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City of Centerville <br />Council Meeting Minutes <br />May 4, 2021 <br /> <br />hearing. There is also something called Open Forum where the Council does not have a lot of <br />control over what people say as long as it is not an item on the agenda. He stated that if it was <br />done on a systematic basis in order to get around having a public hearing it would not be correct. <br /> <br />Council Member Koski stated that the Council got many e-mails on this topic and noted that his <br />understanding of what Attorney Glaser just stated was that it is okay for them to reply to those one <br />on one, but not engage in the public comment portion of it. <br /> <br />Attorney Glaser stated that when the Council Members are one on one, they can say whatever they <br />want. He stated that what staff was concerned about was that there was a plan at the next Council <br />meeting to invite members of the public to come in and freely talk on the topic. He reiterated that <br />the Council is supposed to make their decisions on a land use application based on what came <br />through the public hearing process. <br /> <br />Council Member Koski stated that much of what was stated was a repeat of what was stated in the <br />public hearing. He stated that he was very cautious about replying to them so this information is <br />very helpful. <br /> <br />Council Member King asked questions about the information received in e-mails and how it can <br />become part of the official record. <br /> <br />Attorney Glaser explained that the system the City uses, does not allow for individual e-mails to <br />be brought into the public hearing record. He stated that the City has, at times, taken comments in <br />advance of the public hearing and then included them in the record. He stated that if the Council <br />decided tonight that they wanted to have a new public hearing or take more public comment in the <br />form of e-mails, they can do that, as long as they put that notice out to the public. He clarified that <br />the e-mails that have come to the Council Members thus far, cannot be part of the public record. <br /> <br />Council Member King asked if people could send those e-mails to City Hall and then have them <br />recorded as part of the public record for the Council to use in their decision making process. <br /> <br />Attorney Glaser stated that they could not do that at this time because the public hearing is closed, <br />but the Council could decide, as a body, to reopen the public hearing and then accept any written <br />communication that comes to the City. He stated there would also have to be notice given to the <br />public by publishing it in the paper and posting it and clarified that, right now, the public record is <br />closed. <br /> <br />Council Member King stated that he thinks it may be a good idea to re-open the public hearing in <br />order to get those comments included as part of the record. <br /> <br />Mayor Love asked if Attorney Glaser was saying that all of the e-mails that the Council has told <br />people to send to the info@centervillemn.org e-mail to become part of the public record, is not <br />accurate because the Council has not re-opened the public hearing and properly noticed it. <br /> <br />Attorney Glaser stated that he was not aware that people were being told that those e-mails would <br />become part of the record, but stated that only e-mails that were taken during the public hearing <br />Page 3 of 6 <br /> <br /> <br />