How does the Brown Act Apply to ‘Ad Hoc’ Versus ‘Standing’ Committees?
Quotes below are from the web page linked above - emphasis added by admin
"Under the Brown Act a “standing committee” is one that has “continuing subject matter jurisdiction, or a meeting schedule fixed by charter, ordinance, resolution or formal action of a legislative body.”
"It’s important to note the highlighted “or” above. If an advisory committee has a fixed meeting schedule, then it is a “standing committee” subject to the Brown Act. But even advisory committees without a fixed meeting schedule will constitute a “standing committee” if they have “continuing subject matter jurisdiction,” for example if a city council were to create a committee empowered to address, e.g., homeless issues in an open-ended and continuing way – even if it does not meet on a regular schedule – then it would be a “standing committee.”
Secastopol's city council has run a continuing series of ad hoc committees providing advice to the council as a whole e.g. Fire and Budget. This method of circumventing Brown Act requirements is suspect at best, and results in policy decisions being driven by only two members of the council.