pages: OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-04-05.pdf, 20
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OpenGovernmentCommission | 2021-04-05 | 20 | Commissioner Reid inquired how a member of the public would know what SB 271 is on the legislative agenda. Ms. Rogers responded if a member of the public is interested in a topic on the legislative agenda, there is information on literally every bill on the State website; it is the subject of a lot of public discourse and all subject to the same rules and principles and requirements for the meeting to be public; SB 271 is not an obscure piece of legislation; the issue tonight is whether the materials in the agenda provided the notice required for an interested person to show up. Commissioner Reid inquired whether or not the person who made the comments previously reached out to the City. Ms. Rogers responded that she did not know, but that Mr. Garfinkle's complaint is not alleging that it was a serial meeting or that there some improper conduct behind the scenes with respect to the particular issue; the person submitted a public comment and purported to represent an organization comprising 41 different individual member organizations and other Alamedans. In response to Commissioner Reid's inquiry, the City Clerk stated anybody can reach out to the Council at any time; it does not matter whether it is before or after an item is placed on the agenda; a person can comment on the item on the agenda even if they had already reached out to the Council before. In response to Commissioner Reid's inquiry, Ms. Rogers stated that she did not mean to suggest any knowledge of whether when, and what time someone communicated on the particular issue; any member of the public could send an email or submit a comment and still show up to the Council meeting. In response to Commissioner Reid's inquiry, the City Clerk stated there is nothing that prohibits a member of the public from addressing the Council at any time. Commissioner Reid stated she did not see the word Sheriff mentioned in the legislative agenda, although Ms. Rogers stated as such. Ms. Rogers stated the point she was trying to make is that criminal justice reform is specifically called out as an area of the legislative priorities. Commissioner Chen stated the City Council has reduced public access in the changes they made to the Consent Calendar; a second point of access limits comment on the an item to one minute; she feels the chances of someone catching it was close to zero. The City Clerk stated the changes to the Consent Calendar went into effect after the February 16th meeting; the item was pulled and a member of the public was able to comment. Meeting of the Open Government Commission April 5, 2021 20 | OpenGovernmentCommission/2021-04-05.pdf |