Open Meetings

In Oakland, this includes:

1. The City Council, Port Board, Planning Commission and Public Ethics Commission.
2. Any board, commission, task force or committee created by the City Charter or City Council.
3. Any advisory board, commission or task force created and appointed by the Mayor that lasts more than 12 months.
4. Any standing committee of the above groups.

[O.M.C. Section 2.20.030(E)]

A meeting is when most members of one of these groups come together to talk about, listen to, or make decisions on something related to their work.

Even if they don’t make any official decisions, it still counts as a meeting. This includes: 

• Lunches or dinners before or after a meeting

• Workshops, retreats, or planning sessions

Watch out for "Serial Meetings"

It is against the rules for group members to secretly talk with each other — either directly or through others — to figure out how most members feel about an issue. This is called a serial meeting and can happen through emails, texts, or forwarding messages. Even if they aren’t all together, it still counts as an illegal meeting. 

[O.M.C. Section 2.20.030(F)]

To keep things fair and open, the public must be told about meetings in advance.

Regular meetings: Agendas (meeting plans) must be posted at least 72 hours before the meeting and must be:

• In a public place

• Filed at the City Clerk’s Office and Main Library

• Posted online on the City’s website

[O.M.C. Section 2.20.080]

Special meetings: The notice must be posted 48 hours before (not counting weekends or holidays), and must be:

• In a public place

• Given to each member, news outlets, and anyone who asked to be notified

• Available online on the City’s website

For special meetings (that is, meetings that are called in addition to, or in place of, the regular meeting schedule) public notice must be given at least 48 hours before the stated time of the meeting (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays), by:

1. Posting a copy of the agenda in a location freely accessible to the public;
2. Filing a copy of the agenda and copies of all agenda-related material in the Office of the City Clerk,
3. Delivering a copy of the agenda to each member of the local legislative body, news media and any person who has previously requested notice in writing,
4. Post a copy of the agenda for any special meeting on-line at the local body's website.

[O.M.C. Section 2.20.070]

Meeting agendas must specify the date, time, and location of the meeting and a brief general description of each item of business to be transacted or discussed. Agenda items should be informative and give the public sufficient information to decide whether or not to attend a meeting. Agendas must avoid the use of abbreviations or acronyms whose meaning would not be known to the general public. [O.M.C. Section 2.20.030(A)]

State law, AB 2257 (2016), requires additional accessibility requirements for online agenda postings in addition to those outlined above.

AB 2257 provides two options for compliance:

An agency that maintains a website must post a direct link to the current agenda on its primary homepage. Additionally, the agenda must be:

• retrievable, downloadable, indexable, and electronically searchable by common internet browsers;
• platform independent and machine readable; and
• available to the public, free of charge and without restrictions that might interfere with the reuse or redistribution of the agenda.

or

An agency may implement an integrated agenda management platform, such as the City's agenda management platform Granicus, as a dedicated webpage to provide the necessary agenda information. If the platform contains prior agendas, the most current agenda must be located at the top of the page.

To satisfy AB2257 requirements, all meeting notices, including a link to the agenda, must be posted at least 72 hours prior to a regular meeting on your web homepage. For information on how to utilize Granicus, contact KTOP@oaklandca.gov.