City Council Meeting Agenda

*Due to the COVID-19 concerns and social distancing recommendations, a virtual meeting is being offered. Participants wishing to speak on a topic should message the meeting moderator. All participants are asked to mute their individual computers at times when they are not speaking to minimize background noise.

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With Iowa cases of novel coronavirus, COVID-19, City staff has been evaluating ways to meet State code requirements for hosting a public meeting while practicing social distancing measures recommended to curb the outbreak of COVID-19.

Iowa Code section 21.8 outlines the guidelines to hold an electronic meeting when there are valid concerns that an in-person meeting is “impossible or impractical”.

To hold an electronic meeting all of the following must occur:

1. Public access to the conversation of the meeting must be available.
2. The provisions of section 21.4 (notice) must be followed. (The place of the meeting is the place from which the communication originates or where public access is provided to the conversation.)
3. Minutes must be kept and must include a statement explaining why an in-person meeting was impossible or impractical.

Iowa Code section 21.4 provides the requirements that must be followed if an emergency meeting with less than 24-hours of notice is held:

1. If a 24-hour notice is impossible or impracticable, provide as much notice as reasonably possible.
2. The nature of the good cause for holding the meeting without a 24-hour notice must be stated in the minutes of the meeting.

Because we are under recommendations about social distancing, staff has developed the following procedures to host an electronic meeting.

1. The City has purchased a Zoom subscription to enable electronic meetings.
2. Staff will schedule a Zoom meeting and provide Council, developers, presenters, etc. with a link.
3. The City Clerk, City Administrator, and at least one elected official will be present physically at the meeting location.
4. The link to the meeting will be posted with the agenda.
5. Through the Zoom meeting, people will be able to message the moderator (City Clerk) if they wish to speak on a topic and the Clerk can alert the Mayor of the participant wishing to speak.
6. Participants speaking to the Council will need to provide their names and addresses.
7. The City Clerk will be the moderator of the Zoom meeting and reserves the right to remove any participant engaging in inappropriate behavior or obscene language.
8. All participants will be muted upon joining the meeting and the Clerk will unmute Council Members and participants who have messaged and wish to speak on a topic. (Participants are encouraged to keep their individual computers muted at times when they are not speaking to minimize background noise.)
9. At the beginning of the meeting, the reason for hosting the virtual meeting must be acknowledged. For example, “Due to the COVID-19 concerns and social distancing recommendations, a virtual meeting is being offered.”
10. The meeting is recorded through the Zoom service.
11. Meeting minutes of the public meeting will be written in the same manner as they would be for a non-virtual meeting.