Sebastopolitans pay top dollar for city staff, why not let them do the heavy lifting?
Staff should be capable of researching options, issuing RFPs, negotiating contract proposals, and presenting options to council during town hall meetings (where concerned constituents could ask questions and have them answered).
The ad hoc committee approach relies on a subset of our council to spend many hours for less than minimum wage on work that ought to be performed on their behalf by our well-paid staff. It's no wonder we had only three candidates for two open seats during the 2024 election cycle, who has time for such job responsibilities?
Why Ad Hoc Committees?
Re: Why Ad Hoc Committees?
How often have we heard something like this after our council makes a significant determination...
“You don’t know what that experience was like. I wish you had the information we had to vote with.”
...when the decision by council to assign responsibility to an ad hoc committee was taken to subvert transparency until the penultimate moment?
“You don’t know what that experience was like. I wish you had the information we had to vote with.”
...when the decision by council to assign responsibility to an ad hoc committee was taken to subvert transparency until the penultimate moment?
Why Ad Hoc Committees?
How does the Brown Act Apply to ‘Ad Hoc’ Versus ‘Standing’ Committees?
Quotes below are from the web page linked above - emphasis added by admin
"Under the Brown Act a “standing committee” is one that has “continuing subject matter jurisdiction, or a meeting schedule fixed by charter, ordinance, resolution or formal action of a legislative body.”
"It’s important to note the highlighted “or” above. If an advisory committee has a fixed meeting schedule, then it is a “standing committee” subject to the Brown Act. But even advisory committees without a fixed meeting schedule will constitute a “standing committee” if they have “continuing subject matter jurisdiction,” for example if a city council were to create a committee empowered to address, e.g., homeless issues in an open-ended and continuing way – even if it does not meet on a regular schedule – then it would be a “standing committee.”
Sebastopol's city council has run a continuing series of ad hoc committees providing advice to the council as a whole e.g. Fire and Budget. This method of circumventing Brown Act requirements is suspect at best, and results in policy decisions being driven by only two members of the council.
Quotes below are from the web page linked above - emphasis added by admin
"Under the Brown Act a “standing committee” is one that has “continuing subject matter jurisdiction, or a meeting schedule fixed by charter, ordinance, resolution or formal action of a legislative body.”
"It’s important to note the highlighted “or” above. If an advisory committee has a fixed meeting schedule, then it is a “standing committee” subject to the Brown Act. But even advisory committees without a fixed meeting schedule will constitute a “standing committee” if they have “continuing subject matter jurisdiction,” for example if a city council were to create a committee empowered to address, e.g., homeless issues in an open-ended and continuing way – even if it does not meet on a regular schedule – then it would be a “standing committee.”
Sebastopol's city council has run a continuing series of ad hoc committees providing advice to the council as a whole e.g. Fire and Budget. This method of circumventing Brown Act requirements is suspect at best, and results in policy decisions being driven by only two members of the council.