The City of Albany provides resources for Members of Advisory Bodies to ensure that policies, practices and procedures for the Body on which they serve are understood. This ensures that each member has been properly trained for their position and confirms that all Advisory Bodies follow and uphold their rules and bylaws while also providing recruitment information for current open positions.

An advisory body is any City of Albany board, committee, commission, or task force tasked with providing judicious advice to the City Council based on the Council approved work plans for each body. Advisory Bodies can build Community Consensus for proposals or projects, review written materials, facilitate study of critical issues, guide the implementation of programs, and assess the alternatives regarding issues of community concern.

The City Council and all Advisory Bodies created by the Albany City Council are governed by the rules of the Brown Act. The Brown Act (Gov. Code Sections 54950 et seq.) is the State of California's Open Meetings Act. It is intended to ensure that the members of the public have adequate notice of what its elected and appointed local decision makers do, and that those decisions and the deliberations leading to them take place during an open and properly noticed meeting. 

Meetings are run by the Advisory Body Members with the staff liaison present to provide guidance, as needed. As a scheduled meeting approaches, the staff liaison will provide Members of the Advisory Body with agenda materials (typically on the Friday prior to a regular meeting). Meeting agenda materials may also be accessed online, at www.albanyca.org/meetings, after they have been published.

Advisory Body Handbook (revised 3/2023)
Power Point Presentation to the Biennial Advisory Body & Brown Act Training (2023)
The Ralph M. Brown Act Government Code Sections 54950 et seq.
Open & Public V - A Guide to the Ralph M. Brown Act

As City of Albany Advisory Body Meetings are run in accordance with the Brown Act, please make sure to review the above materials. Thank you for your participation in local government. For more information about the Office of the City Clerk, contact the City Clerk Office at 1(510) 528-5710 or email: cityclerk@albanyca.org.