SUNSHINE ORDINANCE TASK FORCE

SPECIAL MEETING

MINUTES

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

5:00 p.m., City Hall, Room 406

Task Force Members

Seat 1	(Vacant)	Seat 8	Bruce Wolfe
Seat 2	Richard Knee (Chair)	Seat 9	Hanley Chan
Seat 3	Sue Cauthen	Seat 10	Nick Goldman
Seat 4	Suzanne Manneh	Seat 11	Marjorie Ann Williams
Seat 5	Allyson Washburn
Seat 6	James Knoebber	Ex-officio	LaTonia Stokes
Seat 7	Doyle Johnson	Ex-officio	(Vacant)

Call to Order 5:09 P.M.

Roll Call Present: Knee, Manneh, Washburn, Knoebber, Johnson, Chan (in at 5:29 p.m.), Goldman
Excused: Cauthen, Wolfe, Williams

Deputy City Attorney: Jerry Threet (not present)

Clerk: Chris Rustom

1.		Consideration of proposed amendments to Articles I through IV of the Sunshine Ordinance Chair Knee welcomed LaTonia Stokes to the Task Force. She was appointed to the Clerk of the Board’s non-voting ex-officio seat earlier in the day. Chair Knee also welcomed back Member Manneh who was out of the country for a few weeks on assignment for New America Media. Members were also told by Chair Knee that the clerk has handed out updated copies of the proposed amendments. He also said the minutes recording the changes to the document need to be posted as required by the Ordinance. Members then discussed Section 67.23. Motion to replace verbiage in Section 67.23(a) ( Goldman / Washburn ) The sub-paragraph now reads: “Every department and policy body shall at all times during its hours of operation have at least one person knowledgeable about the affairs of the entity, available to provide public information.” The sub-paragraph previously read:”Every department headdepartment or policy body shall designate a person or persons knowledgeable about the affairs of the department or policy bodydepartment, to provide information, including oral information, to the public about the department's department’s or policy body’s operations, plans, policies and positions. The department or policy body department head may designate himself or herself the custodian of records identified pursuant to 67.21 (a) of the Ordinance for this assignment, but in any event shall arrange that an alternate be available for this function during the absence of the person assigned primary responsibility. If a department or policy bodydepartment has multiple bureaus or divisions, the department may designate a person or persons for each bureau or division may be designated to provide this information.” Public Comment: Allen Grossman said members do not know where they left off at the last meeting because no minutes were presented. He also said the meeting was illegal because it was not noticed outside the hearing room. He also said the document distributed earlier could not be used because it was not available to the public 72 hours before the meeting. The process is as important as the content, he said. Peter Warfield said the process was a mess and that the proposed amendments lacked tracking documentation. He said the change to Section 67.23 should be repeated because some members of the audience were not in attendance during the last meeting. He also said all employees are custodian of records. On the motion: Ayes: Manneh, Washburn, Knoebber, Johnson, Goldman, Knee. Chair Knee, in response to Mr. Warfield’s comments, repeated the new verbiage for Section 67.23. To Mr. Grossman, Chair Knee said the Ordinance does not require the posting of agendas outside the hearing room. He also said because of a speaker’s comments earlier in the hearing, he was reluctant to continue the meeting. He also instructed the clerk to include all minutes in the next agenda package. Motion to adjourn meeting ( Washburn / Goldman ) Public comment: Mr. Grossman said the Clerk of the Board needs to be informed why the meeting had to be adjourned. Mr. Warfield said the decision was unfortunate but necessary. Chair Knee announced that he was going to meet a member of the Board of Supervisors and a legislative aide to see how much lead time they need on the amendments. Chair Knee also instructed members to review the current Ordinance and see which five sections they want changed, inserted, deleted or improved. He then called for a special meeting on Tuesday May 18, at 5 pm in Rm. 406. On the motion: Ayes: Manneh, Washburn, Knoebber, Johnson, Chan, Goldman, Knee
Adjournment:                                                                             The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 p.m.
This meeting has been audio recorded and is on file in the Office of the Sunshine Ordinance Task Force