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Lake Forest adopts remote‑access and outreach policies required by SB 707 to protect meetings from disruption and improve outreach
Summary
The council adopted two policies implementing Senate Bill 707: a revised meeting management policy allowing time limits during large public comment turnouts and procedures for telephonic/internet disruptions, and a public outreach policy to increase engagement with underrepresented groups and translate agendas where needed.
The City Council unanimously adopted two policies June 16 that implement requirements of Senate Bill 707 regarding remote access and public outreach for local legislative bodies.
City clerk T. Merritt presented the changes, explaining that state law requires eligible legislative bodies to provide remote access to public meetings and to adopt outreach policies to reach underrepresented communities. The revised meeting management policy adds language allowing the presiding officer to limit speaker time on an item when public turnout is high (for example, reducing three minutes to 90 seconds for a single item) and codifies procedures for reconvening and recording findings in the minutes in the event of telephonic or internet service disruption. It also sets out a process to warn and, if necessary, mute a remote participant who is disrupting a meeting ("Zoom‑bombing").
The proposed public outreach policy directs staff to identify outreach recipients, use multiple platforms including social media, and translate agendas into languages spoken by at least 20% of the local population who report limited English proficiency based on census estimates. Staff noted the city already posts some meeting notices in Spanish and Chinese on Facebook and Instagram.
Randy Johnson urged the council to ensure telephonic call‑in options remain available for residents who prefer not to appear on video; the city attorney confirmed the proposed policies comply with the Brown Act and case law permitting reasonable time, place and manner rules. The council voted to adopt the revisions; the clerk recorded the motion as passing 4‑0 with Council Member Voits absent.
What to expect next: Staff will implement the revised meeting management procedures and outreach practices described in the policies and will post the adopted policies on the city genda web page.
