OCC agrees to abide by Brown Act
Christine Carrillo
A student government budget committee will start abiding by the
state’s open meeting law after it was accused of operating behind
closed doors by the college newspaper.
“We sought legal opinion and found that [the committee] is subject
to the Brown Act,” said Kate Mueller, Orange Coast College’s dean of
students, who oversees the associated students. “We didn’t know we
were in violation of the Brown Act, and there was no attempt to be in
violation. Now, we will follow the Brown Act.”
Two members of the Coast Report, Mike Billings, editor-in-chief,
and Matt Ballinger, led the charge against the closed budget
meetings.
In several issues of the paper last month, they alleged that the
associated students budget committee, a student committee that forms
budget recommendations for the associated students board of trustees,
violated California’s public meeting laws.
After conducting an investigation, the student journalists found
that the budget committee held three closed meetings in April and
May, during which they formed recommendations to allocate more than
$700,000 to various campus organizations.
“I think students as well as the whole school, even the
administration needs to have a voice in these meetings,” Billings
said. “I think it’s good to have [public] comment. ... I think it’s
the best thing for the school.”
The Coast Report sent letters dated May 19 to the presiding
officers, administration and all members concerned, demanding that
they take action within 30 days of receiving the letter.
The paper demanded that the committee repeal the budget proposal
decided during the closed meetings, appoint new budget committee
members, post agendas 72 hours in advance and disclose to the public
all of the committee’s violations.
On May 29, Kate Mueller, the college’s dean of students, responded
with word that changes would be made.
The committee agreed to rescind its budget recommendations and
plans on scheduling a special public meeting in the near future. The
committee hopes to meet during summer session so that it can provide
the student clubs and organizations with a proposal dictating the
amount of the funds they can expect to see in the fall.
In accordance with Brown Act laws pertaining to special meetings,
the committee will post a copy of the agenda at least 24 hours in
advance.
“We will gladly rectify this and we worked very hard at doing
things the right way,” Mueller said. “We’re notifying programs, and a
lot of these programs are frustrated and some are disappointed ...
that the [budget recommendations] need to be redone.”
While having to redo the budget recommendation process has caused
frustration among various groups, Billings and Ballinger believe the
decision to do so was the right one.
“I think the school, the newspaper and the associated students are
all going to be better for it,” Ballinger said. “Our job, as the
watchdog, is based on keeping people informed, and I think people do
want to hear about this and they’ll be receptive to it because it’s
an important issue.”
* CHRISTINE CARRILLO covers education and may be reached at (949)
574-4268 or by e-mail at christine.carrillo@latimes.com.
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