District Policy 5020 - Board Meeting Agenda

5020.10 The District Manager, in cooperation with the Board President, shall prepare an agenda for each regular and special meeting of the Board of Trustees. A Trustee may contact the District Manager no later than 4:30 p.m. on the Tuesday one week prior to the meeting date and request any item be placed on the agenda. The District Manager and the Board President shall determine if the requested item is appropriate to be placed on the agenda. If three or more Trustees request that an item be placed on a future agenda, the item shall be placed on a future agenda, unless the District Manager and Board President determine that there is good reason not to include such agenda item and provide an explanation to the requesting Trustees in writing for not placing the item on the agenda the item.

5020.20 Any member of the public may request that an issue directly related to District business be placed on the agenda of a regularly scheduled meeting of the Board of Trustees, subject to the following conditions.

      5020.21 The request must be in writing and be submitted to the District Manager together with supporting documents and information, if any, at least seven (7) business days prior to the date of the meeting.

      5020.22 The District Manager and Board President together shall determine whether the public request is or is not a “matter directly related to District business” and have sole discretion to refuse to place the item on the agenda on these grounds.

      5020.23 The District Manager and Board President, with advice from counsel, shall retain the right to require that any matter requested to be placed on the agenda under this policy, that is legally a proper subject for consideration by the Board in closed session, be so agendized under this policy.

      5020.24 The Board of Trustees may place limitations on the total time to be devoted to a public request issue at any meeting, and may limit the time allowed for each public comment, so long as the limitation is applied fairly to all persons wishing to speak.

5020.30 The Board Meeting agenda policy does not prevent the Board from taking testimony from a member of the public at regular and special meetings of the Board of Trustees on matters that are not on the agenda. The Board shall not discuss or take action on such non-agenda matters at that meeting.

5020.40 At least seventy-two (72) hours prior to the time of all regular meetings, an agenda shall be placed on the District website and also posted conspicuously for public review, outside of the District office, in such a manner that the public can read it from public property.

      5020.41 The agenda for all special meetings shall be posted at least twenty-four (24) hours before the meeting in the same locations as specified in section 5020.40.

5020.50 The District Manager shall mail a copy of the agenda or copies of all the documents in the agenda packet to any person who has filed a written request for such materials. Requested copies of the agenda or agenda packets, shall be mailed at the time the agenda is posted. Documents related to closed session items shall be maintained as confidential and not disseminated as part of the publicly available agenda packet.

      5020.51 A request for notice of Trustee meeting agendas and meeting documents is valid for one calendar year and renewal requests must be filed by January 1 of each year. The Board of Trustees may establish a fee to recover the cost of providing this service.

      5020.52 Failure of the requesting person to receive the agenda does not constitute grounds for invalidation of actions taken at the meeting.

5020.60 When the Board of Trustees intends to convene in closed session, the agenda must include the section of the Brown Act authorizing the closed session and identifying the topic in accordance with applicable law.

      5020.61 After any closed session, the Board of Trustees shall reconvene into open session prior to adjournment and shall make any disclosures required by Government Code Section 54957.1 of reportable action taken in the closed session.

Issued: October 9, 2002

Revised: February 22, 2012

Legal Counsel Review: February 17, 2012

Review by Policy Committee: July 2015 with recommended changes

Board Approval: July 8, 2015