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lls1Spvq+_J� <br />REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION <br />Date.- August 11, 2008 <br />Item No..- 13.c <br />Department Approval City Manager Approval <br />ift� A A <br />Item Description.- City Council's Electronic Communication <br />1 BACKGROUND <br />2 At a February 2008 City Council meeting, staff inadvertently failed to provide the public with a <br />3 printed copy of an email that had been sent to the Council. Upon this being brought to staff's <br />4 attention,, staff made the memo available to the public. This oversight, however, led to the <br />5 Department of Administration's opinion that the City violated the Open Meetings Law. <br />6 At the July 14,, 2008 Council meeting, the Council discussed how the error occurred and what <br />"7 can be done to prevent it in the future. The Council noted that Open Meeting laws were written <br />8 before e-mail and other communications methods were not commonly used. <br />9 Council asked for a discussion of public information policies to make sure procedures are in <br />1 ('_) place to ensure transparency and availability of all information used to make Council decisions. <br />11 POLICY OBJECTIVE <br />12 Ensure that public documents are available to the public. <br />13 STAFF RECOMMENDATION <br />14 The League of Minnesota recommends that cities have policies or guidelines which clarify the <br />1 appropriate and preferred email use by and between Councilmembers. They provide draft <br />16 guidelines from which the Council can begin the discussion. <br />REQUESTED COUNCIL ACTION <br />Discuss possible guidelines to ensure that public documents are available to the public. <br />Prepared b y: Bill Malinen, City Manager <br />Attachments: A: League of Minnesota Cities suggested guidelines on electronic communications <br />Page I of I <br />