Huntington Beach Council rejects manager sign-off on members’ visual presentations
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A proposal that would have required a member of the Huntington Beach City Council to share with the city manager any visual presentations they intended to show at a council meeting days ahead of time was turned down by the panel at its Feb. 3 meeting.
City Atty. Mike Vigliotta proposed the policy change to the council’s manual after Councilman Chad Williams attempted to introduce non-agendized visual presentations on various topics, including the Huntington’s On The Pier restaurant at the Jan. 20 meeting.
Those attempts were summarily rejected by Mayor Casey McKeon, who said Tuesday unvetted displays pose a risk and a conflict for the city.
“[Williams] wanted to put up slides that weren’t germane to the agenda item that we were discussing and voting on,” McKeon said. “Now you’re putting up presentations that are part of the public record, as if you’re speaking for the city … and potentially providing ammunition for potential litigation.”
Vigliotta said the goal of the proposed policy change was to protect the city from unintended liability that could come from creating a faulty administrative record.
“This will also allow the public to review the material before the council meeting,” he said of the policy change.
But a motion by Councilman Pat Burns to leave the manual as it is passed unanimously after nearly an hour of discussion on the topic.
Williams maintained his Jan. 20 presentation was, indeed, germane to the agenda item.
Councilman Don Kennedy said he had a problem with Vigliotta’s proposal, saying he saw nothing wrong with presenting visual slides to back up an argument.
“Why am I required under this resolution to present [slides] to you all five days in advance, when you don’t ask me to give you a recording of what I plan on saying in a meeting?” he asked.
Vigliotta replied that he wanted staff to be able to review in advance what would be put on the screen, adding that he’d previously discussed the policy change with McKeon.
“It’s just creating a process for you guys to put up whatever you want to put up,” McKeon explained. “[My] first three years on council, this never happened before, where council members started putting up presentations. When Mike Vigliotta came to me with his concerns, I said, ‘Let’s bring this to the council meeting and let the council members talk about it and have a process.’”
Williams characterized the resolution as an attempt at suppression.
“This is sort of a tightening, if you will, of our ability to express ourselves,” he said, calling the five days’ notice excessive.
The Brown Act requires that a topic be agendized, but remains silent on whether visuals should be submitted in advance or posted along with the agenda.
The council ultimately decided not to amend the policy. Williams said he was open to turning his slides in to the city manager before the meeting and making them available to the public.
