This sounds like the foundation for future complaints and potential law suits that could be lodged against governing bodies whose meetings are supposed to be open. I'll bet that it won't be long before we see something surface on this topic by way of a specific suit or specific complaint to a States Attorney or Attorney General. Doug Allen, CRM, CDIA+ -----Original Message----- From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Sharon Blackstock Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2005 2:53 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: Open Meeting Law Steve: Well, of course it matters if the meeting is open ... and yes, IM could be a public record (note the word "could"), depending on the value of its content (back to basics). It's similar to the idea of 3 or more council members having an email conversation about public business - this might be considered a "meeting" and should be "open". If the IM is captured in some way, then my guess is it would have a very short term retention. We don't allow it here on our system (at least that's what I'm told by IT, and I've never seen it). Our councilmembers are regularly advised about the need to post notice of any gatherings of 3 or more members where public business will be discussed, including "electronic" meetings. Sharon G. Blackstock, CRM Central Records Administrator Lakewood City Clerk's Office 480 South Allison Parkway Lakewood CO 80226-3127 303-987-7091 (office) 303-987-7088 (fax) [log in to unmask] www.lakewood.org Lakewood's records management objectives: 1) Information is available when needed; 2) Records of permanent value are preserved; 3) Non-permanent records are destroyed per approved retention schedules; 4) Discarded paper is recycled. List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance