11-14-2012 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

• Council members should not communicate with any member of city staff via electronic means during a public meeting. • Council members should not communicate with the public via electronic means during a public meeting. Communication outside of council meetings shall be governed as follows: • Council members should generally act with caution when using electronic means to communicate with one another, being mindful of the Minnesota Open Meeting Law. • If a council member wishes to share information with other members, s /he should do so through the city clerk. The council member may request the city clerk distribute materials to others. The communication should not invite response to or discussion between any council members, including replies to the person making the distribution request. This should be considered a method for providing one -way information to other members of the council. Again remember that materials relating to agenda items for city business must be provided to the public at the meeting. • If a council member wishes to address only one other member through electronic means on any topic related to city business, s /he can do so directly, but should be mindful of the following: o One -to -one communication is ideal. o The recipient of an electronic message or inquiry should reply only to the sender, should not copy others on the reply and should not forward the original communication to other council members. o The sender of an electronic message should not forward or copy the recipient's reply to any other council member. o Neither the recipient or sender should publish such correspondence on any blogs or other social media site unless it is part of an official communication of the whole of the Council, and part of the city- managed electronic communication strategy. • If a council member receives an electronic communication from any source related to city business and distributed to multiple council members (i.e. an email sent to the entire council from a member of the public; or an email sent to three council members from a local business), s /he should reply only to the sender. The reply should not be copied to all on the original distribution or forwarded to any other council member. • If a council member receives listsery distributions, electronic newsletters, or participates in electronic discussion forums, chatrooms, or on Facebook, Twitter or blogs where other council members are also likely to participate, the council member should not reply to any distribution or comment so that the reply is copied to the entire distribution group, or any part of the group that might include other council members. The council member should instead respond only to the sender of any message or inquiry. 5