02-25-2015 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

RELEVANT LINKS: A.G. Op. 63-A-5 (June 13, 1957). See also Minn. Stat. § 13 D.01, subd. 1(b) (4). St. Cloud Newspapers, Inc. v. Dist. 742 Community Schools, 332 N.W.2d 1 (Minn. 1983). IPAD 05-014. IPAD 07-025. 3. Executive sessions The attorney general has advised that executive sessions of a city council must be open to the public. 4. Informational meetings and committees The Minnesota Supreme Court has held that informational seminars about school -board business, which the entire board attends, must be noticed and open to the public. As a result, it appears that any scheduled gathering of a quorum of a city council must be properly noticed and open to the public, regardless of whether the council takes or contemplates taking action at that gathering. This includes meetings where members receive information that may influence later decisions. Many city councils create committees to make recommendations regarding a specific issue. Commonly, such a committee will be responsible for researching the issue and submitting a recommendation to the council for its approval. These committees are usually advisory, and the council is still responsible for making the final decision. This type of committee may be subject to the open meeting law. Some factors that may be relevant in deciding whether a committee is subject to the open meeting law include how the committee was created and who are its members; whether the committee is performing an ongoing function, or instead, is performing a one-time function; and what duties and powers have been granted to the committee. For example, the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Administration has advised that "standing" committees of a city hospital board that were responsible for management liaison, collection of information, and formulation of issues and recommendations for the board were committees subject to the open meeting law. The advisory opinion noted that the standing committees were performing tasks that relate to the ongoing operation of the hospital district and were not performing a one time or "ad hoc" function. In contrast, the commissioner has advised that a city's Free Speech Working Group consisting of members, including city officials, that the city council appointed to develop and review strategies for addressing free -speech concerns relating to a political convention that was going to be held in the city was not subject to the open meeting law. The commissioner primarily based this decision on the fact that the committee did not have decision- making authority. League of Minnesota Cities Information Memo: 11/14/2014 Meetings of City Councils Page 17