For the public meetings I attend or follow, which includes Sacramento City Council, Sacramento Active Transportation Commission, Sacramento Transportation Authority, SACOG Board, SACOG Transportation Committee, Sacramento Regional Transit, and SacRT Mobility Access Council, the slide presentations given at the meetings are rarely available ahead of time. Agendas must be published three days ahead of time, under the Brown Act. Agencies have done better on doing more than three days. There are staff reports, but usually the slide presentation are not available. Yet the slide presentations offer key information that is not available in the staff reports, including charts, data, lists, and photos. Without the slide presentations and their detail, it is difficult for the public to understand what the agenda item is really about, and to develop comments ahead of time. I myself often have to significantly modify my preliminary comments based on the slide presentation.
I realize that there may be occasional instances when the slide presentation is still being worked on right before the meeting, for late breaking changes or to answer questions that board members have asked ahead of time. But that is usually not the case. Usually, the slide presentations are available ahead of time, but are not shared with the public.
SACOG is the worst agency in this respect. Every meeting I attend or follow, I have to send an email to the board clerk to request the slide presentations. They are sent to me, and also added to the agenda items, but this occurs during or after the meeting. I have requested slide presentations beforehand and not received them.
This is the game agencies play to make it difficult for the public to comment on agenda items. Board and council members, and staff, give lip service to transparency, but do not actually provide it.
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