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Commission told Brown Act limits ad hoc collaboration; members plan time-limited deliverables
Summary
Staff advised the Benicia Industrial Safety Citizen Oversight Commission that ongoing subcommittees of two or more commissioners would trigger Brown Act requirements; members agreed to pursue time-limited project deliverables and individual work with staff to avoid creating a continuous Brown Act body.
Staff informed commissioners that under the Brown Act, ad hoc groups of two or more commissioners working on an ongoing project could become Brown Act bodies subject to noticing and open-meeting requirements. The moderator explained that short-term, time-limited deliverables (for example, a single plan for siren upgrades or a trigger-level proposal) could be permissible as limited-duration ad hoc work; otherwise, commissioners must work individually with staff.
Commissioners discussed practical workarounds. Lars Anderson asked whether a short-duration plan would suffice as a deliverable; staff said that the city attorney should be consulted but that a bounded deliverable would likely avoid continuous-subcommittee status. "You can't create an ad hoc group that's gonna work on community notifications because that's ongoing forever; but maybe...upgrading our siren systems could be limited duration," staff said.
