All,

I was asked last night to prepare a policy for Council's consideration this month and, before I go and reinvent the wheel, I wanted to see if any of your cities have considered or adopted a policy that even comes close to addressing the issue I'll be addressing. One of my Councilmembers wants me to draft a policy which would bind and restrict the chief executive of the City (City Manager, Aldermanic/Strong Mayor, City/Town Administrator) when it comes to their ability to allow citizen volunteers and/or Councilmembers to:

Being present within areas of City buildings which are not regularly open to the general public (sounds like they are ok with an exception for setting up and meeting with the chief executive or other staff - this is more about being able to be in the secured areas without direct supervision);
Using City resources (computers, non-public internet, offices/desks, etc.) in secured areas at City buildings while working (as a volunteer or Councilmember) on City or Trust Authority projects;
Specific to Councilmembers, prohibiting a Councilmember from attending any meeting or briefing that is a staff level meeting/briefing or any other meeting or briefing unless the opportunity to attend has been extended to all members of the Council (obviously would have to address the issue of a majority of the Council deciding they want to attend); and/or
Prohibiting or just severely restricting the ability of volunteers or Councilmembers to have access to records or other information that would not be made available to the general public under the ORA.
As you might guess, we have a Councilmember who is at odds with our chief executive (in my case, a Strong Mayor), and the current battle involves a Councilmember who, separate from their role on the Council, is part of a group of citizen volunteers who is working on a public event that the City is hosting. The volunteers, including the Councilmember, have been allowed to work in an unoccupied office at City Hall (but only when they are working on the event), and because they were needing to prepare flyers the Mayor/staff provided a City Computer for them to use for that purpose (the Computer had 0 access to City servers or sensitive data or information). So the response from at least one member of the Council is that they want the Council to adopt a policy that would prohibit the Mayor from granting any such access going forward.

Anyways, if your cities have ever considered or even adopted ANYTHING remotely close to a policy along these lines, I'd greatly appreciate if you could send me those. Aside from giving me a jumping off point, it would also be helpful to let my Council know what kinds of policies other communities might have adopted related to these issues.

Thanks in advance,

Matt

I have this in a council handbook in Sand Springs (council-manager form of govt), that may help:

Council Access and Use of Public Facilities and Equipment

            The City Council acknowledges that the powers bestowed on council by charter and by state law are granted to the council as a whole, and not to individual council members.  As such, the powers granted to council are only exercised in public meetings in compliance with the Oklahoma Open Meeting Act.



            Individual council members, including the Mayor, do not have any greater access to public facilities, work sites, or city owned property and equipment than the public at large.  Neither the council nor Mayor are provided offices at city hall or any other city facility, and should direct any request for assistance with official duties (clerical, mailing, travel arrangements, etc.) through the City Manager’s office and not through any other department or employee.  No city council member, or Mayor, shall have the ability to create a work station or work location at city hall.  In those instances in which council members are meeting with staff, either individually or as a group, the City Manager shall coordinate making facilities available as appropriate.



            The use of any city equipment, even if authorized and provided through the City Manager’s office, shall be in accordance with the policies of the City, and not for personal use.

            

The City Council members are provided city email accounts for city business.  In order to comply with legal requirements for the preservation of public records and to ensure that there is compliance with the City’s computer usage policies, all council members should conduct city business through the city email account only, with the failure to do so subject not only to the sanctions outlined herein, but also the risk of other individual legal liability for violation of the Oklahoma Open Records Act.

David L. Weatherford

Attorney At Law

1141 East 37th Street

Tulsa, OK  74105

(918) 743-8355

(918) 743-7478 (fax)

From: Matt Love via Oama oama@lists.imla.org
Sent: Thursday, May 2, 2024 9:57 AM
To: OAMA luistserv (OAMA@lists.imla.org) oama@lists.imla.org
Subject: [Oama] Policy Restricting Staff re: Access to City facilities and resources



All,

I was asked last night to prepare a policy for Council's consideration this month and, before I go and reinvent the wheel, I wanted to see if any of your cities have considered or adopted a policy that even comes close to addressing the issue I'll be addressing. One of my Councilmembers wants me to draft a policy which would bind and restrict the chief executive of the City (City Manager, Aldermanic/Strong Mayor, City/Town Administrator) when it comes to their ability to allow citizen volunteers and/or Councilmembers to:

• Being present within areas of City buildings which are not regularly open to the general public (sounds like they are ok with an exception for setting up and meeting with the chief executive or other staff - this is more about being able to be in the secured areas without direct supervision);
• Using City resources (computers, non-public internet, offices/desks, etc.) in secured areas at City buildings while working (as a volunteer or Councilmember) on City or Trust Authority projects;
• Specific to Councilmembers, prohibiting a Councilmember from attending any meeting or briefing that is a staff level meeting/briefing or any other meeting or briefing unless the opportunity to attend has been extended to all members of the Council (obviously would have to address the issue of a majority of the Council deciding they want to attend); and/or
• Prohibiting or just severely restricting the ability of volunteers or Councilmembers to have access to records or other information that would not be made available to the general public under the ORA.

As you might guess, we have a Councilmember who is at odds with our chief executive (in my case, a Strong Mayor), and the current battle involves a Councilmember who, separate from their role on the Council, is part of a group of citizen volunteers who is working on a public event that the City is hosting. The volunteers, including the Councilmember, have been allowed to work in an unoccupied office at City Hall (but only when they are working on the event), and because they were needing to prepare flyers the Mayor/staff provided a City Computer for them to use for that purpose (the Computer had 0 access to City servers or sensitive data or information). So the response from at least one member of the Council is that they want the Council to adopt a policy that would prohibit the Mayor from granting any such access going forward.

Anyways, if your cities have ever considered or even adopted ANYTHING remotely close to a policy along these lines, I'd greatly appreciate if you could send me those. Aside from giving me a jumping off point, it would also be helpful to let my Council know what kinds of policies other communities might have adopted related to these issues.

Thanks in advance,

Matt