Politics & Government

Watsonville Will Not Forego Brown Act, Official Says

The state has suspended mandates that require local jurisdictions to keep the public informed.

that impacts government transparency will not be a factor in Watsonville city government, a city official said Monday.

Beatriz Flores, the City Clerk and the staff member in charge of ensuring the city complies with the provision of the Brown Act, said Watsonville will not stop publishing public meeting agendas in advance of the meetings.

"As long as I’m not directed by the council to stop doing what I’ve been doing all along, I will not stop," Flores said.

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In June, the state legislature suspended the Brown Act mandate that local jurisdictions—cities, counties, school districts, water districts and special districts—post meeting agendas for the public. The move gives local government leway to be more secretive.

Government transparency is a particularly a sensitive subject in Watsonville where city council members, residents and even the county's Grand Jury have called into question city practices, such as .

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“I understand the state’s motivation in trying to relieve some burdens on the city and other agencies," City Council Member Lowell Hurst said. "I don’t see us becoming less accessible. My goal is to be more accessible.”

The state made the change to help municipalities and special districts save money. In Watsonville, the cost of publishing meeting agendas is nominal, according to Flores.

“It doesn’t cost us a lot," she said. "We just post it on our board outside and we post it on the website and we have a binder with the packet outside.”

City council members get their hefty agenda packets electronically, via iPads. Few paper copies of the agenda or agenda packet are ever printed by the city, according to Flores.

"The cost is not that much," she said.

Watsonville has a "status quo" budget going into the 2012-13 fiscal year. That means nothing was cut, but there were no funding increases either. The city has endured revenue losses and funding shortfalls for a half-decade.

“I’m always in favor of saving money whenever we can, but I don’t think we should cut any corners when it comes to public access," Hurst said. "There needs to be access."


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