Assignment Task: View a virtual meeting of a city council (either live stream or a recording) or meeting of a County Board of Supervisors. The preference is that you attend an actual meeting to benefit the most from the assignment, but if you choose to view a recording, please ensure the meeting has taken place during the past 60 days. Meetings of council committees, community Town Councils/Planning Boards and SANDAG will NOT satisfy the requirements of this assignment. This will allow you to see how public policy is made and observe the distinct roles of the elected officials (council members) public administrators (staff) and the public. After observing this meeting, you will create a minimum of a four (4) page analysis and critique of the meeting with the following information:
1) Brief overview of the city council meeting using information on that City's website. Include information such as the year the city was incorporated, whether it is a charter vs. general law city, form of government (i.e. council-manager), district-only or city wide elections, number of city employees, number of residents served and budget and other noteworthy info
[NOTE: The intro to the annual budget document is a great place to find information].
2) Brief description of one agenda item addressing a public policy or budget initiative that involved input/communication from members of the public (note: special presentations such as resolutions honoring a community group or issues discussed by members of the public during the "public comment" section of the agenda does not count as a policy issue; you'll want to review the staff report online either before or after the meeting to supplement what you learned at the meeting);
3) Based on your observations, analyze the role of one or more public administrators ("staff") in relation to the elected officials ("council members" or "board members") in influencing the outcome of your featured agenda item you described in section 2;
4) Analysis of one or more members of the public in relation to influencing the outcome of your featured agenda item(s); and
5) Your takeaways from this assignment.