City Government
WIB Subcommittee Violates Open Meeting Laws
A subcommittee of the Oakland Workforce Investment Board (WIB) Youth Council, called the West Oakland Working Group, met on Feb. 4, and the meeting was ruled by staff to be private. Several nonmembers from the community were told they could not attend.
The subcommittee, set up by the Youth Council, was charged with looking at causes and solutions to the WIB’s long-term failure to fund jobs and training for youth in West Oakland.
At a 2013 City Council meeting where the WIB was being discussed, councilmembers instructed staff that meetings of the WIB, especially those that deal with budget or funding issues, should be open to the public, including working committees that are called “ad hoc.”
Under state open meeting law, city meetings are generally public unless they deal with issues such as personnel, labor negotiations or privileged discussions with the city attorney. The WIB and its Youth Council are made up of business, agency and community representatives appointed by the mayor.
John Bailey, executive director of the WIB, responded: “The City Attorney’s Office recently brought to staff’s attention the need to notice working group meetings such as the one formed by the Workforce Investment Board Youth Council in accordance with the Brown Act,” he wrote in an email to the Post.
“Ad hoc groups composed entirely of members of the creating body (in this case the Youth Council) are exempt from open meetings except when the group includes outside community members,” Bailey said.
“Staff fully intends to comply and publically notice, and make open to the public the next meeting. While there were no recommendations made during the February 4th meeting, the group will reopen discussions on matters discussed at the prior meeting,” he said.
Alex Katz, spokesman for the City Attorney’s Office, said, “These types of subcommittees are subject to the Brown Act and open to the public.”
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Oakland Post: Week of November 26 – December 2, 2025
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IN MEMORIAM: William ‘Bill’ Patterson, 94
Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
William “Bill” Patterson, 94, of Little Rock, Arkansas, passed away peacefully on October 21, 2025, at his home in Oakland, CA. He was born on May 19, 1931, to Marie Childress Patterson and William Benjamin Patterson in Little Rock, Arkansas. He graduated from Dunbar High School and traveled to Oakland, California, in 1948. William Patterson graduated from San Francisco State University, earning both graduate and undergraduate degrees. He married Euradell “Dell” Patterson in 1961. Bill lovingly took care of his wife, Dell, until she died in 2020.
Bill devoted his life to public service and education. In 1971, he became the founding director for the Peralta Community College Foundation, he also became an administrator for Oakland Parks and Recreation overseeing 23 recreation centers, the Oakland Zoo, Children’s Fairyland, Lake Merritt, and the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center.
He served on the boards of Oakland’s Urban Strategies Council, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, and the Oakland Workforce Development Board.
He was a three-term president of the Oakland branch of the NAACP.
Bill was initiated in the Gamma Alpha chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity.
In 1997 Bill was appointed to the East Bay Utility District Board of Directors. William Patterson was the first African American Board President and served the board for 27 years.
Bill’s impact reached far beyond his various important and impactful positions.
Bill mentored politicians, athletes and young people. Among those he mentored and advised are legends Joe Morgan, Bill Russell, Frank Robinson, Curt Flood, and Lionel Wilson to name a few.
He is survived by his son, William David Patterson, and one sister, Sarah Ann Strickland, and a host of other family members and friends.
A celebration of life service will take place at Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center (Calvin Simmons Theater) on November 21, 2025, at 10 AM.
His services are being livestreamed at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1250167107131991/
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Euradell and William Patterson scholarship fund TBA.
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