Chula Vista’s top elected officials and members of the city’s boards and commissions satisfied their ethics-training requirement Thursday night at a Brown Act and ethics training hosted by the City Attorney’s Office.
Assembly Bill 1234 states that public officials must attend ethics training every two years, either through a local agency, the attorney general or a private vendor that provides ethics training.
City Attorney Glen Googins explained to the audience in council chambers the Ralph M. Brown Act, the state’s open meetings law.
He also reviewed the Public Records Act and the reporting requirements for elected official on financial disclosure form 700.
“Providing advice and training on open government and ethics is one of my office’s more important duties,” Googins told those in attendance.
While city matters must be discussed in the open, Googins said council members could discuss litigation matters, labor negotiations and real estate negotiations confidentially through the closed session portion of a meeting.
“Where, in fact, if the discussion was held publicly, the city’s position for the benefit of the public might be compromised,” he said.
This is Cheryl Perez’s first year sitting on the city’s Veterans Advisory Commission, a group that provides advice to the City Council on matters related to the military.
Since she is a new commissioner, she said she was required to attend the training.
“I think that we all need to be aware of the Brown Act,” Perez said. “And I think we all need to be aware of open meetings, and the right way of what needs to be done and how it needs to be done.”
Perez said she learned that anybody could video record meetings. She said she often sees news outlets with their cameras recording meetings, but she did not think that citizens could do the same.
“I just never thought that the public can go in and just film something being said with their iPhone or something like that,” she said. “I think it is good because there are times when I thought, oh, I’d like to get that recorded.”
Perez said before taking her position on the Veterans Advisory Commission she was only aware of the basics when it came to the Brown Act, such as what constitutes a serial meeting and agenda notifications. She said the training helped her learn more.
Deputy City Attorney Simon Silva gave an ethics overview as well as covering conflicts of interest and temptations.
He said council members can’t recuse themselves from voting on an item that is controversial. He said a recusal is only needed when there is a conflict of interest.
“If the issue is hard, it’s controversial, you can’t simply take the easy door and say, I’m going to recuse myself,” he said.“It’s only when you have an actual conflict that you’re able to recuse yourself,”
Councilwoman Pamela Bensoussan got a refresher on the financial disclosure form.
“The reporting information is always good to review,” she said.
Councilman John McCann has gone through Brown Act training when he was a board member with the Sweetwater Union High School District.
He said the city’s Brown Act training explained the law more clearly than that of the school district’s.
“I think the city attorney give a more comprehensive explanation,” he said.
Googins wrapped up the training with role-playing scenarios. He gave a hypothetical scenario and asked those in attendance whether the scenario had any Brown Act violations, then asked the audience for an explanation as to why there was or wasn’t a violation.
Those who completed the training received a certificate saying that they met state requirements for elected officials.
The city’s training comes amid a lawsuit filed by Chris Shilling, the city’s chairman of the ethics board.
Shilling contends that the city violated the Brown Act in its appointment of Councilman Steve Miesen by holding a serial meeting and casting “secret votes.”
All four council members and the mayor were present.
