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Consider Providing Direction to Staff to Allow Remote Public Participation under Oral Communications, Non-Agenda (Public Comment) and Clarify who has Authority to Make Such Decisions in the Future. (Councilmember Herrera Spencer) [Not heard on December 19, 2023 or January 2, 2024]
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COUNCIL REFERRAL FORM
The Council can take any of the following actions:
1) Take no action.
2) Refer the matter to staff to schedule as a future City Council agenda item.
3) Take dispositive action if sufficiently noticed such that the public and Council have been provided sufficient information by the published agenda, and no formal published notice of a public hearing is required.
Name of Councilmember requesting referral: Councilmember Herrera Spencer
Date of submission to City Clerk (must be submitted before 5:00 p.m. on the Monday two weeks before the Council meeting requested): 11/27/2023
Council Meeting date: 12/19/2023
Brief description of the subject to be printed on the agenda, sufficient to inform the City Council and public of the nature of the referral:
The public has been allowed to participate in Council meetings remotely (i.e., including via telephone and zoom) until this past Council meeting of November 21 where Agenda Item 4 provides,
"Oral Communications, Non-Agenda (Public Comment) - Limited to 15 minutes, in-person comments only, remote public comment not available for this section; any remaining speakers may comment under Section 9"
Prior to that meeting, the public may have participated in-person or remotely in the entire Council meeting.
That decision to exclude remote public participation in part of the agenda (i.e., Oral Communications, Non-Agenda) was not made by City Council nor at a public Council meeting. After being asked by Councilmember Herrera Spencer at the November 21, 2023 Council meeting (see Video recording, @1:28:30), the City Clerk responded that it was made "collectively by 'agenda setters'" and described that as could ...
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