Title
Hearing on Sunshine Ordinance Complaint Filed January 25, 2019
Body
To: Honorable Members of the Open Government Commission
From: Michael H. Roush, Interim City Attorney
Background
This complaint concerns amendments to Ordinance Nos. 3201 ("Regulatory Ordinance") and 3206 ("Land Use Ordinance"). On October 16, 2018, the City Council introduced two ordinances (Ordinance Nos. 3227 and 3228) to amend the Regulatory Ordinance and the Land Use Ordinance.
On October 30, 3018, Ms. Serena Chen filed an Open Government Commission ("Commission") complaint ("Chen I") concerning the agenda description for the item on the Council's October 16th agenda.
On November 14, 2018, the Commission conducted a hearing on Chen I, sustained it and, as a remedy, held that the Ordinances were deemed null and void. Further, the Commission held that the Council may consider re-noticing the ordinances following a public hearing.
Prior to the deadline for publication of the Commission's decision in Chen I, the City Attorney's Office noticed a subsequent hearing to be heard on December 17, 2018, for various reasons, including to reconsider the matter and receive additional advice concerning the Commission's legal authority under the Sunshine Ordinance. Specifically, the City Attorney's Office had advised the Commission that the Sunshine Ordinance had not been violated and that the Commission did not have the legislative authority to render a legally adopted ordinance null and void.
The Commission declined to rehear the matter and instead gave direction to staff concerning revisions to the proposed decision attached to the agenda report to finalize their decision. The final decision is attached to this agenda report. See Attachment 2 (Final Decision in Chen I, dated December 17, 2018).
On January 15, 2019, given the Commission's decision and advice of the City Attorney's Office, staff agendized the introduction of two ordinances that tracked the language of Ordinance Nos. 32...
Click here for full text