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In a reversal, the Coliseum Commission seeks to expand

The Coliseum Commission would be expanded to six members, from the current three, under a proposal awaiting final approval by the Los Angeles City Council.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
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Four years ago, faced with the possibility of insolvency and mired in a corruption scandal, state officials signed control of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum over to USC.

Left with little responsibility, the Coliseum Commission — the joint authority of the city, county and state that had until then managed the historic venue — was reduced to three members from nine.

“It had outlived its usefulness, it was thought,” said county Supervisor Mark-Ridley Thomas, a current commissioner who also served at that time.

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But current and former members say they didn’t recognize one problem arising from the panel being so small.

“We screwed up,” said Bill Chadwick, a former member of the Coliseum Commission. “In between meetings you couldn’t talk to anybody because it would be a Brown Act violation.”

Now, the agency with a long history of secrecy is seeking to expand — a move that would allow members to once again discuss issues privately.

The county and state have approved boosting the commission to six members, with two each appointed by the governor, the mayor and the chair of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. The City Council is expected to sign off on the move Tuesday.

Under the state’s open meeting law, the Ralph M. Brown Act, a majority of the members of a government body may not gather privately to deliberate any issue that falls under its jurisdiction. On a three-member commission, that means no two members can communicate outside of public meetings, and nothing can be referred to committee.

“It certainly puts them in an awkward position if they only have three members and they want to hand something to a committee,” said Terry Francke, general counsel of the good-government group Californians Aware.

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Francke’s group, together with The Times, sued the Coliseum Commission in 2012 over its secretive months-long negotiations with USC. A judge found that the commission repeatedly violated the Brown Act and ordered it to hand over hundreds of pages of emails and to pay the plaintiffs $415,000 for legal expenses.

Before that lawsuit, The Times reported that a Coliseum events manager took money from an outside events company while he oversaw its concerts, including a rave where an underage girl died from an ecstasy overdose. Subsequent reports by The Times showed a pattern of financial mismanagement and poor oversight at the commission.

“If they are increasing the number just so they can have an easier time vis-a-vis the Brown Act, that’s a little disturbing,” said David Snyder, executive director of the First Amendment Coalition, a nonprofit organization that promotes free expression and open government.

“It’s often more convenient for public bodies to meet outside the requirements of the Brown Act,” Snyder added, “but that inconvenience is one of the requirements of the law.”

Current commissioners say the change has nothing to do with secrecy.

“More members creates greater transparency and accountability,” said City Councilman and commission President Curren Price.

He and Ridley-Thomas also pointed out that in the last year discussions about a new NFL franchise, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the demolition of the neighboring Sports Arena, and a $270-million renovation to the Coliseum have all come before the commission.

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Even with USC running the Coliseum, “there is a substantial role for the commission,” Ridley-Thomas said.

One-on-one conversations in between public meetings are necessary, Ridley-Thomas said, because they afford members of government bodies more time to deliberate and to come to informed decisions. “The dialogue is not thoughtful enough in the moment,” he said.

Price said more members will allow the commission to delegate matters to subcommittees, which can gather information and testimony and report back.

Commissioners, who generally meet once a month, are not paid, other than reimbursements for travel and per diem expenses.

Under the Brown Act, meetings of standing committees that gather regularly or have ongoing authority over a specific issue must be open to the public, but those of ad hoc advisory committees that constitute less than a quorum don’t have to be. Francke said government bodies sometimes use ad hoc committees to circumvent the law.

Mona Pasquil Rogers, who was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown in February to replace Chadwick, said the current structure is inefficient because “I can’t even ask my colleagues a question until we’re in a meeting.”

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The act does, however, permit her to ask questions of staff members.

Chadwick said the three-member arrangement was stacked against the state because the city and county members, representing the same areas, were likely to vote together and the state representative would have no opportunity to convince them otherwise.

“The state is giving up control of one of its most valuable assets,” Chadwick said, referring to the state-owned land on which the Coliseum sits.

Though he has advocated expanding the three-member commission for years, Chadwick said the current proposal doesn’t go far enough.

“It’s not just the six members, it’s the rotation of officers,” he said. Though the commission’s president is elected, the presidency is not required to rotate among the city, county and state.

Chadwick had previously assailed Ridley-Thomas for not ceding the presidency after two years, as had long been the custom.

All three current commissioners said they don’t think the state is getting shortchanged.

”We’re all in agreement,” Price said.

nina.agrawal@latimes.com

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Twitter: @AgrawalNina

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