A city ordinance endorsing open government would help change the
culture of secrecy which exists in Gilroy
One of the reasons that I am running for a City Council seat on Nov. 6 is that I strongly believe that City Hall must end its culture of secrecy. Instead of guarding information, City Hall should assume all records and meetings are public and open. Access by concerned citizens should be restricted only when some extraordinary reason requires it, like when the Council discusses a sensitive personnel issue, whether to settle a lawsuit, or when arriving at a specific offering price for a parcel of land.
Many nearby cities already make information far more readily available to the public. Both San Jose and Milpitas, to name just a couple, have passed strong open government ordinances. Known as “sunshine laws,” these ordinances aim to dismantle walls of secrecy erected by city officials.
This has long been a problem in Gilroy, and even this year local residents have had problems getting the information they are entitled to. Many residents were shocked last February when it was learned that Police Chief Gregg Guisiana had “retired” in December, only to begin collecting his pension on top of his pay while he continued to act as chief. To make matters worse, it was also discovered that Assistant Chief Lanny Brown had done the same in January.
A couple months later, several council sessions were closed to the public while discussions were held on whether to buy Gilroy Gardens. It is important to keep in mind that at the time there were no ongoing negotiations – such as agreeing on an amount to be offered – that would have justified closed meetings. Then, in July, current councilmembers were on the brink of holding secret meetings with developers about the school facilities crisis, and would have done so had the Dispatch not pointed out the illegality of such meetings.
The State of California already has basic rules for open government. The Brown Act requires government meetings to be public, and the Public Records Act says documents should be available unless there is a good reason to withhold them. But both laws leave far too much room for interpretation and debate. Cities remain free to set higher and clearer standards. Gilroy’s City Council should do exactly that.
Sunshine laws can help dramatically expand access to information, such as requiring that closed sessions be taped and then released to the public when the reason for secrecy no longer exists – for instance, once the land purchase is final. This makes clear what the council did and why. It also discourages digressions into matters that legally should be taken up only in public.
Similarly, requesting documents through the Public Records Act can require hiring a lawyer and even going to court, which is prohibitively expensive for community groups. It also costs taxpayers, who must pay the city attorney to deal with such requests. That is why we should create a citywide document request process, with somebody in each department educated on what is public and establishing some form of informal dispute resolution procedure as well. In other cities, this has proven to be an effective way of resolving most requests without getting lawyers involved.
Also, many Gilroyans I have talked with wonder whether staff reports, which are supposed to be objective analyses of issues, have been improperly influenced by a city administrator who wants to skew the conclusions. If draft reports have been circulated, then the city should make them public along with the final report so people can see what changed and why.
For example, I understand that currently there is a draft outside audit being circulated at City Hall that addresses the police department’s patrol and communications functions. I understand that City Administrator Jay Baksa is withholding that draft from public view because it makes what he feels are some erroneous assumptions. We should all be permitted to see that draft, as well as the final report that eventually comes out of Mr. Baksa’s office.
These are just a handful of the ways that City Hall can be made more transparent. The bottom line is that Gilroy is not as open with information as it should be, and not even as open with information as many other nearby cities. Let’s take City Hall in new direction and end this culture of secrecy.
Guest columnist Perry Woodward is a candidate for City Council. Anyone wishing to write a guest column may contact Editor Mark Derry at ed****@****ic.com.
