6 (b) Open Meeting Law - Discussion

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RELEVANT LINKS: See section II.G.6.for more The open meeting law does not generally apply in situations where less than information about serial meetings. a quorum of the city council is involved. However, serial meetings in groups of less than a quorum that are held in order to avoid the requirements of the open meeting law may be found to violate the law,depending on the specific facts. F. Open meeting law exceptions Minn.Stat.§ 1313.01,subd.1 There are seven exceptions to the open meeting law that authorize the closure of meetings to the public. Under these exceptions, some meetings Minn.Stat§ 13D.05,subd. I may be closed and some meetings must be closed.Before a meeting is (d) closed under any of the exceptions,the council must state on the record the specific grounds permitting the meeting to be closed and describe the subject to be discussed. [PAD 14--0005. The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration has IPAD 14-014. advised that a member of the public body(and not its attorney)must make the statement on the record. The open meeting law does not define the phrase"on the record"but the commissioner has advised that the phrase should be interpreted to mean a verbal statement in open session. T Free Pre ess v.County of The commissioner has also advised that citing the specific statutory (Minn.Ct.App.2004) authority that permits the closed meeting is the simplest way to satisfy the (holding that a county's requirement for stating the specific grounds permitting the meeting to be statement that it was closing a meeting under the attorney- closed.Both the commissioner and the Minnesota Court of Appeals have client privilege to discuss concluded that something specific general statement is needed "pending litigation"did not g more s p than a g satisfy the requirement of to satisfy the requirement of providing a description of the subject to be describing the subject to be discussed. discussed at a closed meeting). Minn.Stat§1313.05,subd.1 All closed meetings, except those closed as permitted by the attorney-client (d). privilege,must be electronically recorded at the expense of the public body. Unless otherwise provided by law,the recordings must be preserved for at least three years after the date of the meeting. Minn.Stat§13D.04,subd.5. The same notice requirements that apply to open meetings also apply to closed meetings. For example, if a closed meeting takes place at a regular meeting,the notice requirements for a regular meeting apply. Likewise, if a closed meeting takes place as a special meeting,the notice requirements for a special meeting apply. 1. Meetings that may be closed The public body may choose to close certain meetings. The following types of meetings may be closed: League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 11/9/2015 Meetings of City Councils Page 11