Letting the Sunshine in at Alameda City Hall

A "sunshine ordinance" — a collection of rules designed to foster transparency in government that go beyond California's minimum state requirements — will be introduced at Tuesday night's Alameda City Council meeting.

The proposed ordinance is designed "to help make sure that the public receives timely notice of City Hall meetings and activities and timely access to public records and information," according to information included with the meeting agenda.

Before council members take up the sunshine ordinance and other items on the regular agenda, they will meet in closed session at 6:30 p.m.

The hiring of a permanent city attorney is up for discussion and possible action. The city has been searching for a new attorney for several months — three top finalists for the job were on Aug. 30.

Highlights of the proposed sunshine ordinance include:

• Eleven days noticing requirement for regular City Council meeting agendas and all related materials. Seven days noticing requirement for special City Council meeting agendas and all related materials. (These recommendations have already been implemented by City Manager John Russo.)

• No new City Council agenda items that require action heard after 10:30 p.m. unless Council adds staff recommendation to allow exception by a Council super majority vote. (Exceptions might include presence of a group of community members who prefer to have the item heard late in the evening, rather than to return to a future meeting, or if the city needs a vote taken prior to a grant or other deadline imposed by county, state or federal agencies.)

During a public workshop for the sunshine ordinance, participants identified the length and late ending times of City Council meetings as the biggest barrier to public participation.

• Requiring city staff to acknowledge a public record request within three business days. This proposal has been in the making since April of 2009, according to background infomation included with Tuesday's agenda packet.

In February 2010, the city appointed a Sunshine Task Force. The memebers were Thomas Charron, John Knox White, Gretchen Lipow, Jeff Mitchell, Rob Wonder and facilitator Jeff Cambra. Their goal was to work with city staff to research, draft, and recommend to the City Council a sunshine ordinance and to review a proposed campaign finance reform ordinance.

The campaign finance reform ordinance isn't part of Tuesday's action. It will be brought to the city council for review and approval at a later date, according to the agenda.

The regular council session begins at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 18, in the third floor council chambers at City Hall,  
2263 Santa Clara Ave.

You may download the agendas for the closed and public sessions and related materials (including the lengthy proposed sunshine ordinance) at the city's website. Watch the live webcast here.

Everyone makes mistakes, even Patch. If anything looks in this article looks amiss please email Alameda Patch editor Eve Pearlman at eve@patch.com.