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San Ramon city attorney reviews Brown Act rules for commissioners, warns against serial meetings and social-media exchanges
Summary
City Attorney Martin Licence reviewed the Ralph M. Brown Act at the July 1 planning commission meeting, stressing that serial communications among a quorum, reply‑all email threads and social‑media interactions about commission business can create unlawful meetings, potential disqualification and litigation risk.
SAN RAMON, Calif. — City Attorney Martin Licence gave a Brown Act refresher to the San Ramon Planning Commission on July 1, summarizing the basic rules for public meetings and warning that modern communications channels — email chains and social media — can create unlawful “serial meetings.”
Licence said the Brown Act’s basic purpose is to ensure that actions and deliberations by local boards occur openly. “It is the intent of the law that the actions of public commissions, boards, and councils be taken openly and that their deliberations be conducted openly,” he said. He defined a meeting as any gathering where a quorum is present and commission business is discussed, even if no formal action is taken.
Licence described common pitfalls: multiple two‑party conversations…
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