District Four Council Member/Mayor Schelly Sustarsic said it is not mandatory to fill out speaker cards in a Wednesday, March 13, 2024 text to the Sun.
The City Attorney Nick Ghirelli said the same thing in a recent email to Seal Beach resident Theresa Miller, who forwarded the message to the newspaper.
Speaker cards first appeared on the city clerk’s desk just before the City Council meeting, which began at 7 p.m., Monday, March 11. The public was not given notice prior to the opening of council chambers that night.
Sustarsic interview
Last Wednesday, the Sun texted Sustarsic. (This was after the production deadline for last week’s paper.)
Sun: “Re Speaker cards: Will the public have to fill out the speaker card before a council meeting starts? The form doesn’t say.”
Sustarsic: “The City was originally asking to receive them before the meeting begins. I think the City Clerk would appreciate receiving most of them before Oral Communications begins.”
Sustarsic: “However, someone may fill out a card when they decide they would like to speak or when they arrive at the meeting, assuming it is during the period for Oral Communications. Speakers are not required to fill out a card.
“The City Clerk informed the council that, ‘Upon completion and submission of the speaker card, it becomes a public record and is subject to disclosure under the Public Records Act. However, the Clerk’s office typically redacts personal phone numbers, emails, addresses of the public and intends to do the same for speaker cards (unless otherwise required by law).’”
According to the text, staff explained the process to anyone who came to the city clerk’s desk on March 11. It was unclear if that part of the text was from the city clerk or from the mayor.
Sun: “I’m confused. You said speakers are not required to fill out the card. The form says they are not required to complete the card. A reasonable person would think that they are required to give the government their name as a condition of speaking.”
Sustarsic: “The notice that I read at the top of the meeting on Monday night said they were not required. The City Clerk also informed us that, ‘To be sure, speaker cards are neither a requirement nor a condition to address the Council at a public meeting in Seal Beach. Speaker Cards are voluntary unless the City Council desires to make them a requirement as a part of a formal policy. This is why, at the end of the public comment period, the Mayor asked if anyone who had not filled out a speaker card wanted to address the Council.”
The Sun reviewed the video of the March 11, 2024 council meeting.
At that time, Sustarsic said: “uh could if you wish to speak, we ask that you fill out a speaker card, available from the city clerk, and turn it in. They are not required. You’re not required to complete the card but the purpose of them is to ensure the speaker’s name is properly recorded in the meeting minutes.”
Sustarsic called people to the podium who had filled out speaker cards and then asked if anyone else would like to speak.
Also on March 13, 2024, Ghirelli wrote:
“Ms. Miller,
“The City Council has not amended its policies and procedures with respect to speaker cards. The City Clerk’s office has offered speaker cards as a tool to help orderly manage the public comment period and to help the Clerk’s office accurately record the names of any public speaker who wishes to provide their name into the meeting minutes. However, members of the public intending to address the Council, or any other City commission or board, may still speak without submitting a speaker card. The Mayor or chair will continue to call on anyone who has not submitted a speaker card to address the Council, commission, or board, respectively.”
“The Brown Act permits cities to adopt reasonable regulations pertaining to public comments, including a speaker card requirement for the purpose of orderly calling on speakers. At this time, the City of Seal Beach has not found it necessary to use speaker cards,” wrote Seal Beach City Attorney Nicholas Ghirelli in a March 2023 email.
Ghirelli wrote in a July 2023 email to the Sun: “The Brown Act permits members of the public to speak anonymously at a public meeting. This is also true in cities where the public is required to submit a speaker’s card to notify the clerk of their desire to address the body. See Government Code Section 54953.3.”
Council
When did the council find out about the cards?
“I heard about it a few days before the meeting,” wrote District Two Council Member Tom Moore in a March 17 email.
“I found out at the CC meeting,” wrote District Five Councilman Nathan Steele.
“Sitting at the dais next to Mayor Sustarsic when she announced it at the last council meeting,” wrote District Three Councilwoman Lisa Landau.
During recent phone interviews, District One Council Member Joe Kalmick said he first saw the cards on the night of the meeting.
Kalmick said he saw the cards as a tool to help the city clerk. He said there was no nefarious intent behind the speaker cards. He saw the cards as a procedural change by the speaker cards.
He said as long as you allowed to not fill out the card or be anonymous, he didn’t see the problem.
In a March 19 text message, Sustarsic wrote: “The City Manager mentioned to me something about us beginning to use speaker cards at a meeting we had, probably sometime in February. I assumed that this meant a future discussion. On Friday, March 8, 2024, I received an email containing a copy of the Mayor’s Script from the Deputy City Clerk (this was the Agenda for the March 11th City Council meeting) plus added notes that the mayor reads (usually proclamations or closing the meeting in memory of someone who has died). This Mayor’s Script included an announcement that, beginning that night, Public Meeting Speaker Cards would be available for members of the public wishing to speak. I did not open this email until that weekend, while I was reading my agenda packet.”
State law
Section 54953.3 of the California Government Code says: “If an attendance list, register, questionnaire, or other similar document is posted at or near the entrance to the room where the meeting is to be held, or is circulated to the persons present during the meeting, it shall state clearly that the signing, registering, or completion of the document is voluntary, and that all persons may attend the meeting regardless of whether a person signs, registers, or completes the document.”
