84-1411 Meetings of
public body; notice; contents; when available; right to modify; duties
concerning notice; videoconferencing or telephone conferencing
authorized; emergency meeting without notice; appearance before public
body. (1) Each
public body shall give reasonable advance publicized notice of the time
and place of each meeting by a method designated by each public body and
recorded in its minutes. Such notice shall be transmitted to all members
of the public body and to the public. Such notice shall contain an
agenda of subjects known at the time of the publicized notice or a
statement that the agenda, which shall be kept continually current,
shall be readily available for public inspection at the principal office
of the public body during normal business hours. Agenda items shall be
sufficiently descriptive to give the public reasonable notice of the
matters to be considered at the meeting. Except for items of an
emergency nature, the agenda shall not be altered later than (a)
twenty-four hours before the scheduled commencement of the meeting or
(b) forty-eight hours before the scheduled commencement of a meeting of
a city council or village board scheduled outside the corporate limits
of the municipality. The public body shall have the right to modify the
agenda to include items of an emergency nature only at such public
meeting.
(2) A meeting of a state
agency, state board, state commission, state council, or state
committee, of an advisory committee of any such state entity, of an
organization created under the Interlocal Cooperation Act, the Joint
Public Agency Act, or the Municipal Cooperative Financing Act, of the
governing body of a public power district having a chartered territory
of more than fifty counties in this state, or of the governing body of a
risk management pool or its advisory committees organized in accordance
with the Intergovernmental Risk Management Act may be held by means of
videoconferencing or, in the case of the Judicial Resources Commission
in those cases specified in section 24-1204, by telephone conference,
if:
(a) Reasonable advance
publicized notice is given;
(b) Reasonable arrangements are
made to accommodate the public's right to attend, hear, and speak at the
meeting, including seating, recordation by audio or visual recording
devices, and a reasonable opportunity for input such as public comment
or questions to at least the same extent as would be provided if
videoconferencing or telephone conferencing was not used;
(c) At least one copy of all
documents being considered is available to the public at each site of
the videoconference or telephone conference;
(d) At least one member of the
state entity, advisory committee, or governing body is present at each
site of the videoconference or telephone conference; and
(e) No more than one-half of
the state entity's, advisory committee's, or governing body's meetings
in a calendar year are held by videoconference or telephone conference.
Videoconferencing, telephone
conferencing, or conferencing by other electronic communication shall
not be used to circumvent any of the public government purposes
established in the Open Meetings Act.
(3) A meeting of the governing
body of an entity formed under the Interlocal Cooperation Act, the Joint
Public Agency Act, or the Municipal Cooperative Financing Act or of the
governing body of a risk management pool or its advisory committees
organized in accordance with the Intergovernmental Risk Management Act
may be held by telephone conference call if:
(a) The territory represented
by the member public agencies of the entity or pool covers more than one
county;
(b) Reasonable advance
publicized notice is given which identifies each telephone conference
location at which a member of the entity's or pool's governing body will
be present;
(c) All telephone conference
meeting sites identified in the notice are located within public
buildings used by members of the entity or pool or at a place which will
accommodate the anticipated audience;
(d) Reasonable arrangements are
made to accommodate the public's right to attend, hear, and speak at the
meeting, including seating, recordation by audio recording devices, and
a reasonable opportunity for input such as public comment or questions
to at least the same extent as would be provided if a telephone
conference call was not used;
(e) At least one copy of all
documents being considered is available to the public at each site of
the telephone conference call;
(f) At least one member of the
governing body of the entity or pool is present at each site of the
telephone conference call identified in the public notice;
(g) The telephone conference
call lasts no more than one hour; and
(h) No more than one-half of
the entity's or pool's meetings in a calendar year are held by telephone
conference call.
Nothing in this subsection
shall prevent the participation of consultants, members of the press,
and other nonmembers of the governing body at sites not identified in
the public notice. Telephone conference calls, emails, faxes, or other
electronic communication shall not be used to circumvent any of the
public government purposes established in the Open Meetings Act.
(4) The secretary or other
designee of each public body shall maintain a list of the news media
requesting notification of meetings and shall make reasonable efforts to
provide advance notification to them of the time and place of each
meeting and the subjects to be discussed at that meeting.
(5) When it is necessary to
hold an emergency meeting without reasonable advance public notice, the
nature of the emergency shall be stated in the minutes and any formal
action taken in such meeting shall pertain only to the emergency. Such
emergency meetings may be held by means of electronic or
telecommunication equipment. The provisions of subsection (4) of this
section shall be complied with in conducting emergency meetings.
Complete minutes of such emergency meetings specifying the nature of the
emergency and any formal action taken at the meeting shall be made
available to the public by no later than the end of the next regular
business day.
(6) A public body may allow a
member of the public or any other witness other than a member of the
public body to appear before the public body by means of video or
telecommunications equipment.
