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• if any of the other council members were to discuss the substance of that <br /> message with each other outside of an open meeting, there may be a violation. <br /> believe that two council members may discuss the views and positions of other <br /> council members if their knowledge of those views and positions are from an <br /> open meeting. <br /> E-mail can be a dangerous tool under the Open Meeting law. Council members <br /> should keep in mind that the use of an e-mail list serve or a "reply all" response <br /> can easily create a serial meeting issue. In addition, e-mail messages are <br /> subject to the Data Practices Act and may be retrieved from a computer system <br /> even after being deleted by a recipient. <br /> There has been a court case that regarded serial meetings in the interview <br /> process. In that case, each city council member individually interviewed <br /> applicants for the city administrator position. The court recognized that these <br /> were serial meetings, but ruled that there was not a violation of the Open Meeting <br /> law because the serial meetings were not intended to avoid the requirements of <br /> the Open Meeting law. It therefore appears that there may be a good faith <br /> exception to the Open Meeting law, at least where serial meetings are <br /> concerned. I would caution council members not to rely on being saved by that <br /> exception and that it is best to take a conservative approach by avoiding anything <br /> that could arguably be a serial meeting. <br /> ® I hope that this information is helpful. Be sure to'consult your city attorney if you <br /> have questions regarding the application of the law to specific facts. Please feel <br /> free to contact me if I can be of any further assistance. <br /> Sincerely, <br /> i <br /> Eric L. Hedtke <br /> Staff Attorney <br /> League of Minnesota Cities <br />