Willow Glen Resident

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Unanimous SJ city council agrees to form 'sunshine' law task force

By Monica Heger

The San Jose City Council has unanimously agreed to form a 15-member task force to work on the implementation of a sunshine ordinance intended to make city government more transparent.

As recommended by City Manager Les White, the task force will be composed mostly of neighborhood representatives, who will be nominated by council members and drawn randomly from a hat. Other members are to include a journalist, a former council member and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, the League of Women Voters and city boards and commissions, as well as representatives from the city's labor and academic sectors. The task force must be assembled within six weeks, the council agreed during its April 18 meeting.

The idea of a task force came last month after Vice Mayor Cindy Chavez and councilwomen Linda LeZotte, Judy Chirco and Nancy Pyle proposed a sunshine ordinance that included 22 reforms. Mayor Ron Gonzales criticized the idea, and there was dissent among the council. All but Gonzales agreed to send the proposal to the city manager's office for further study.

Based on recommendations from the city manager's office, the task force is charged with clarifying that the public's business should be done in public; meeting times and locations should be accessible and convenient; public records should be broadly defined and inclusive; and the public should have easy access to public records.

Councilman Forrest Williams requested any current transparency problems be defined so there would be a way of measuring the success of the task force.

"I request that we identify what the problem is," Williams said. "I want to be able to make a judgment as to where we are and how we're going to evaluate how successful the sunshine ordinance will be."

Councilman Chuck Reed requested the task force also examine enforcement of the sunshine ordinance.

James Chadwick, attorney for the San Jose Mercury News, suggested adding a representative with legal expertise to the task force.

"I think the public should have effective and affordable means of enforcement," Chadwick said. "I think it's important to include legal expertise on the task force, with legal expertise in state law and sunshine ordinances."

After the task force is formed, members will begin the process of holding public meetings to discuss the 22 items in the sunshine proposal.