Golightly

Plaintiff and appellant Robert Glen Golightly (Plaintiff) appeals a judgment following a grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants and respondents County of Los Angeles (County) and the five members of the County Board of Supervisors (Board), namely, Gloria Molina, Zev Yaroslavsky, Don Knabe, Mark Ridley-Thomas and Mike Antonovich (sometimes collectively referred to as the County).

The essential issue presented is whether the procedure by which the County enters into social program agreements (SPAs) with social service organizations that provide social services to county residents is subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act or Act; Gov. Code, § 54950 et seq.), a statutory scheme which imposes open meeting requirements on legislative bodies.

Proposed SPAs are individually scrutinized by the executive officer of the Board (Board’s Executive Officer), County Counsel, County Auditor-Controller, and ultimately, by the County Chief Executive Officer (County CEO), and the approval of each is required. However, the four signatories do not collectively decide to approve an SPA. Rather, a proposed SPA is reviewed in sequence by the four signatories, for issues within…