Open government advocates say public forums should be broadcast despite misinformation fears

Residents who want to address elected leaders in a public forum may not have much of an audience, if they have the opportunity at all, as some local governments scale back opportunities for public comment in meetings.

During the pandemic, online public meetings were essential to government operations. But after lockdown-related anger boiled over into comment sessions filled with grandstanding and misinformation, some local leaders moved to limit — or eliminate — opportunities for public comment at school board, county and city meetings.

The Hennepin County Board was one local government that voted to stop broadcasting them, while some school districts chose to hold less formal public input sessions without a majority of the school board present.

"I think what we saw was some people were taking advantage of the opportunity to give political speeches that had nothing to do with the business of their school district," said Kirk Schneidawind, executive director of the Minnesota School Boards Association. "Coming out of the pandemic, all of our school boards took a hard look at where they were at."

Some government leaders say the move away from broadcasting public forums is an attempt to avoid giving bad actors a platform to spread misinformation. But open government advocates argue those forums are an important chance for community members to interact publicly with their government.

"We think the public has a right to see the entire proceedings of a meeting of a government body," said Matt Ehling, a board member of the Minnesota Coalition on Government Information (MNCOGI). "Public comments are part of the governing process."

MNCOGI members, who advocate for government transparency and the public's right to know, say they are gaining support from a bipartisan group of state lawmakers. Their goal: to push local governments to broadcast public forums, warts and all, in the interest of accessibility.

Sen. Erin Murphy, a St. Paul DFLer who leads the Senate's local government committee, says she supports the idea but hasn't committed to specifics.

"The good part about government is the people are involved," said Murphy, who called open government sacred and essential to democracy. "That can also be challenging, for all of us. We shouldn't sacrifice the value of public voices so a meeting is run well."

The idea also has support from Rep. Jim Nash, R-Waconia, the lead Republican on the House local and state government committee, who says he also supports local governments broadcasting the entirety of their proceedings.

"At the essence of local government is the expectation of a level of transparency that welcomes public comment that is on the record," Nash said.

An informal survey of local governments in the Twin Cities metro found a wide variety of approaches to how officials gather input from constituents. Groups that advocate for local governments, like the school boards association, say they don't track it, but they are aware many boards and councils have reconsidered public forums.

Technically, public forums where residents can weigh in on whatever they want are not required by state law. Local governments do have to hold public hearings for certain types of policy decisions, like raising taxes, when the public is allowed to speak.

There also are rules about broadcasting and public participation when the entirety of a meeting is held online.

Many governments don't have general open forums at all, including both city councils in Minneapolis and St. Paul, as well as the Ramsey County Board. Others, like the Hennepin and Anoka county boards, hold public input sessions that are not broadcast.

School districts, which bore the brunt of many residents' angst during the pandemic, also have reconsidered how they interact with the public.

For instance, in the Lakeville district, board members recently decided to reinstate public forums after moving to more informal listening sessions with constituents. The reinstated forums will be before regular meetings, but will not be broadcast.

Both the Minneapolis and St. Paul districts still hold public forums that are live-streamed online.

Ali Fuhrman, leader of a union that represents about 1,200 clerical workers in Hennepin County, agrees there is a benefit to broadcasting public forums. The County Board voted 5-2 in August 2022 to stop broadcasting those sessions.

During the pandemic, Fuhrman says public forums at County Board meetings were a successful way to raise issues with elected leaders and apply political pressure that led to changes. She says board meetings are in the middle of the day, when it is hard for many to attend, and only those in the room hear speakers' comments.

"This is about having a public conversation, not a private one behind closed doors," she said.

Fuhrman and others in favor of broadcasting public forums said elected leaders have ways to control meetings so they don't get out of hand. They also noted that nearly everyone now has a smartphone with a video camera, so ending broadcasting only goes so far.

Marion Greene, the Hennepin County commissioner who sponsored the move to stop broadcasting public forums, said the board has a long history of finding the right balance when it comes to comments at meetings. She added that audio recordings are still available to the public.

Greene says the board wants to hear from constituents in a way that's constructive and improves the work of the county. They don't want to give people a platform to spread misinformation.

"It's not a problem now, because people don't see it as an opportunity to get their message out further than this room," Greene said of the change and the recent tone of public input at County Board meetings.

Local leaders expressed frustration that the Legislature, which is largely exempt from the state rules governing public records, would want to micromanage how local governments interact with the public.

"It does seem to turn down the heat a little bit, when they are not live streamed," said Scott Croonquist, executive director of the Association of Metropolitan School Districts. "I think there would be some concerns to a cookie-cutter approach or state mandate."