For the transcript of the exchange between Bruce Gibson and Martha Goldin, click here to view The ROCK article.
When Los Osos retired judge Martha Goldin protested abuse of due process (and breach of the County’s process) during her three-minute public comment at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Supervisor Gibson pulled the plug on her. On the Board’s agenda for Tuesday, April 28th, 2009, it reads, “All persons desiring to speak on agenda items, during Public Comment or prior to Closed Session, are asked to fill out a ‘Board Appearance Request Form’ to submit to the Clerk of the Board prior to the start of the Board item. Each individual speaker is limited to a presentation total of a MAXIMUM of three (3) minutes per item during the Consent Agenda, Public Comment period, Public Hearings, Board Business and prior to Closed Session.”
There is no addendum to the agenda that adequately or clearly notice the 15 minute block or the 10-minute “Los Osos rule.”
Additionally, County counsel never gave a full explanation as far as why Board action was reasonable. Counsel did not cite any Brown Act sections or board bylaws which permit modification of public testimony time on a particular agenda item.
Is Supervisor Gibson’s interpretation of the Brown Act legal and fair and ethical? Is it right for Gibson and the County to bail out on promises to include alternative technologies through the design/build process, then suppress public comment on it? Is this an act of deception or incompetence?
