The community group Malibu Township Council (MTC) sent a letter to the city clerk’s office on Friday last week, alleging city officials violated the state Brown Act’s open meeting requirements in discussions leading up to the Malibu City Council’s Jan. 14 decision to explore a park swap with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC).
The Ralph M. Brown Act guarantees the public’s access to government meetings and prohibits secret meetings of government bodies.
The letter demands the City Council suspend all negotiations with SMMC and make all “swap-related public records, including emails and text messages” available to the public. The letter could be the first step to a lawsuit on behalf of MTC against the city if after 30 days the City Council fails to “cure and correct its violations of the Brown Act.”
The accusations of Brown Act violations hinge on whether a majority of Malibu city council members spoke to each other about the proposed swap before information was released to the public.
Mayor Lou La Monte and Mayor Pro Tem Joan House first met with SMMC Executive Director Joe Edmiston in early December for lunch to discuss the idea of swapping 532-acre Charmlee Wilderness Park for the Conservancy’s 83 acres of Malibu Bluffs Park, as a possible way of obtaining more land for athletic fields.
In a Dec. 21 email to the SMMC board of directors that later became public, Edmiston wrote that he came away from the lunch with “the framework for a comprehensive solution to many of the issues between Malibu and the SMMC.” Many have said this proves a deal was already in place between the city and the Conservancy.
Malibu City Attorney Christi Hogin wrote a staff report on the proposed swap for the City Council’s Jan. 14 meeting. The staff report was dated Dec. 26.
At the Jan. 14 council meeting, Sibert made a comment which MTC argues shows he knew the swap would take place.
The MTC letter, written by attorney and MTC member Frank Angel, charges that Malibu City Councilman John Sibert knew about the meeting and the swap before Hogin’s Dec. 26 staff report. As proof of a Brown Act violation, Angel cites a comment made by Sibert at the Jan. 14 meeting, in which he stated, “I did find out before Christmas that there was a meeting to discuss the swap.”
“In short, Sibert’s acquiring knowledge of La Monte’s and House’s swap proposal necessarily implies his acquiring knowledge of La Monte’s and House’s position,” Angel wrote. “Because three council members form a majority of our fivemember City Council, Councilman Sibert’s acquiring knowledge before Christmas of a meeting at which the Parkland Swap was discussed violates the Brown Act. This is so even if Sibert did not personally participate in any discussion directly with La Monte or House, or in any nonpublic council action concerning the swap.”
Sibert said he never talked to La Monte or House about the proposed swap, which would have violated the Brown Act.
“What I said was, I heard about the meeting, that’s all, I never talked to another city council person about it,” Sibert said. “To me, being told a meeting’s taking place is not a violation of the Brown Act.”
City Attorney Christi Hogin said she sent the Dec. 26 staff report on the swap to Councilmembers Sibert, Laura Rosenthal and Skylar Peak at the same time. Hogin said MTC had “a long history of bogus claims.” She called the recent allegation “silly,” and said they did not contribute to a constructive debate.
“We have such an interesting idea, there’s a lot of good reasons to turn it down, a lot of good reasons to jump on it, a lot of ways to improve it, and that’s what we could improve on it, and that’s what we should be talking about,” Hogin said.
But Angel countered that despite protests to the contrary, at least three councilmembers must have been on board. He cited Edmiston winning approval from his board of directors on Jan. 5 to pursue coastal development permits at Charmlee for campsites, and to exchange temporary leases with the City of Malibu.
“You’re not going to tell me someone with three decades of coastal development experience (Edmiston) will commit all these resources without being sure that not two, but three (councilmembers) are on board,” Angel said. “They’re telling me that basically they’re selling the public short.”
Under state law, the City Council has 30 days to respond to the “cure and correct” letter. If it does not, MTC has 15 days to file a lawsuit against the city.