6. Open Meeting Law Memo
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ECKBERG LAMMERS MEMO
To: Ken Cammilleri, City Administrator
From: Chris Nelson, City Attorney
Date: January 18, 2021
Re: Review of Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law
Minnesota’s Open Meeting Law (Minn. Stat. Ch. 13D) requires that all meetings of a city
council, city commissions, or subcommittees must be noticed and open to the public. Minn. Stat.
§ 13D.01, Subd. 1.
The Open Meeting Law articulates meeting notice requirements, with different types of
city meetings having different notice requirements. Regular city council meetings, for example,
are held at a standardized time and place determined by a council-adopted schedule and for that
reason do not require any special notice. § 13D.04, Subd. 1.
Special meetings of the council can be called by the Mayor or by two Councilmembers.
Minn. Stat. § 412.191, Subd. 2. The council must post written notice of the time, place, and
purpose of a special meeting at least three days prior to the meeting on the city bulletin board or
on the door of the meeting room as well as mailing or delivering notice to all persons who have
requested notice of special meetings. Minn. Stat. § 13D.04, Subd. 2. The best practice is to post
notice of a special meeting (or emergency meeting) on the City’s website as well, although this
step is not expressly required under the statute. Because the Council must state in advance the
purpose of a special meeting, the agenda at a special meeting is limited to the previously stated
purpose and must not be amended or added to at the meeting.
The council may call an emergency meeting to address a situation that requires
immediate council attention. For emergency meetings, the City must make a good faith effort to
alert any media that have filed a written request for notice. § 13D.04, Subd. 3.
The Open Meeting Law does not specifically define what constitutes a meeting, but the
Courts have defined a meeting as a gathering of a quorum of a public body. See Moberg v. Ind.
Sch. Dist. No. 281, 336 N.W.2d 510, 518 (Minn. 1983) (“We…hold that ‘meetings’ subject to
the requirements of the Open Meeting Law are those gatherings of a quorum or more members
of the governing body, or a quorum of a committee, subcommittee, board, department, or
commission thereof, at which members discuss, decide, or receive information as a group on
issues relating to the official business of that governing body.”). Therefore, for Scandia, a City
Council meeting is a gathering of three or more councilmembers. See Minn. Stat. § 412.191,
Subd. 1.
Chance or social gatherings of councilmembers do not constitute a meeting for purposes
of the Open Meeting Law so long as (1) the gathering does not constitute a quorum, or (2) if the
gathering constitutes a quorum, the members present do not discuss, receive information, or
make any decisions about city business.
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Generally, there is a social media exception in the Open Meeting Law. Pursuant to
Minnesota Statutes Section 13D.065, “[t]he use of social media by members of a public body
does not violate [the Open Meeting Law] so long as the social media use is limited to exchanges
with all members of the general public. For purposes of this section, e-mail is not considered a
type of social media.” This is a relatively recent addition to the Open Meeting Law and more
administrative decisions in this area are likely to come. While there has not been a Department of
Administration opinion directly interpreting the social media exception articulated in Section
13D.065, a recent Department opinion about a Facebook page maintained by the Mayor of
Victoria provides some guidance. The Department opinion states, “public body members should
refrain from engaging in discussions over social media that include a quorum or more of the
public body members.” (Advisory Op. 19-001). Accordingly, councilmembers and
commissioners should refrain from debating or discussing City business with each other on
social media.
The general exceptions to the Open Meeting Law are the statutorily permitted reasons for
closing public meetings. The law mandates the closure of a public meeting in certain
circumstances and allows for the discretionary closure of the meeting in others. By law, the
Council must close a public meeting when it will discuss:
Data that may identify victims or reporters of certain crimes;
Active police investigation data or internal affairs data relating to law enforcement
misconduct;
Education, health, medical, welfare, or mental health data that are not public;
An individual’s medical records; or
For preliminary consideration of allegations or charges against an individual subject
to the Council’s authority.
The Council has the discretion to close a public meeting for the following reasons:
To evaluate the performance of an individual subject to the Council’s authority;
For attorney-client privilege purposes, to discuss active, pending, or threatened
litigation;
For real estate sales purposes;
To receive security briefs and reports, to discuss security systems; to discuss
emergency response procedures, and other security related concerns; or
To discuss labor negotiations strategy.
Apart from meetings closed for attorney-client privilege, all closed meetings must be recorded,
and the City has the duty to preserve the recordings for a statutorily prescribed period.
The Open Meeting Law permits online or Zoom-style meetings of the Council, commissions,
and subcommittees due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Such online meetings are permitted
pursuant to Minnesota Statutes Section 13D.021, Subd. 1 if:
(1) the presiding officer, legal counsel, or city administrator determines that an in-person
meeting is not practical or pursuant due to a health pandemic or declared emergency;
(2) all members participating in the meeting can hear each other and all discussion and
testimony;
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(3) the public present at the regular location can hear all discussion, testimony and votes,
unless attendance at the regular location is not feasible due to a health pandemic or
emergency declaration;
(4) at least one member of the body is present at the regular meeting location, unless such
presence is unfeasible due to the health pandemic or emergency declaration; and,
(5) all votes are conducted by roll call.
Finally, members of public bodies need to keep the requirements of the Open Meeting Law in
mind because members can face personal liability for violations. Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes
Section 13D.06, Subdivision 1, “any person who intentionally violates this chapter shall be
subject to personal liability in the form of a civil penalty in an amount not to exceed $300 for a
single occurrence.” If a member is found by a Court to have intentionally violated the Open
Meeting Law on three or more occasions, that member forfeits the right to continuing serving on
the body for the remainder of their term. § 13D.06, Subd. 3.
I would be happy to answer any questions you, the City Council, the Planning Commission, or
any other body in the City subject to the Open Meeting Law have going forward. The
Department of Administration keeps a large library of advisory opinions on the Minnesota
Government Data Practices Act and the Open Meeting Law, which are a great resource when
reviewing whether a particular practice complies with the Open Meeting Law.