WESTERN City, THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES: 'Closed Session Leaks: Discretion Is The Better Part of Valor — and Ethics'

ABSTRACT: A link to the article, "Closed Session Leaks: Discretion Is The Better Part of Valor — and Ethics,” October 2010, WESTERN City, THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES, suggested reading from Fire Rich, is provided. A COMMENT is made.

The article, “Closed Session Leaks: Discretion Is The Better Part of Valor — and Ethics,” October 2010, WESTERN City, THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF THE LEAGUE OF CALIFORNIA CITIES, addresses a question about an elected official frequently disclosing information from closed session discussions.

COMMENT:
There is no dispute about the Brown Act specifically prohibiting the disclosure of confidential information acquired in closed sessions to a person or persons not entitled to receive it, “unless the legislative body authorizes disclosure of that confidential information” and the Courts decisions that elected officials do not have a “free-expression right” to share confidential information. There is, however, a dispute about whether an individual city council member voicing his/her opinion that it would be in the best interest of Carmelites and the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea for City Administrator Rich Guillen to leave city employment constitutes “confidential information” acquired in closed sessions.

Regardless, since city council members have chosen not to publicly give their personal opinions and judgments about the future city employment of City Administrator Rich Guillen, it is incumbent on Carmelites to eventually hold them to the following standard, as described in the article, as follows:

“...once the negotiations are concluded fuller disclosure may occur so the public can hold its representatives accountable for the decisions made in closed session. Agency officials may collectively decide to routinely disclose such information at the appropriate time, in the spirit of transparency and the public interest.”