Title
Potential Revisions to the Sunshine Ordinance
Body
To: Chair and Members of the Open Government Commission
From: Janet Kern, City Attorney
Michael Roush, Interim Assistant City Attorney
Re: Potential Revisions to the Sunshine Ordinance
BACKGROUND
At the Commission's October 6, 2014 and February 2, 2015 meetings, staff presented a number of proposed changes to the City's Sunshine Ordinance. A copy of those staff reports is attached. Based on those discussions at those meetings, the Commission directed staff to return a redlined version of the Ordinance to the Commission who would then review the proposed changes and make a recommendation to the City Council as to whether all or some of the revisions should be adopted.
For the most part, the Commission agreed with the revisions to the Ordinance that staff presented at the February 2, 2015 meeting. To the extent the Commission had questions, concerns, or requested revisions to what had been presented at the February 2015 meeting, they are discussed below. Moreover, to assist the Commission, where sections have been moved within the Ordinance, or where material has been added or deleted, staff has presented in [brackets] but within the Ordinance a brief explanation as to the move, addition or deletion.
DISCUSSION
1. Section 2-91.4 (h) Use of Electronic Communication Devices. The Committee felt that this subsection as drafted was too narrow and did not reflect today's technological reality that elected and appointed officials should be able to use their personal smart phones or I-pads during a meeting to access information relevant to the subject matter then under discussion but should not be allowed to use such devices to send or receive information to/from inappropriate sources. For example, an official may want to access electronically a portion of the City's Municipal Code, even though such portion is not part of the agenda materials. The Ordinance, both...
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