The Fullerton City Council voted 3 to 2 to change decorum rules for the “Council Communications” meeting section. Council Members Nicholas Dunlap, Jamie Valencia, and Mayor Fred Jung voted in favor of the changes. Mayor Pro Tem Shana Charles and Member Ahmad Zahra voted against it. 

Fred Jung said he asked the rule changes be brought forward. He said the rule change proposes an allowable scope of comments for this meeting section. He said it is not the time to have a “stream of consciousness”.

What happens during the “Council Communications” section of the meeting? 

According to the new decorum documents, during this meeting section Council Members are restricted to: 

• – Providing mandatory reporting on meetings attended at public expense in compliance with AB1234
• -reporting regional board, commission and committee information and activities to which City Council appointed the Council Member 
• -Report, query and/or update the City Council and/or the public on any matter within the City Council subject matter jurisdiction.

Besides restricting the comments to the above scope, the proposal set a 5-minute maximum per Council Member for them to report on all of the above during this section of council meetings. Previously there was no time limit. The 5-minute maximum can only be extended at the discretion of the mayor or a majority of the council. 

Also, the rule change stated “Council Members may not debate or act on issues arising during this section of the agenda. Council Members may agendize an item for discussion at a future meeting” 

Finally, they added the rule that “Council Members shall not engage in negative commentary regarding fellow Council Members, staff or members of the public during Council Communications.” 

Fred Jung and an audience member noted that it is not clear who gets to define what “negative” is. 

Audience member Vanessa Estrella was concerned about the limitation to 5 minutes and the censoring of  “any statements that may be deemed negative.” She said this would hamper the Council Members from “disagreeing respectfully” and properly debating issues. 

Ahmad Zahra and Shana Charles said restricting the report to 5 minutes impaired the Council Members’ legal responsibility to report to the council and the public. He said “Five minutes was not enough to report on boards” judging from his experience reporting on Water District meetings. 

Council Member Nicholas Dunlap said that he had no problem with a 5-minute limit.

Council Member Jamie Valencia said she is for restricting the scope of this section of the meeting. 

Many of the public commentators complained that the public was not able to easily see the actual rule change, calling this out as a lack of transparency. 

The actual changes to this rules and decorum document can be seen by going to the cityofFullerton.com, clicking on the Government tab, then (at left) City Council Meeting Agenda, then City Council/Planning Commission Archive, then clicking on May 6 meeting Agenda link. Note that the meeting video link is also on this page.  Scroll down to item 14, click on the title, then click on attachment 3 pdf: “050625 CLK Rules of Procedure Draft Resolution Redline”

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