CLEARLAKE – Rules and procedures applicable to local government bodies and local government officials under the Ralph M. Brown Act will be the subject of a workshop type meeting sponsored by the Clearlake City Council on Saturday, Jan. 8.

The workshop will take place beginning at 10 a.m. in the council chambers at Clearlake City Hall located at 14050 Olympic Drive, Clearlake.

Community members are invited to attend the workshop.

The session has been noticed on a special agenda as a joint workshop of the Clearlake City Council, the Clearlake Redevelopment Agency, the Redevelopment Advisory Committee and the Planning Commission.

The featured speaker at the Jan. 8 event will be Anita Grant, county counsel for the county of Lake.

One of the organizers for the workshop is Robert Riggs, a member of the city's Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

Riggs urged the Clearlake City Council to sponsor the workshop at the council’s Dec. 9 meeting, during which new Council members Jeri Spittler and Joey Luiz were sworn in and seated, as Lake County News has reported.

Riggs, who also is a Lake County attorney, noted that the Brown Act is an especially topical subject for the community and its leaders as two new council members, as well as new appointees to various city commissions, get set to take their seats.

“The basic purpose of the Brown Act is to assure transparency in government and responsiveness to the community,” Riggs said. “In Clearlake we are now seeing an incredible surge of energized citizens who are stepping forward to help bring about a vision for an improved city. They need to know and understand their rights as members of an involved community, as well as, the duties and constraints that are imposed upon their representatives under the Brown Act.”

He added, “We are extremely fortunate to have a person in our community such as Anita Grant who is available and willing to assist with this town hall. I don’t know of anyone more knowledgeable about the Brown Act here in the county, or anywhere else, for that matter.”

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