03/21/2014 - Special SPECIAL CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES
CITY OF CLEARWATER
IIVlardh 21, 2014
Present: Mayor George N. Cretekos, Councilmember Doreen Hock-DiPolito
(Arrived — 1:07 p.m.), Councilmember-elect Hoyt Hamilton,
Councilmember Bill Jonson, Councilmember Jay E. Polglaze
Also Present: William B. Horne II - City Manager, Rod Irwin - Assistant City Manager,
Pamela K. Akin - City Attorney, Rosemarie Call - City Clerk
To provide continuity for research, items are listed in agenda order although not
necessarily discussed in that order.
1. Call to Order— Mayor George N. Cretekos
The meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. at City Hall.
2. Council Discussion Items
2.1 Government-in-the-Sunshine, Public Records and Basic Parliamentary
Procedure
The City Attorney provided a PowerPoint presentation reviewing the Sunshine Law,
public records law, and parliamentary procedures.
In response to questions, the City Attorney said the Sunshine Law is applicable to social
media; councilmembers should not hold conversations with each other on Facebook
resulting from photo tags regarding matters that could potentially come before the
council. It was suggested that councilmembers not correspond via social media, as it
may appear to others that there was interaction among councilmembers.
Councilmembers serving on other boards, such as the Downtown Development Board,
may share meeting minutes or meeting summaries with the council so long as input is
requested. Since council work sessions are not decision-making meetings, allowing
public comment is not required by statute. Inaudible conversations at public meetings
are considered a violation of the Sunshine Law as it may appear to those watching the
meeting that city business is being discussed. When at social events, it is suggested
councilmembers not sit next to each other to avoid the perception that city business is
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being discussed. If sitting next to a councilmember at a social event, do not discuss city
business. IT Director Dan Mayer said the City will provide councilmembers with an
archiving service for their official city Facebook page and text messages for city issued
cell phones to ensure the public record is being preserved as required by law. The
archiving service will record all correspondence posted on the social media page. Mr.
Mayer said the social media and text archiving service will be provided by Smarsh. The
City Attorney said the archiving service will not cover personal accounts. The City
Attorney reviewed the gift reporting requirements and prohibitions as outlined by Florida
Statutes Chapter 112.
3. Adjourn
The meeting adjourned at 2:49 p.m.
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