City Council could get parliamentary feel

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- If Tuesday night’s City Council meeting had the

raucous feel of the British Parliament, just wait. Even more could be on

the horizon.

In remarks during the meeting, Mayor Gary Adams proposed giving the

council and staff a collective five minutes of response time to each

public speaker, a bit of immediate feedback now largely missing from the

dais.

“I think it’s responsive to answering people’s questions,” Adams said

about the change. “It’s not intended to be a debate.”

The idea, however, raised eyebrows at the California First Amendment

Coalition, a Sacramento-based governmental watchdog group.

Terry Francke, general counsel for the group, said he saw several

problems with the idea.

The largest centers on California’s Brown Act, first passed in 1953

and revised in 1994, which governs public meetings.

The act only allows officials to “briefly respond” to public comments,

Francke said.

“I would not think a five-minute response would be brief in the

meaning of the Brown Act,” Francke said. “Not only is it not brief, it

sets up a kind of argumentative tension.”

Adams and other council members said they support the change simply as

a way to foster better communication with the community.

The move, which the council could approve at its next meeting, isn’t

intended to enhance the council’s bully pulpit, City Atty. Bob Burnham

said.

Now, individuals are given three minutes during the comment section to

speak about non-agenda items. They may also address agenda items as they

come up.

Burnham said he agreed with Francke that five minutes would not be

considered brief compared with the three-minute block of time allotted to

audience members.

“Nobody’s putting a clock on anybody,” Burnham said. “I don’t think

anybody’s going to abuse it.”

Perhaps surprisingly, local activists have welcomed the change. Allan

Beek, a regular speaker and leader of the slow-growth Greenlight measure,

said he supported it as a way to hold council session in a “town hall

meeting” format.

Beek, in fact, was among the first to get a taste of the “town hall”

feel at Tuesday’s meeting.

After comments by Beek about the city’s proposed annexation of Newport

Coast and updates to be made to the city’s general plan, Councilman

Dennis O’Neil chimed in with responses to Beek.

Still, Beek called the new policy “an improvement.”

“It has one problem,” he said. “After the member of the public has

spoken, the member of the public can’t respond” to the city comments.

Francke also said he was concerned the council would use the format as

a way to have the last word on uncomfortable or controversial topics.

“If that’s really what they’re trying to do, that’s not what the Brown

Act permits,” Francke said.

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .

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