Laserfiche WebLink
<br />page as to access of information, especially electronic information. The second question <br />was, why are we now limited to a ten minute rule and he is trying to figure out where this <br />rule came from. Ms. Welsch stated that the Council follows Robert’s Rules which states <br />each member of Council has ten minutes to speak and a member of Council can speak <br />twice for two ten-minute intervals, then every member has a chance to speak before coming <br />back to the member who has spoken twice. Mr. Crow asked what needed to be done to <br />change that, suspend Robert’s Rules or change Council rules? Mayor Welsch said the <br />Council could change its rules. As far as the other issue he brought up on use and access <br />to electronic data, Mayor Welsch said the Council had talked about setting up a sub- <br />committee, which Mr. Price had talked about being on. She asked if anybody else would <br />like to be on the committee to contact her. Mayor Welsch said the rules under discussion <br />only concern electronic devices at closed Council meetings. <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft said he wasn’t clear as to what Mr. Crow wanted to be done about the records. <br />Mr. Crow said he thought it was clear the last time they met there seems to be a difference <br />of opinion as to this Council on what is appropriate for the Council to view electronically and <br />ship out and what is not. When that policy comes through and the majority of Council says <br />that is fine, then he guesses they live with that. Mr. Kraft asked for a point of information <br />and maybe Mr. Mulligan can tell us about it but he thought that State rule trumps any rules <br />they make and as Elective Officials, he said there are relatively only a few records we do not <br />have access to within the City. <br /> <br />Mr. Walker asked Mr. Mulligan to answer questions Council may have for him. Mr. Mulligan <br />said “With respect to the Sunshine Law that basically specifies which records are open and <br />which records may be closed. Whether they are closed or not is up to the City and there is <br />currently a Resolution which states that all closed records shall remain closed unless the <br />governing body, the Council, decides otherwise. The issue of access to those records, <br />would be for the Council; they would have certain access to certain records that the public <br />would not have, since they are closed to the public. I think there would be an issue if a <br />Councilmember individually sent out a closed record without the consent of the Council <br />because of the Resolution addressing maintaining the closed nature of those records. <br />There are Statutes that deal with records as well other than the Sunshine Law. One would <br />be the arrest records and there are certain Police records relating to those, actually there is <br />a prohibition; it is a crime if you release closed arrest information about an individual, so you <br />have to look at the specific record in question. I am speaking generally here as opposed to <br />any specific record. There are certain privacy concerns with records that employees may <br />have for instance medical information would be one that would come to mind. In order to <br />opine on a particular record, I would really need to know what it is, as I am speaking <br />generally.” <br /> <br />Mr. Kraft said the reason he brought it up is because Council is talking about rules not <br />specific records. He understands that investigative records from the police, Council would <br />not have access to and it is clear that there are non-public records that Mr. Mulligan shows <br />the Council and that is part of our job to see them and make opinions on litigation and <br />possible criminal activities etc. He is well aware of the HIPPA rules and it is very unlikely <br />there would be medical records in the building and if there are, there would be absolutely no <br />reason for Council to look at them. He is having a hard time coming up with a long list of <br />records that would be unavailable to Elective Officials. <br /> <br /> <br /> 5 <br /> <br />