Aliso Viejo Won’t Join State Move Allowing Less Transparent Government

Aliso Viejo officials say they won’t change longstanding policies of public transparency in the wake of softened Brown Act rules.

In June, California cities and counties were given the option of becoming more secretive.

The state Legislature suspended Brown Act mandates that local jurisdictions—cities, counties, school districts, water districts and special districts—post meeting agendas for the public. The suspension also allows local boards and councils to forgo reporting to the public about actions taken during closed-session meetings.

The number of California municipalities choosing to abandon the transparency mandates is unknown.

But Aliso Viejo plans to continue its practice of posting agendas ahead of meetings and announcing the results of closed sessions.

"We have not changed our practices and we don't intend on changing our practices," Aliso Viejo City Manager Mark Pulone said. "We post  them physicially on three different sites, plus they're posted on our web site. We post them in front of City Hall, at the library and at the Sheriff's Substation."

The League of California Cities is expected to release an official statement on the issue soon, but communications director Eva Spiegel said for now the suggestion to cities is “stick with the status quo.”

“The League has been very involved with the Brown Act,” she said. “We have always encouraged transparency.”

How the state came to the decision of suspending the Brown Act mandates boiled down to one thing: money.

In California, mandates placed on local jurisdictions by Sacramento must be funded by the state. In the case of the Brown Act mandates, the state was subsidizing nearly $100 million a year by some estimates.

So in an effort to cut expenditures, the state decided to suspend the mandates.

In Aliso Viejo, however, the cost for reproducing and posting meeting agendas for the public is minimal, Pulone said.

"We post our agenda, which is not very lengthy," he said. "Our city is relatively small so it's not a big effort to post in three different locations. I wouldn't say from a cost perspective that it is not preventative."

The San Francisco Chronicle summarized the history of the Brown Act as follows:

The Brown Act, named for the Modesto assemblyman who authored it, requires that at least 72 hours before a public meeting, local legislative bodies must post an agenda "containing a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed ... in a location that is freely accessible to members of the public and on the local agency's Internet Web site." The act also stipulates that all decisions made in closed session must be announced publicly.

Ken Stone, Toni McAllister and Maggie Avants of Patch.com contributed to this report.