Violation of Open-Meeting Law : Simi Council Won’t Be Prosecuted

The Simi Valley City Council will not face criminal charges despite an admitted violation of the state’s open-meeting law last fall, a spokesman for the Ventura County district attorney’s office said Friday.

The five-member council violated provisions of the law, known as the Brown Act, during the October selection of members to serve on the city’s four neighborhood councils, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert D. Meyers said. The law prohibits a council majority from discussing pending city issues outside a regularly scheduled public meeting.

After a four-month investigation, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury concluded, however, that “no criminal violation of the Brown Act occurred because none of the council members involved realized or knew” their actions were illegal. The law states that governing bodies commit a crime only if it is their intent to break the law.

Violation of the Brown Act by elected officials is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in County Jail, Meyers said.

Citizen Advisers

The violation occurred during the appointment of 21 people to executive boards of four neighborhood councils. The councils are citizen advisory groups intended to settle disputes over proposed development and other issues before they are brought to City Hall.

Mayor Greg Stratton and City Councilman Bill Davis had begun interviewing applicants for the positions, but before they completed the interviews and made recommendations for appointment, Davis was hospitalized and Stratton was called out of town, Meyers said.

Under normal procedures, their recommendations would have gone to the full council for public discussion and a vote.

But, rather than wait for Stratton and Davis to complete the interviews, council members Ann Rock and Glen McAdoo took over and made the final recommendations for appointment, Meyers said.

“The result was that the majority of the Simi Valley City Council had technically deliberated in private about the appointments,” Bradbury said in a letter sent to the city this week.

Appointments Rescinded

At the time, longtime resident and City Hall critic Ed Sloman charged that the council’s appointments violated the law. The council subsequently rescinded the appointments and approved them legally at a Nov. 6 council meeting.

Sloman, who filed the complaint with the district attorney’s office, said Friday that criminal charges should have been filed against the four council members.

“They violated the law; they admitted it and their only defense was that they didn’t know the government code,” Sloman said.

McAdoo said the council “just made a dumb mistake. But you can bet that it won’t happen again.”