Agenda - Council - 02/08/2021 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minnesota Department of Administration issued an advisory opinion (13-009) that allowed a city's use of Skype to conduct a remote meeting under Minn. Stat. § 13.02, subd. 1. A "common sense" approach was applied to technology questions, which recognizes the difficulty cities must face when interpreting the Open Meeting Law in light of ever -changing technology. The Open Meeting Law and other statutes also allows certain state bodies to conduct meetings via telephone and other electronic means, pursuant to Minn. Stat. § 13D.015. This useful tool should be expanded to local government to assure that members can attend meetings remotely in this ever - evolving virtual world using current and future technology. Technology has outpaced the Open Meeting Law. Recent city response to COVID-19 has illustrated that remote participation for meetings can allow for meaningful interaction among the city council and with the public. While the legislature recently changed the law to allow for greater participation by interactive television when a state of emergency has been declared, this change was for a limited amount of time. It is unknown how long the effects of this health pandemic will last beyond any declared state of emergency. Cities are in need of greater flexibility now to utilize technology for meetings to protect the health of elected officials, city staff, and the public. Cities also need to keep pace with the virtual world by having discretion to use remote technology in the future, similar to the current discretion of the State of Minnesota. The use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media creates opportunities for cities to reach more constituents and to share more information faster than ever before. Social media creates new opportunities for citizen participation, and citizens increasingly 124 expect that their elected officials will provide them with information via the internet and social media sites. This expectation is not always consistent with laws that require citizens to attend a meeting in order to participate in local government. The use of social media by elected officials raises issues of compliance with laws that were drafted before social media existed, and increases the likelihood of unintentional violations. In recognition of these issues, the 2014 Legislature created a social media exemption to the Open Meeting Law, Minn. Stat. § 13D.065, which states that the use of social media by members of a public body does not violate the law so long as the use is limited to exchanges with all members of the general public. Response: The League of Minnesota Cities supports the Department of Administration's interpretation of the interactive television provision of the Open Meeting Law, and encourages the Legislature to authorize cities to conduct official meetings by telephone or other electronic means, as allowed by Minn. Stat. § 13D.015, The League supports the 2014 change to the Open Meeting Law, which grants cities and elected officials reasonable flexibility to use social media to communicate with citizens while maintaining the protections of the Open Meeting Law. The League opposes any change to the open meeting law that would expand the award of attorney's fees to unintentional violations. DP-10. Exceptions to the Open Meeting Law Issue: The purpose of the Open Meeting Law generally requires that all meetings of