and so on. But a City Council Member can also place an item on the agenda. To do it, there is a time at the end of every meeting when any Council Member can suggest an agenda item for a future meeting. At that time, they can only give a brief description of the item, sufficient for staff to be able to know what to put in the future agenda. They cannot discuss the item at that time, because the public must be notified first. Once the item is placed on a future agenda, and that agenda is published, then the item is discussed by the full Council at the meeting for which it has been agendized. This is why the Dolter dismissal was not discussed at the first meeting mentioned in this podcast. At that meeting, it could not legally be discussed. It could only be placed on a future agenda. It was subsequently placed on the agenda for last night’s meeting. That is why the full discussion did not take place until last night. Many of the suggestions made in this podcast about discussing things ahead of time to prepare for the meeting would not be legal under the Brown Act. It is unfortunate that the creators of this podcast have not taken the time to familiarize themselves with the legal restrictions that govern how the City Council operates. They prefer to heckle our City Council for not engaging in behavior that would expose the City to millions of dollars in damages paid out in lawsuits. Those are tax dollars that every Brentwood resident listening to this podcast pay to the city. WTF, indeed.