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<br />only going to mention one. One would suppose in reading it, that over the last seven
<br />months, Council Member Leipzig had been arguing with us, persuading us, cajoling us,
<br />pleading with us to open up these meetings to the public. I can tell you that... he has
<br />never mentioned to me personally at all, that he felt that we were violating the Brown Act.
<br />What is most important I think, and what is most ironic, is that as far as I can remember,
<br />Council Member Leipzig has never raised this issue at any Council Meeting. Which
<br />means that for seven months, apparently, he has not brought his supposedly deep concerns
<br />to light. Which means again, that for seven months he has not informed the very public he
<br />says he is trying to protect. Instead, Council Member Leipzig issues a press release after
<br />seven months and impugns the integrity of the entire Council, including himself. My real
<br />concern here is that the public's confidence may have been undermined, not by our
<br />violation of the Brown Act, I don't believe we have, but by a press release which I
<br />consider shabby and reckless. And I really regret having to make these remarks, and I
<br />regret most of all that the press release was issued."
<br />Council Member Ira said, "I just wanted to say that... someone told me today, I'm not a
<br />politician and maybe that's why I don't have as much problem taking personal offense
<br />with the press release. I have not had the luxury of being able to be paid by clients to
<br />examine the Brown Act, as my fellow Councilman, Mr. Hartnett has, and if you can find
<br />one of those clients to pay me, Jim, I'll dig into it real deep. But, really, the reason I don't
<br />is because of something that was just brought up by Vice Mayor Ruskin. And that is, we
<br />have a City Attorney that we are paying full time to keep us abreast of what is happening
<br />here, and really, if! felt anyone was on trial, I'd say that Dave is on trial, because that's
<br />what we pay him for. I really don't want to spend a whole lot more time on this at all, and
<br />my Brown Act reading has been quite limited. Two areas that I would just like to throw
<br />out, Dave, for you to look at, and get back to us. I don't want an answer tonight. But I
<br />read today, one is, whether or not we should be asking people for their names and
<br />addresses. I read there was a section that you are not supposed to do that. I remember
<br />when we had the Meeting on the traffic tickets, the "Q" word, there was a young woman
<br />who was from LA. who refused to give her name, and I think she said it was violating (the
<br />Brown Act.) So if you could just get back to us on that. And I think we are a little bit
<br />confused sometimes, at least I am, on when we really need to report after closed session
<br />and when we don't. If you could just get us an answer on that, and again it doesn't have to
<br />be tonight. I would like to push on to Item C. because that's going to be another tough
<br />one... I remember one meeting we had which was actually during the School District
<br />negotiations meeting, we were going to hold off for a press release, but I think Matt said,
<br />'No', you got to report that to the public now. And he said, isn't that right, Mr. Attorney,
<br />and you said 'Yes."... If you could just follow up on those. I read this briefly today and I
<br />don't profess to be an expert in that, that's why we pay you, to give us the expert opinion."
<br />City Attorney Schricker said, "Madame Mayor the only problem with putting off the
<br />answer is that it leaves it in abeyance as though there may be some hesitation. I don't
<br />want that aura to exist. With respect to reporting out with respect to existing litigation
<br />cases, the only obligation to report out is if action is taken and if that action involves a
<br />settlement in which both parties have agreed. Rarely does that happen. We take
<br />REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 56 JUNE 22, 1998
<br />MINUTES Page No. 584 PAGE 22
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