PACIFIC GROVE — The Pacific Grove City Council committed four violations of a state law enacted to protect the public from illegal secret deliberations, a resident and retired attorney alleges in a Nov. 10 letter to the council.

Jane Haines, who practiced environmental law and is familiar with administrative records — such things as city emails and meeting minutes — outlined four alleged violations that stem from a Nov. 6 closed session of the council and City Manager Ben Harvey.

The 1953 Brown Act was enacted in response to mounting public concerns over informal, undisclosed meetings held by local elected officials. City councils, county boards and other local government bodies were avoiding public scrutiny by holding secret “workshops” and “study sessions.” It addresses when, how and with whom local agencies may meet behind closed doors.

At issue was a lease agreement between Dave Gash, founding partner of Monterey Capital Real Estate Development, the company behind the Holman Building project that recently opened its doors to ground-floor commercial, and the city of Pacific Grove to temporarily house the Pacific Grove Library while it undergoes extensive renovations.

There were cost overruns that were paid out to the developer that elected officials were not made aware of until after Harvey had OK’d payment The ensuing closed session city manager’s report on the cost overage is what Haines has zeroed in on.

Among the exceptions to the Brown Act is allowing councils to discuss ongoing real-estate negotiations between the city and other parties

Haines’ first allegation is that the Nov. 6 closed session addressed previously completed negotiations, while a government code section allows closed-door meetings only for discussions about future real property negotiations.

“Such an attempt to avoid public scrutiny is unlawful,” Haines wrote in the Nov. 10 letter, adding that the government code grants exemptions to the Brown Act only for negotiations “prior to the purchase, sale, exchange or lease of real property by and for the local agency,” not to discuss completed negotiations.

In this case, the city could have adjourned to a closed session while negotiating with Gash, but after completing negotiations the council would need to discuss any findings in an open session.

Pacific Grove City Attorney David Laredo was at a conference Wednesday and was not able to fully address the allegations, but did say that Haines was interpreting the Brown Act too narrowly. He said that there were still discussions about who should pay for the overage and what portion that would be, which constitutes ongoing negotiations that are exempted from the Brown Act.

“They needed to discuss what the city’s position was about the unintended overages,” Laredo said. “There’s no question we were going into negotiations with the landlord.”

Haines cites Laredo’s statement upon returning to open session at that Nov. 6 meeting. In that, based on a video recording of the meeting, Laredo said the council received the city manager’s report about tenant improvements at the Holman building.

“The council requested steps to prevent a recurrence and steps to promote communication to the board and the public as to the present and future aspects of the library renovation project,” Larado said.

Therein lies the rub for Haines. Preventing recurrences and promoting communications are not exemptions from the Brown Act and are in fact policy discussions that should have been held in open session. Laredo did not argue that point but did say that it would be difficult to “break up the conversation like that,” where both topics — negotiations and policies going forward — were part of the same discussion.

Glen Smith, litigation director San Rafael-based First Amendment Coalition, agreed with Haines on that point.

“When you adopt a procedure then it should be discussed in public,” he said. “I think her analysis is correct in terms of what should have happened.”

But he also cautioned that any violation likely did not result in any concrete action being taken by the council. If the council in closed session dressed down Harvey for paying the overage without consulting the council, then it could have been considered a personnel issue, which is also exempted from the Brown Act.

“The best thing would be for them to confront what they had done and act to remedy it,” Smith said.

Pacific Grove Mayor Bill Peake, who pulled the cost overrun item out of the consent agenda — essentially are part of council proceedings addressing items so mundane that the council can approve them in mass — when he questioned the overage.

“I’m working toward greater transparency,” Peake said. “I understand how people have routines about how they do things but we need to maintain transparency.”

Next week the council will be taking up the library renovation project itself and Peake said they will talk about the entire financing, expected costs, types of costs and project timelines — all in open session.