Lawyer: Council's $13K Bailout an Illegal Surprise

Posted by Terry Francke, General Counsel | Apr 16, 2009 | Legal Issue: Open Meetings | 0 |

OPEN MEETINGS — The Porterville City Council broke the law last week when it voted to
bail out the Exchange Clubs Fourth of July fireworks show with a
$13,000 infusion of cash without alluding to such action on the agenda, a Sacramento-based media lawyer told the Porterville Recorder, the newspaper reported yesterday.

Jim Ewert, legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers
Association, said theres no question about it: Council members ran
afoul of the states open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, on
April 7. City officials disagree.

*****

The April 7 City Council agenda included an item titled Council
Member Request Status of Exchange Club of Portervilles Annual Fourth
of July Community Fireworks Show. The three-sentence staff report
offered a brief history of the show and noted the cancelation.

No staff recommendations were made.

About The Editor

Terry Francke, General Counsel

Terry Francke has a 39-year history of helping journalists, citizens and public officials understand and use their First Amendment and open government rights. With CalAware, Francke has authored comprehensive and authoritative guidebooks to California law on access to government meetings and public records and the news gathering and publication rights of journalists. Focusing on these issues in public forum law, he supervises CalAware's legislative and litigation initiatives; conducts workshops on legal compliance; helps design public records audits; supports local sunshine ordinance drafting efforts; writes CalAware Today, a blog on current developments and proposals in the law and best practices; and answers countless queries by phone and e-mail from citizens, journalists, public officials and employees, and lawyers. Francke previously served 14 years as executive director and general counsel to the California First Amendment Coalition, after a 10-year post as legal counsel for the California Newspaper Publishers Association. He has served as an advisory panel member to the National Center on Courts and the Media; taught journalism law at the Department of Communication at Stanford University; and served as an expert contributor to the 1994 major revisions to the Ralph M. Brown Act and the 2004 ballot proposition making open government a basic right of citizens under the California Constitution. Francke is a 1967 graduate of the University of Notre Dame and a 1979 graduate of McGeorge School of Law, University of the Pacific. Prior to his legal career, Francke worked as a weekly newspaper editor and in military and local government public affairs positions.

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