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ARDEN HILLS CITY COUNCIL—November 9, 2009 11 7. New Business City Attorney Filla stated that there are other laws involved including the open meeting law, the Robert's Rules of Order and other laws that deal with Council meetings. All of these sources refer to special meetings as meetings that are held in between regular Council meetings to deal with matters that the Council deems urgent. This hurdle would need to be overcome first if the Council were going to call a special meeting. Robert's Rules say that reasonable notice is required and he recommended three days notice for a special meeting. The purpose of the special meeting must also be noted. If the Council was going to have a regularly scheduled meeting it should be added to the meetings as part of the procedure. The Mayor's ruling is correct. Councilmember Holmes clarified that special Council meetings could be held with proper notice but the Council could not have two special meetings per month. City Attorney Filla stated that the Council could have as many meetings per month as they wished. Councilmember Holmes asked why the Council could not have regular TCAAP meetings as special Council meetings twice a month with proper notice. City Attorney Filla clarified that the Council could do this but they would need to follow the correct process to amend the rules of procedure that have been adopted. Councilmember Holmes clarified that City Attorney Filla was referring to the City Ordinances and Codes. City Attorney Filla stated that this was correct. Councilmember McClung stated that if the meetings are scheduled consistently then they would become regular meetings of the body and the City Code would need to be amended to add these meetings. City Attorney Filla stated that the purpose of the special meeting is to deal with a matter that - cannot wait until the regular scheduled meeting and this situation does not fit this criteria. Also the focus of the open meeting law is to keep the public aware of what is going on in advance. Councilmember Grant asked City Attorney Filla if Council could determine what procedures it wanted to adopt for the work sessions such as taking non-binding votes. City Attorney Filla stated that the Council could not take any action at a work session. Any votes that are taken at a work session are non-binding. Mayor Harpstead clarified that this was a parliamentary rule change and required a two-thirds majority, which would be four out of five votes. He asked City Attorney Filla if this was correct. City Attorney Filla stated that he did not have a copy of the City Code but it may also require a Code amendment. There is not only the procedural ruling but also a code amendment that could be done by a simple majority.