Ardy Kassakhian
Ardy:
Historically it has been the policy of previous Glendale
City Councils to SELF-IMPOSE GREATER REGULATIONS ON ITSELF in accordance with
Brown Act Section 54953.7, allowing the public to address agenda items both
BEFORE AND DURING agenda items. In all my years of either
attending or watching Glendale City Council meetings on television, I
cannot recall EVER seeing a member of the public denied a request to address
the council when they submitted a Speaker Card DURING an agenda item.
On
My research into the INTENT of the wording of the Brown Act
failed to find that Mayor Quintero is wrong in his interpretation that he has a
CHOICE of allowing input EITHER before OR during the agenda item
presentations.
Fair enough! But Mayor Quintero must be consistent in
applying his new policy. He cannot deny CERTAIN members of the public
from addressing the council for handing in their cards DURING the
presentations, yet NOT DENY other members of the public for the
same offense. That, of course, would be discrimination.
Since you are an innocent "go-between" in the
Speaker Card procedure, I would like an understanding regarding your function:
1. Do you refuse to accept Speaker Cards that are not
handed in BEFORE the beginning of agenda item presentations? Or,
2. Do you accept ALL Speaker Cards handed to you
regardless of whether it is BEFORE or DURING agenda item presentations?
If so, do you hand ALL of those cards to the Mayor, or do you withhold cards
handed in DURING presentations, either on your own or on a "signal"
from the Mayor so that he does not have to publicly, on camera, deny the
request to speak?
Respectfully,
Hal Weber