Trustees make changes in the way board and public interact

By Rebecca Ray

The board of trustees for the West Valley Mission Community College recently approved policy changes that affect the way public comment is handled during and after board meetings.

On Aug. 2, the board voted that if the "oral communications from the public" portion of the meeting took longer than 30 minutes, then the board president could postpone the rest of oral communications to later in the meeting. During "oral communications," members of the public address the board on non-agendized items. Under the previous policy, the president could postpone the remainder of oral communications if discussion on one topic took longer than 15 minutes.

The board voted that the minutes-taker would continue to record how trustees voted on action items. It also retained the policy that when discussions took place on agendized topics, the minutes-taker would continue to document that a discussion took place. Also, the minute-taker will still record the names of members of the public who address the board during oral communications and the topic(s) they address. The recorder, however, will no longer document summaries of the speakers' positions.

Trustees approved that the district retain audio tapes of meetings for six months, instead of 12, and upheld the district's former policy of allowing members of the public to duplicate audio tapes. The board also changed the deadline to submit requests for agendizing items from seven days to 15 days prior to meetings.

The board considered having the minutes-taker record only trustees' votes on action items and not include the names of members of the public who spoke during oral communications, the topics they addressed, or summaries of their positions.

Schwartz said the new policy would no longer reflect questions asked and issues raised by residents. A large public agency needs to have a reasonable legal record of its meetings, Schwartz said, and omitting questions and issues raised by speakers makes it seem as though they hadn't been present.

The meeting minutes for the Los Gatos Town and Saratoga City councils reflect opinions and comments uttered by council and staff members, and members of the public.

At the Aug. 2 meeting, Trustee Don Wolfe agreed that it was important to record what topics members of the public brought forth during oral communications. Wolfe said, however, that requiring the minutes-taker to use more pages to record the summaries of speakers' positions wasn't necessary.

Trustees considered retaining audio tapes for 30 days and allowing members of the public to listen to, but not duplicate, them.

Schwartz said that as far as he knew, the district had always kept audio tapes for a year, and should continue to do so. Executive Assistant Rhoda Curry, who records the minutes, said the district used to keep tapes for six months and that trustees changed the policy to 12 months in 1999. Wolfe, one of four trustees who voted in favor of the board's resolution to keep tapes for 6 months, said that 6 months "sounded like a reasonable compromise."

Schwartz opposed disallowing members of the public to make duplicates of audio tapes of board meetings. He said it violated the state Public Records Act, which states, "the Legislature ... finds and declares that access to information concerning the conduct of the people's business is a fundamental and necessary right of every person in this state."

Assistant to the Chancellor Albert Moore said that under the district's previous and proposed policies, tapes of the meetings did not constitute official records of the minutes and that, therefore, the state act did not apply to them.

Attorney Marilyn Cleveland, counsel for the district, said the tapes were records as long as they existed and were subject to the act.

Saratoga City Councilwoman Ann Waltonsmith added that the council allowed members of the public to have copies of video tapes of council meetings.

After this, trustees voted unanimously to continue to allow duplicates.

Salter said policy changes had been recommended so that the board could maintain control of the meetings and have time to address agendized business. She said she was sure no one suggested the revisions to discourage public commentary. In fact, other board members told her they wanted to convey that they were interested in hearing what residents had to say, Salter said.

Board President Nancy Rucker, who voted in favor of the new oral communications policy, said it was "terribly important" for the board to be available to listen to the public. But, she said, there had to be a balance between listening to the public and conducting business. If members of the public talked "indefinitely" at the beginning of meetings, the board would not be able to address agendized business, Rucker said.

Rucker added that members of the public would have as much time to speak as before. She said she wasn't sure if the policy would affect the number of people who wished to speak, but figured that those who didn't get to speak within the first 30 minutes of oral communications would either stay throughout the meeting or return later if the issues they were concerned about were important enough to them.

Schwartz, one of three trustees who opposed the revisions to the oral communications policy, said it was unrealistic to expect members of the public to wait two to three hours before addressing the board. "It's really a way of stopping people from speaking to us," Schwartz said.

Sheriff's Report

Local home and property sale listings

Obituary: Alice Carter

Saratoga Sampler

Sports Briefs

Lynbrook roller hockey team wins league championship

Brookside Swim Team makes good showing in championship

28th Los Gatos Dammit Run

Major League Soccer Camps - AYSO Soccer

2001 California Police and Fire Summer Games