OPEN GOVERNMENT — The City of Alameda's new Sunshine Issue Spotting Task Force will hold the first of several meetings tomorrow (March 24), tasked with reviewing, identifying, and prioritizing
key issues of
concern related to improving the public's access to City information.
On February the Alameda City Council appointed five members
of the
community to serve on the Task Force: Tom
Charron, John
Knox White, Gretchen Lipow, Jeff Mitchell, and Rob Wonder.
Jeff Cambra, an attorney and trained facilitator, was appointed
to facilitate the
meetings.
Tomorrow's meeting will be
held at 7 p.m. in the Stafford Meeting Room at the Main
Library,
1550 Oak Street. The Task Force is especially interested in hearing from
the public
about the issues that are important to residents in furthering the
objective of open
government. Suggestions or concerns can be presented at this meeting
during the
public period or submitted to Jeff Cambra directly by emailing to
jeffcambra@earthlink.net
at any time.
The agenda for the meeting includes establishing the Task Force's
objectives;
developing a draft list of "sunshine" issues that merit further
discussion by the Task
Force and the public; determining a method for prioritizing these
issues; and obtaining
public comment on the draft list of issues.
The City Attorney's Office
will present
information to the Task Force on such relevant laws as the California
Public Records
Act, the Brown Act, and campaign finance law.
A graphic recorder has been hired to capture the public's comments.
The
meeting will also be audio taped, and summary minutes will be prepared.
The Task Force will hold additional meetings over the next several
months to
finalize the list of issues that can be presented to the City Council
for further study and
developed into city ordinances and policies.
