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.