Should the Cook County commissioners record open meetings? And should the board make adjustments to its guidelines for the county board public comment period?
These were feature topics of discussion at the board’s April 16 committee of the whole meeting, and while no vote was taken and nothing has changed about the board’s current meeting recording schedule, it’s a topic they are considering for the future.
According to the Minnesota Counties Intergovernmental Trust (MCIT), Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law requires all public entity boards to record all closed meetings except those closed under attorney client privilege, but the law doesn’t require those same governmental bodies to record meetings that are open to the public.
While there are benefits to recording the meetings, MCIT notes that a decision to record the meetings means extra work and legal obligations for the entity, in this case Cook County, who is making the recording.
Cook County Attorney Molly Hicken noted these requirements as she presented the options to the board.
Should the county elect to continue recording open meetings, under Minn. Stat. 15.17 and the Records Management Statute (Minn. Stat. 138.17) a government entity must preserve and maintain the audio or video recordings as official government records. Records need to be kept for an extended period of time, which necessitates the need to find appropriate storage that protects the quality of the recording. Accidental deletion or destruction of recordings can also lead to negative consequences for the public entity in charge of preserving the recordings.
The Minnesota Government Data Practices Act found in Minn. Statutes Chapter 13 “establishes a presumption that government data are publicly accessible, unless access is prohibited by law or by temporary data classifications,” stated the MCIT in a 2015 article.
In short, when requested, the county would have to provide access to anyone who requested it, regardless of the reason for the request.
For those who are deaf or hearing impaired, the county is required under the Americans with Disabilities Act to provide access to recorded meetings through alternative means. And that obligation may exist whether or not anyone needs or requests the information in an alternate form.
MCIT’s recommendation to its members is to record only those meetings they must legally record, with the exception for public hearings where a board sits as “quasi judicial body making decisions about land use decisions.”
Legally, meetings such as the committee of the whole, where no action can be taken, wouldn’t have to be live streamed for the public as they currently are.
As for the county board meetings, administrator Jeff Cadwell said some of the information recorded at the meetings is taken out of context and used against commissioners and county staff.
Public comment period
Under the current guidelines, a public comment period is held for up to 30 minutes before the county board meetings. People are limited to five minutes to respectfully address the board with their concerns or questions. The board doesn’t debate or answer questions during this time.
According to the guidelines, “This is an opportunity for us to hear your questions and concerns. We have limited time today to hear from everyone and get our business done, and because many questions deserve a researched and thoughtful answer, we will not be responding to your questions on the spot.”
It was Hicken’s advice to the commissioners to stick with the current policy of not engaging with speakers during the public comment time. Commissioners can be asked questions that they are not fully prepared to answer during this period, and it’s better to get the information and get back to the party at a later date with the right answer.
More discussions will be held about whether to stick with the current plans and record public meetings or to modify the current policy.
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