Another Collision with the Brown Act?

The Settlement Agreement and Mutual Release for the SJHHS site has been returned to the Board agenda (huge file) on Monday night as Item #21. On this occasion, the agenda provides that the Board may act on the item.

I have urged Board members to refuse action on this item Monday night because such action would violate the Brown Act. Quoting the agenda item itself:

This agenda item was first brought to the Board on January 12, 2009 for information/discussion. Since that time, additional information (i.e., questions/issues/concerns) from the public and the Board has been received with comments submitted to the Board under separate cover. Staff is now bringing back the "Settlement and Mutual Release Agreement" item to the Board of Trustees for discussion/action.

The additional information referred to in this paragraph has not been made available to the public despite the fact that the questions were raised in public session. As the agenda states, the Board is expected to rely on this additional information to reach a decision. By failing to include this additional information in the agenda, the public is effectively denied an opportunity to meaningfully participate in the public meeting.

I requested a copy of this additional information on Thursday of last week. On Friday afternoon, I received an email response indicating that the materials would be available for me to pickup at the front desk of the Ed Center. Unfortunately, this notice did not reach me in time to arrange pickup before the Ed Center closed for the weekend. I appreciate and thank the staff for their cooperation, but I must point out that even if this information were in my possession, my private receipt is not public notice. Thus, the Brown Act issue outlined above still clouds any action taken on this item during Monday’s meeting.

An equally serious problem with item #21 is the fact that the public agenda is misleading (it contradicts the Agreement under consideration). From the agenda:

Given that WHLLC is now proceeding with the sale of the land located within the CFD to developers with significant home building experience and funding sources, the District is now in a position to issue the first series of CFD bonds.

This statement is utterly false. Subsequent paragraphs of the agenda, as well as paragraph 1 and paragraph 5 of the Agreement make it plain that issuance of the bonds is uncertain and all of the benefits for CUSD contained in the Agreement, including the stadium land transfer, are contingent on issuance of the bonds or dissolution of the CFD (at the sole option of the developer).