Opening doors?

City College panel considers adopting good-government law

By Rachel Brahinsky

Officials at City College of San Francisco – accused in the past of misspending college funds and of shutting out community input on development projects – are moving ahead with a proposal to consider adopting the San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance, which would mean carrying out more of their business in public.

The college administration, which pledged last fall to look into abiding by the good-government law, began in January to select sunshine law experts and college board representatives to assess the effects of adopting the law. The ordinance – which forces city officials to open their records and meetings to the public – does not automatically apply to the school because it's a state agency.

Currently the college must abide by state and federal public records and meetings laws, but the local sunshine law goes further, and some college employees are wary. "The Sunshine Ordinance was designed to fit a city and county structure. I'm not so sure you can take those laws and apply them to the City College structure," Ronald Lee, general counsel for the college district, told the Bay Guardian. Lee said he will serve on the panel and is researching the legal implications of the proposal.

Lee said the group's first meeting has not been scheduled but should take place "within a couple of months at the latest."

Open-government supporters are encouraging the school to move forward as quickly as possible. "They should adopt it," Sup. Aaron Peskin, told us. "They should conform to the spirit of the electorate [which approved the current sunshine law in 1999].

P.S. The Sunshine Ordinance Task Force committee that's forming to consider rewriting parts of the sunshine law will meet Tues/12, 8 a.m., City Hall, Room 408, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, S.F. Eight positions will become available on the task force in April. A seat is currently open for a physically disabled person. For more information call (415) 554-7724. E-mail Rachel Brahinsky at rachel@sfbg.com.