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Regular City Council Meeting <br />Monday, August 11, 2008 <br />Page 13 <br />Councilmember Willmus asked if the City Council had met with School District <br />No. 621 (Mounds View) yet; with Councilmembers concurring that a meeting <br />should be scheduled, providing an example of the Action Plans for District No. <br />623. Staff was so directed. <br />Roll Call <br />Ayes: Ihlan; Pust; Roe; Willmus; and Klausing. <br />Nays: None. <br />c. Discuss Electronic Communications Policy <br />City Manager Malinen reviewed and requested City Council discussion and direc- <br />tion for development of guidelines and/or apolicy/procedure to ensure transpar- <br />ency and availability of all information used to make Council decisions and for <br />communications of public information documents. An e-mail to the Roseville <br />City Council from City Attorney Jay Squires was presented as a bench handout, <br />and entitled, "Data Practices question 4002(1)-1", and specific to data practices <br />classification of commissioner applicants before and after their interviews. <br />City Manager Malinen had also provided, in the staff report dated August 11, <br />2008, various guidelines from the League of Minnesota Cities regarding elec- <br />tronic communication between Councilmembers to provide a discussion starting <br />point. <br />Discussion included consensus that Councilmembers work together to put in place <br />a policy, or as a part of the City Council's Rules of Procedure; the need to address <br />staff meeting materials provided to the City Council and making those materials <br />public; defining which items go into the public record based on requirements of <br />Open Meeting Law and Data Practices; sharing of citizen correspondence with <br />Councilmembers in a public forum; the need for consistency on the website, and <br />in other communication areas; and which communication between citizens and <br />individual Councilmembers are public. <br />Councilmember Ihlan moved that the bench handout, an e-mail to the Roseville <br />City Council from City Attorney Jay Squires was presented as a bench handout <br />entitled, "Data Practices questions 4002(1)-1, and specific to data practices classi- <br />fication of commissioner applicants before and after their interviews," be made <br />part of the public record. <br />Councilmembers sought additional information from staff and the City Attorney <br />to be considered in a more in-depth discussion in the near future, including: City <br />Attorney review of League of Minnesota Cites (LMC) Risk Management infor- <br />mation; loss of control in forwarding e-mails, and considerations to form over <br />substance and the realities of today's communication technologies; participation <br />in lists of chat rooms (i.e., Roseville Issues Forum); transparency preferences and <br />public concerns that decisions were being made through serial communications <br />between Councilmembers or behind closed door outside a public forum; a-mail <br />versus phone communications; and whether the Attorney General has issued an <br />opinion on whether the Open Meeting Law needed to be revisited in light of to- <br />