Brea officials have committed to be transparent in their dealings to bring a Costco to town this week but argue they didn’t violate California’s open meetings law after a resident group sent a cease and desist letter to the city, alleging leaders reached a consensus on a sales tax sharing agreement for the Costco store and gas station outside public view.
While officials are denying violating the Brown Act, they’ve approved what’s known as an “unconditional commitment response.” That means they’ve agreed to cease and desist from the challenged actions without admitting wrongdoing.
“In text that follows the statutory language, the proposed response letter provides an unconditional commitment that the City Council will cease, desist from, and not repeat the challenged past actions,” reads a staff report included with this morning’s city council meeting agenda…