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Roseville Human Rights Commission February 22, 2012 - Minutes Page 2 of 5 Open meetings law that protects the citizens' right to know outweighs the convenience of the commission members. Ms. Beckman noted the City Council's email policy and suggested the Commission follow it. City Manager Bill Malinen clarified that all commissioners are subject to the electronic communications policy. He said communications should be one way to avoid unintentional violation of the law. Chair Grefenberg opened the discussion with stating that he had changed his mind regarding the wisdom of allowing all commissioners to attend any committee meeting and wondered whether there were other ways to allow full communication between commissioners and to foster a sense of cohesion and camaraderie among commissioner without requiring every meeting be posted. He gave an example of a recent committee meeting which he had advised a commissioner not attend because the meeting had not been posted. Chair Grefenberg raised the issue of the best way to share communications, asking whether communicating about logistics for a program or trying to schedule a meeting would violate the law. City Attorney Beckman agreed that it would not; the discussion must be about official business. An email about time of a meeting or refreshments would not be considered official business, but it could give the appearance of a discussion. She warned against someone adding something about official business that would make it a violation of the open meetings law. Commissioners asked about the HRC rule which allows any commissioner to attend any committee meeting, which may mean a quorum of the commission. City Attorney Beckman said if keeping that policy all meetings must be noticed, and meetings are open and should be in a public venue. Chair Grefenberg discussed other ways to prevent meetings from involving a quorum and Attorney Beckman agreed they would work as well. Commissioner Groff suggested that committees be limited to three members to prevent a violation. Some commissioners expressed interest in attending a committee if they plan to discuss a specific topic. Commissioner Kristin Doneen expressed her concern that there may be times when a Commissioner is interested in attending a Committee meeting, and that this does not necessarily mean that the discussion warrants time at the regular Commission meeting. An example was a book list for the upcoming book club; if Commissioners want to be part of this discussion, then they may desire to attend the Programming Committee where they discuss it. She proposed that, in such cases, the Commissioner wanting to attend notify the Committee so that the meeting could then be noted. The attorney said that this would be a way of handling such cases. City Manager Malinen said he was concerned about transparency. The public recognizes and expects the HRC to meet at a regular time and place, and by calling committee meetings, the public does not necessarily know of the time and location of committee meetings. He suggested that commissioners offer their opinions or feedback at the regular meeting and have the committee address their concerns.