Five months after the coronavirus pandemic forced the Pomona City Council and Pomona Unified School District to transition open meetings to an online format, the public will now be allowed to call in live.
The moves come more than a week after the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California sent letters to the council and the school district Board of Trustees over allegations that they had violated California law requiring live public comment during open meetings.
While the ACLU said it could not confirm that changes had been made as of Friday afternoon, Aug. 21, the live comment feature was available without any announcement by the City Council at its Aug. 17 meeting. Although nobody called during the meeting, the agenda included a “Zoom Webinar” phone number that the public could have used to dial in.
When asked if the ACLU’s letter prompted the change in public comment format, Pomona city spokesman Mark Gluba said the change was already forthcoming.
“We had been developing on the fly for the last few months in regards to City Council meetings,” Gluba said by phone Thursday afternoon. “We had not received any previous complaint to this prior.”
PUSD Superintendent Richard Martinez said the district will oblige with the ACLU’s demands, noting that live comment will be allowed at the next school board meeting. In addition, the district will post documents related to the board meeting agenda in a timely manner, an issue the ALCU had raised in its letter.
“We believe that we have complied in good faith with the Brown Act” and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s executive order regarding public meetings, Martinez said in a statement Friday afternoon. “The modifications identified in the ACLU letter have either already been implemented or will be fully implemented prior to the September 16th Board Meeting.”
In its letters, the ACLU claimed both public agencies had failed to adhere to the Brown Act and Newsom’s order, which relaxed some rules set forth by the act in response to the pandemic and restrictions on public gatherings.
The ACLU said that while it’s been common practice for other public agencies throughout the state to allow the public to use video or audio to make direct comment, both the Pomona council and the school board did not. Prior to the changes announced recently, the City Council allowed for public comment only through email, while the school board accepted only written and pre-recorded telephone comments.
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Pomona council and school board now allow live public comment - Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
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