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Options for Virtual Meeting Attendance Planning Commission 4 of 4 requirements, many of which implicate privacy. As a consequence, teleconference attendance is rarely utilized although it has been available for decades. Teleconference attendance can be from any location, through either audio or video, or both. When a commissioner attends by these teleconfe rence provisions, the Planning Commission’s agenda must specify each teleconferencing location and be posted at each location. This would mean that if a commissioner is on vacation out-of-state and plans to teleconference from a cabin, the address of the cabin will be listed on the Planning Commission’s agenda. And, the agenda will be posted at City Hall, on the City’s website, and the commissioner must post the agenda at the cabin at an area accessible to the public. Further implicating privacy is the requirement that each teleconference location must be accessible to the public, and that the public (including the disabled) must have the same rights to address the commission as if physically present. Again using the vacation cabin example, state law requires that if a commissioner is teleconferencing from a cabin, then the commissioner must allow the public to attend the Planning Commission meeting from that cabin, and that cabin must be accessible for persons with disabilities. For practical purposes, when an official has used the teleconference option under the classic Brown Act, that official was staying at a hotel, the hotel agreed to post the agenda in the hotel lobby and make a conference room available to the official for the meeting. That hotel sce nario met the statutory requirements for: posted agenda at teleconference location; open to the public; public could participate from speaker phone in conference room; and hotel was accessible to persons with disabilities. If the Planning Commission holds a meeting where one or more commissioners is attending by teleconference under the classic Brown Act, the following requirements will apply to the conduct of the meeting: 1. All votes taken during a teleconferenced meeting must be by roll call. 2. At least a quorum of the members of the commission must participate from within the City. SUMMARY/CONCLUSION The City Council has considered the technology available in the City Council Chambers, Information Technology Department staff needed to provide two -way virtual meeting support, and the interest in continuing to provide options for virtual meeting attendance by officials, and call-in participation by the public. The City Council adopted a policy to allow the City Council and Planning Commission, as state legislative bodies, to utilize the new AB 2449 virtual meeting attendance options in addition to the classic Brown Act teleconference option. Each option has limitations and restrictions that would apply to the official attending virtually or by teleconference, as well as the entire legislative body in the conduct of the meeting. Primary Author: Larissa Seto, Assistant City Attorney 925-931-5023 or lseto@cityofpleasantonca.gov Reviewed/Approved By: Ellen Clark, Director of Community Development