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New city attorney delivers Brown Act refresher to Historic Preservation Commission
Summary
Lisa Torosian, the newly assigned city attorney, delivered Brown Act training covering meeting types, serial-meeting prohibitions, ethics/training deadlines (including SB 827 changes), appeal timelines, and the HPC’s review authority for major and minor work permits.
Lisa Torosian, the newly introduced city attorney for Ojai City, presented a Brown Act training to the Historic Preservation Commission on Feb. 12 covering open-meeting rules, member responsibilities, and recent legislative changes.
Torosian summarized appointment and nomination procedures for commissions, explained chair and liaison roles, and described the four-step process for considering action items (presentation, public input, deliberation, decision). She stressed that boards, committees and commissions are vital support systems for the city and that members should avoid serial meetings — including coordinated communications via email or social media that could create a collective concurrence outside a noticed meeting.
Among the legislative updates she highlighted, Torosian noted the effects of SB 827 (effective Jan. 1, 2026) that align ethics training and harassment-prevention timelines and expand fiscal/financial training and recordkeeping requirements for certain officials. She also reviewed disclosure obligations under the Public Records Act and the Levine Act restriction (no solicitation or acceptance of over $500 from a party with a pending proceeding when running for office) as they relate to committee members.
Commissioners asked follow-up questions about (1) when the Community Development Director "may" refer a minor work permit to the HPC versus when referral is required; (2) residency and quorum rules; and (3) the permissible scope of social gatherings among commissioners. Torosian said she would research specific residency and referral questions and send her slides and notes to staff for distribution. She advised that social gatherings are allowed provided no official business is discussed and that complaints alleging Brown Act violations would be investigated rather than decided on sight alone.
Torosian closed by saying she would provide the presentation materials to staff for distribution and invited commissioners to email questions as they review the materials.
