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Commission delays vote, then elects Don Penning chair and Boce Boateng vice chair after remote-participation issue
Summary
The commission initially delayed appointing a chair and vice chair because Commissioner Atwal experienced remote participation problems. After resolving the IT issue, the commission rescinded the earlier procedural action and later voted to elect Don Penning as chair and Commissioner Boce Boateng as vice chair.
The Tracy Planning Commission on June 11, 2025 postponed and then completed the election of its chair and vice chair after remote-participation technology problems prevented Commissioner Atwal from participating at the start of the meeting.
During the early portion of the meeting commissioners nominated Don Penning for chair. When Commissioner Atwal, who intended to participate remotely under Assembly Bill 2449 procedures, could not be heard because of IT problems, commissioners discussed whether to delay the vote so all five members could participate. The commission temporarily rescinded the nomination and deferred the election to later in the meeting while staff attempted to resolve the technical issue. The item was moved to the end of the agenda to allow time for the commissioner to reconnect.
Later in the meeting IT connectivity was restored and Commissioner Atwal rejoined. The commission then conducted roll-call votes: Don Penning was elected chair and Commissioner Boce Boateng was elected vice chair. Roll-call responses recorded affirmative votes from Chair Orcutt, Vice Chair Penning, Commissioner Atwal, Commissioner Boce Boateng and Commissioner English for each respective appointment. The meeting minutes reflect that staff recommended Commissioner Atwal not be marked absent because the failure to participate earlier was due to a city-side technology issue and that Atwal had made reasonable efforts to join.
Why this matters: The commission followed a procedural approach to ensure fairness when a member could not participate remotely; commissioners invoked the option to defer and then reconvened the vote once the member had rejoined. City staff reminded commissioners that government code and the recently cited Assembly Bill 2449 authorize remote participation when justified and require a stated reason when remote attendance is used under the just-cause or emergency exception.
Motion and vote: The commission rescinded the earlier appointment motion and deferred the item by motion (rescind motion recorded in minutes). When the vote was taken later in the meeting, the roll-call votes for the chair and vice chair elections were affirmative. The official roll-call votes were recorded in the meeting minutes; resolution or agenda references for the appointments were not used (appointments are internal commission officer elections). Staff advised the minutes should note the technology issue and the commission’s decision not to mark Commissioner Atwal absent given the city-side technical failure.
