Citizens recently accused the Seal Beach City Council of violating the state’s open government meeting law on two occassions in 2015. In response to a letter from a lawyer representing a government transparency group, Mayor Sandra Massa-Lavitt will send a letter to the attorney promising not to violate the law, known as the Brown Act. The law requires public agencies to discuss the majority of the public’s business in public.
Exceptions include discussing lawsuits or preventing lawsuits.
The letter from attorney Kelly Aviles accused the council of deciding in closed session to hire a lobbyist at $120,000 in June 2015 and in October 2015 of deciding to move the Little Blue Cottage from its location next to the Mary Wilson Library next to the Red Car Museum. The letter said the public should have been notified the issues were discussed before the closed sessions and that the decisions should have been disclosed in public after.
Both City Attorney Craig Steele and City Councilwoman Ellery Deaton insisted that no violations of the public meeting law took place. Steele said he could not explain how hiring a lobbyist was permitted under the public meeting law without violating attorney-client privilege. The language of the letter was taken from the Brown Act and by law sending the letter is not considered an admission of guilt. The council added the word “alleged” to the letter.
