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Dona Bacon Bench Handout City Attorney Memo re: Open Meeting Law MEMORANDUM TO: Mr. Craig Klausing FROM: Scott T. Anderson Sonya J. Guggemos DATE: November 27, 2006 SUBJECT: Open Meeting Law - Individual Contract Negotiations File No. 4002(1 )-000 1 The City ofRoseville is in the process of interviewing and hiring a new city administrator. You would like to have a meeting with City Council and the applicant chosen as the top finalist in order to discuss and negotiate an employment contract with the applicant. You have asked if the City can close this meeting to the public under the Open Meeting Law. The Open Meeting Law (Minnesota Statute Chapter 13D) creates a presumption that all meetings of governing bodies are to be open to the public. Under the Minnesota Open Meeting Law, all meetings, including executive sessions, of the governing body of a government entity must be open to the public, unless one of the exceptions to the Open Meeting Law is met. Minn. Stat. ~ l3D.Ol, subd. 1. The Open Meeting Law applies to all meetings of a city council and, in general, meetings of its committees and sub- committees. Id. The Open Meeting Law sets forth several exceptions permitting a governing body to close a meeting to the public. None of the exceptions apply to the situation at hand so as to allow the City Council to close a meeting to negotiate employment terms with a potential employee. The Open Meeting Law does contain an exception related to meetings related for labor negotiations strategy. This exception is limited in scope, however, and would not cover the circumstances as you have described. In specific, Minnesota Statute ~ 13D.03, subdivision 2, states: The governing body of a public employer may by a majority vote in a public meeting decide to hold a closed meeting to consider strategy for labor negotiations, including negotiation strategies or developments or discussion and review of labor negotiation proposals, conducted pursuant to sections l79A.Ol to l79A.25.