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THE COAST NEWS
.com MAKING WAVES IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD
VOL. 28, N0. 37
SEPT. 12, 2014
SAN MARCOS -NEWS
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When the Encinitas Union School District management team went on a retreat to a Palm Springs resort without notifying the public it may have violated the Brown Act. File photo
EUSD retreat RANCHO may be a violation SFNEWS of Brown Act rules .com By Aaron Burgin
A Good Walk Emily Lohner, 11, shows enthusiasm during the first day of a three-day walk on Sept. 5 in support of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The three-day walk began at the Flower Fields in Carlsbad and finished in downtown San Diego. About 200 people embarked on the 50-mile walk to raise funds for MS research. Photo by Tony Cagala
Del Mar to change its signage rules By Bianca Kaplanek
DEL MAR — In an effort to make Del Mar more business friendly — and at the request of the Business Support Advisory Committee — council members at the Sept. 2 meeting directed staff to modify five areas of the city’s sign regulations. The size of allowable signs will be changed so they are more proportionate to the front of the building. Currently the size of the sign is based on the square footage of the floor area. A business with 1,000 square feet or less can have a sign no bigger than Although they are currently not allowed, A-frame signs such as these are seen throughout downtown Del Mar. Council agreed to amend the rules governing such signs, as well as others, in an
TURN TO SIGNAGE ON A15 effort to be more business friendly. Photo by Bianca Kaplanek
ENCINITAS — An Encinitas Union School District management team retreat in Palm Springs that four school board members attended violated the state’s open meeting laws, political reform experts said. Parents and residents have criticized the school district for the trip to the high-end La Quinta Resort near Palm Springs, which they said was wasteful spending. But recently, local residents also began to question how board members comprising a supermajority of the district’s five-member governing body could attend the retreat without notifying the public, a requirement of the Ralph M. Brown Act, which protects the public’s right to open meetings. School Superintendent Timothy Baird has argued that the trip did not need to be noticed publicly because it was a managerial retreat, and board members had nothing to do with the trip’s agenda or planning and did not discuss or deliberate on action within their jurisdiction. Two experts in the state’s open meeting laws, however, said none of that matters — the fact that a majority of
the board was present at the retreat triggered the public noticing requirements. “It’s a blatant violation of the Brown Act,” said Cory Briggs, a San Diego municipal law attorney who has sued cities across Southern Cali-
I don’t think anyone sees Back to School Night as a violation of the Brown Act.” Timothy Baird Superintendent, EUSD
fornia over open meeting violations. Briggs’ comments came after reading an email thread between Baird and Terry Francke, the general counsel for Californians Aware, an open government watchdog group. Francke became involved at the behest of Lynn Marr, an Encinitas resident who initially called on Baird to release minutes from the retreat. Francke said in his email to Baird that if TURN TO EUSD ON A15