5.1. ERMUSR 03-08-2011 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Communication outside of council meetings • 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 reoly 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 of er council member. • If a council member receives listserv 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. Classification and Retention of electronlc communications • Regardless of whether electronic communication by a council member is taking place on a city-provided computer, home computer or other computer system, classification of information as public, private or other is governed by the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act (Minn. Stat. Chapt. 13) and should be treated accordingly. • Council members should retain electronic communications in keeping with city policies and procedures, whether such communication takes place on achy-provided computer, home computer or other computer system.