7(b) Open Meeting Law - Discussion

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RELEVANT LINKS: The best option would be for each councilmember to have an individual email account that the city provides and city staff manage. However,this is not always possible for cities due to budget, size, or logistics. If councilmembers don't have a city email account,there are some things to think about before using a personal email account for city business. First, preferably only the councilmember should have access to the personal email account. Using a shared account with other family members could lead to incorrect information being communicated from the account,or incoming information being inadvertently deleted.Also, since city emails are government data, city officials may have to separate personal emails from city emails when responding to a public-records request under the MGDPA. Second, if the account a city councilmember wants to use for city business is tied to a private employer,that private employer may have a policy that restricts this kind of use. Even if a private employer allows this type of use, it is important to be aware that in the event of a public-records request under the MGDPA or a discovery request in litigation,the private employer may be compelled to have a search done of a councilmember's email communications on the private employer's equipment or to restore files from a backup or archive. See Handbook,Records What may work best is to use a free,third-party email service, such as Mnnagement,for more information about records gmail or Hotmail, for your city account and to avoid using that email m��'�t. account for any personal email or for anything that may constitute an official record of city business since such records must be retained in accordance with the state records-retention requirements. H. Advisory opinions 1. Department of Administration Muui.Stat § 13.072,subd 1 �e commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration has (b).See Mmnesota Department of authority to issue non-binding advisory opinions on certain issues related Administration,Data to the open meeting law.A $200 fee is reyuired.The Data Practices Office Practices for an index of �a�;�ry oP;,,;ons. (DPO)handles these requests. See Requesting an Open A public body, subject to the open meeting law, can request an advisory Meetmg Law Advisory Opmion opinion.A person who disagees with the way members of a governing body perform their duties under the open meeting law can also request an advisory opinion. League of Minnesota Cities Handbook for Minnesota Cities 10/16/2017 Meetings,Motions,Resolutions,and Ordinances Chapter 7�Page 23