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REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION Date: 8/11/2025 Item No.: 7.d. Department ApprovalCity Manager Approval Item Description:Discuss City Council and Advisory Commission Rules of Procedure Remote Participation Policy 1 2 Background 3 Rule 7 of the City Council and Advisory Commission Rules of Procedure governs remote 4 participation at city meetings. It reads as follows: 5 6 Rule 7 Remote Participation 7 Members of Council and Commissions will attend all meetings in person and may only 8 attend remotely when permitted to do so by the Open Meeting Law and must follow all 9 notice and other requirements of the Open Meeting Law. 10 11 All staff reports, consultant reports, and citizen testimony will be in person, unless remote 12 participation is required due to unforeseen circumstances or situations outside of the 13 control of the individual. Remote participation should be coordinated with the City Manager 14 at least one business day in advance of the meeting. 15 16 During the 2025 Legislative Session, the Minnesota Legislature modified the state Open 17 Meeting Law as it pertains to remote participation at public meetings. Previous state law 18 regarding participating remotely at public meetings required, among other things, that a 19 public official participating remotely disclose the location where they are participating in the 20 meeting from and make sure that the location is accessible and open to the public. 21 However, state law allowed public officials to participate remotely without having to 22 pubically notice their location if they were performing duties as part of active military service 23 or if they were advised by a medical professional to not be in a public setting for medical or 24 personal reasons. This exception was limited to three times per year. A city still needed to 25 give notice of the location of the in-person meeting and state that some members may 26 participate remotely. 27 28 With the change in state law, cities are no longer required to list the remote attendance 29 locations in meeting notices, and the three-meeting exception for military service and 30 health-related conditions has been removed. Therefore, there is no limit on the number of 31 times a public official may participate in a meeting and their location does not need to be 32 disclosed. 33 34 As a reminder, meetings can be held with public officials virtually if all the following other 35 requirements are met: Page 1 of 3 Qbhf!73!pg!286