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San Dimas adopts SB 707-compliant rules for remote public participation and outage procedure
Summary
Council approved three administrative policies to implement California’s SB 707: (1) remote public-participation via two-way audiovisual system, (2) councilmember remote‑participation categories (just cause, disability, emergency), and (3) a technology-disruption rule with a one-hour recovery window.
On May 26 the San Dimas City Council adopted administrative policies required by California Senate Bill 707 to restore and standardize remote public participation in council meetings.
City staff explained the three policies: a public Zoom participation policy that will present one remote speaker on-screen during public comment and disallow chat/emojis for control and privacy; a councilmember teleconferencing policy that permits participation for ‘just cause’ reasons (childcare/caregiving, contagious illness, official travel, medical emergency, military obligation), disability accommodations and state-of-emergency remote sessions; and a technology‑disruption policy specifying a one‑hour IT recovery attempt before council may adjourn or — by majority vote — choose to proceed without the remote public feed.
The policies require that remote commenters use video during their speaking time (telephone‑only callers remain allowed) and that background‑blur features be available to protect the privacy of callers. City Attorney staff said the policies mirror key Brown Act constraints while accommodating the new SB 707 requirements.
Councilmember comments during debate praised staff work on practical safeguards and requested clarifications on enforcement for repeated callers; staff said IT will apply reasonable measures to identify duplicate callers and will advise legal staff when a persistent rule violation requires removal from the meeting.
Implementation: the remote-participation option will begin with the city’s first regular July meeting and staff will publish instructions for callers and Zoom participants in advance. The council approved the policy unanimously (4–0, one member absent).
