Brown Act Violated By Sonoma County Supervisors, County Staff: DA

By Katy St. Clair, Bay City News Foundation

SONOMA COUNTY, CA — Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch's office has found that the county Board of Supervisors and county staff violated the state's Brown Act — also known as the open meetings law — when they failed to notify the public about an item discussed in closed session.

Prosecutors also allege that the supervisors held a "hub spoke" serial meeting when county staff summarized comments made by supervisors and distributed the document to the body outside of a scheduled meeting.

The district attorney was asked to investigate the alleged violations after Sonoma County Counsel Robert Pittman brought them to her attention last December, she said in a letter dated Wednesday. The allegations stem from the county's current redistricting process.

In the letter, Ravitch says that a threat of litigation that was discussed in a closed-session meeting on Nov. 19 should have been put on the public agenda packet, "as required in order to invoke this basis for a closed session."

Members of bodies such as a board of supervisors are permitted to speak about pending litigation or "threats of" litigation in closed session away from the public eye, but they are required to notify the public that they will be occurring.

Ravitch makes note of board chair Lynda Hopkins being the person that received the litigation threats, adding "but we believe that she should have memorialized them in writing," she wrote.

"Either way, documentation of the threats should have been made public," Ravitch said.

The District Attorney's Office has asked the county to do so retroactively.

Regarding an alleged serial meeting, Ravich claims that a hub-spoke serial meeting took place between Nov. 16 and a Nov. 29 workshop. The term "hub-spoke" refers to a supervisor or council member speaking with one member of the body outside of a meeting and then talking to another member about that conversation.

Such communications are restricted by the Brown Act. Ravich claims in her letter that her office found that county staff communicated with each member of the Board of Supervisors to get input on the county's redistricting maps and other pertinent documents, then summarized their findings into one document that was shared with the board prior to the workshop.

Ravitch notes that the shared document was labeled an "attorney-client privileged communication," "but does not appear to have been prepared by an attorney or contain legal advice."

Ultimately, the district attorney found that none of the violations had an effect on the county's redistricting process, but she recommended that everyone brush up on the Brown Act.

"We believe the Board and staff who work directly with the Board should be provided with updated Brown Act training, taking into account the issues raised by this review and the public concerns raised," she wrote.

Ravitch said the file on this investigation will be closed once the parties undergo the training.

Ravitch makes mention in her letter of another Brown Act violation regarding the redistricting that came to her attention on Monday, though she gives no details outside of saying that her office is investigating it.

Sonoma County Administrator Sheryl Bratton responded to the Brown Act violations.

"Public transparency is a top priority to the Board of Supervisors as well as all County staff, and, as part of that, we are committed to abiding by all aspects of the Brown Act in how we conduct county business," she wrote in an email.

"We appreciate the District Attorney's thorough review of what happened in November and accept the findings of this investigation. We are already working to schedule the additional Brown Act training that has been required and are posting materials that the DA's Office has indicated should be added to the redistricting website. It's important to note that the District Attorney concluded that there was "no prejudice" in how the County conducted its business in these instances and, therefore, no additional correction is required," Bratton wrote.

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