City Council Minutes 2012 01 30 SP

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City Council Special Meeting Minutes January 30, 2012 Page 7 of 8 Council must act like a judge in quasi-judicial matters. In general, the parties appearing before quasi-judicial bodies are entitled to a fair and impartial tribunal, just as a party before a court would expect to receive. Elected officials should approach a quasi-judicial decision as follows: - base decision on matters presented during the hearing - not discuss pending matters outside the hearing - not discuss pending matters with the public - not discuss with other staff or officials outside the hearing - disclose any outside discussions - disclose any outside materials or documents received - in cases where the official's ex-parte discussions or review of documents outside the hearing renders them unable to be fair and impartial, they should refrain from participating. Louisville's Code of Ethics suggests such nonparticipation may be appropriate where there would be an appearance of unfairness or partiality if the official participated in the hearing. The conflict needs to be examined in a subjective way—ask the question "Can I set aside all my baggage and decide on what is presented" and in an objective way—Take a step back and look at what the public perception may be. E-MAILS MAY BE SUBJECT TO REQUESTS UNDER THE OPEN RECORDS ACT Whether or not an e-mail is subject to Open Records depends on the following criteria: - where it resides— is it a public computer or a private computer - content— is it business or personal - if it is partly business and partly personal, it can be open The conclusion or moral, author and recipient beware — don't e-mail anything you don't want a district court judge to read. Participants discussed e-mail policy in relationship to those received outside of packet preparation and Council meetings. Full disclosure seems to be the key. PARTICIPATION IN QUASI-JUDICIAL MATTERS The City Council and Staff members participated in exercises to clarify the difference between a legislative and quasi-judicial action and their role.