AgdaPkt 2021.04.26 Joint SA FPA - Laserfiche WebLink

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6.J. - Page 18 of 22 1. Legislative decisions. Legislative decisions relate to the City Council's law -making and policy functions, such as ordinances, zoning, and general plan amendments. The City Council may discuss pending legislative matters freely with its constituents and the public and no disclosure of those contacts is necessary. 2. Adjudicative decisions or quasi-judicial decisions. Adjudicative or quasi-judicial decisions relate to evaluations and judgments where the City Council is charged with applying legal standards to a factual situation, such as discretionary land use entitlements. Accordingly, the procedure employed must be fair as well as accord interested parties with a meaningful opportunity to prepare and be heard. Interested parties should keep in mind that ex parte contacts with Council Members may give rise to the perception that the process was not fair if Council Members have information that other interested parties do not have, or ex parte contacts may give rise to a perception that the Council Member is biased in favor of or against a particular party. While Council Members may meet with constituents to discuss pending adjudicative decisions, it is recommended that the Council Member make a complete disclosure of such contact, as follows: i. Where information of a specific nature is gathered by a member of the City Council through contacts outside the record and the information is not already on the record, the member shall disclose the contact and its substance on the record prior to the commencement of the hearing to which such contact relates. ii. When a matter involves a mixture of adjudicatory and legislative decisions, ex parte contacts and communications shall be disclosed. 3. Appeals. Once an appeal is filed, the City Council prefers to limit ex parte communications and rely on the record as presented during the hearing. In this case, the City Council members should decline to participate in any ex parte communications and may wish to avoid gathering or receiving information outside the noticed public meeting; but, to the extent such communication occurs, they should disclose this information. 4. Hearings involving vested rights. Vested rights involve an established property interest such as revocation of a use permit. Here, the City Council's need for discourse with the public outside of a noticed meeting is less significant because the Council is not considering granting a benefit and instead is contemplating a modification or loss of an existing property interest. In this case, if such communication occurs, the Council Member who participates in ex parte communications should disclose this information. E. Tentative Opinions Not Prejudgment. Council Members sometimes express tentative opinions on various projects pending before them. The expression of such opinions assists interested persons and the public to address the concerns expressed and makes for a robust and far-ranging exploration of the issues raised by a project. The final decision is nonetheless based upon the entire record, after all evidence and testimony ATTY/POLICIES/A GUIDE TO CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS & BUSINESS REV: 04/23/2018 Page 11 of 15 334