OPEN MEETINGS AND PUBLIC RECORDS

Madison General Ordinances ch. 3, subch. 3E

in effect

Madison General Ordinances § 3.70 PUBLIC RECORDS.

3.70 - PUBLIC RECORDS. (1) Declaration of Policy. A representative government is dependent upon an informed electorate and therefore it is declared to be the public policy of the City of Madison that all persons are entitled to the greatest possible information regarding the affairs of their government and the official acts of those officers and employees who represent them. Further, providing persons with such information is an essential function of a representative government and an integral part of the routine duties of officers and employees whose responsibility it is to provide such information. To that end, this ordinance shall be construed in every instance with a presumption of complete public access, consistent with the conduct of governmental business. The denial of public access generally is contrary to the public interest and only in an exceptional case may access be denied. Therefore, the City of Madison does hereby adopt and incorporate, as though fully set forth herein, the provisions of Wisconsin's Public Records laws, Wis. Stat. §§ 19.31 through 19.39, inclusive of all future amendments and revisions to such sections of the Wisconsin Statutes. The following provisions are intended to supplement, not to replace or to supplant, the Wisconsin Public Records Laws. (2) Records Custodians. (a) Designation of Records Custodians and Alternate Custodians. "Custodian" means that officer, department head or division head of the City of Madison who is designated by the Mayor or by the terms of this ordinance, to keep and preserve public records, or whom is required by law to file, deposit, or keep such public record in their office, or is lawfully in possession or lawfully entitled to possession of public records. The City Clerk is the legal custodian of the records of the Common Council as a body politic and for all Common Council boards, committees and commissions. Each alderperson shall be the custodian of their individual official records, such as their correspondence, memorandums and e-mail. Any alderperson may designate, in writing, the staff of the Common Council Office to act as the official custodian of the alderperson's individual official records. For every Department or Division, the Department/Division Head is the custodian of records for their agency. Every custodian of records shall designate in writing one or more employees to act in their absence as an alternate custodian of such records. (b) Duties. Custodians are vested with full legal power to render decisions and carry out the duties of the City under this ordinance. Each custodian shall establish a procedure for handling records and shall see that all of their employees entrusted with records are informed of these procedures. Prior to providing access to or a copy of any records, the custodian shall review the records to determine that the records are responsive to the request, whether any redactions are required or whether access should be denied as to any record. If a custodian has any question about granting or denying a request to inspect or copy any record, they shall consult with the City Attorney. (c) Public Records Training. Each custodian and alternate custodian shall receive training regarding public records laws as soon as practicable upon receiving these duties. Custodians and alternate custodians are personally responsible for keeping current with any developments or advancements in records keeping and the Wisconsin Public Records Laws. (3) Procedural Information. (a) Form of Request. The Wisconsin Public Records Law dictates that certain actions must be taken with regards to oral requests for records and that certain more formal actions are taken in response to written requests for records. However, the state law does not expressly state how to respond to the following methods of communication. Therefore, requests made by the following means shall be responded to as follows: 1. E-mail. A request made by e-mail may be responded to via e-mail or in writing and shall have all of the formalities as though the request was made in writing. 2. Voicemail. A request made by voicemail shall be responded to as though it were made orally. 3. Instant Messaging/Text Messaging. A request made in either such manner shall be treated as an oral request. (b) Treatment of Certain Data As Records. The Wisconsin Public Records Law provides little or no guidance as to whether the raw and perishable data of the following technologies qualify as records that must be maintained. Therefore the Director of Information Technology, in consultation with the City Attorney's Office, determines the following status of these technologies: 1. E-mail. The content of an e-mail message may constitute a public record and is subject to maintenance as a public record. The content of an e-mail is subject to the same analysis under the public records statutes as an equivalent paper or hard copy record. The Information Technology Department is responsible for ensuring that all e-mails are properly preserved for such analysis. 2. Voicemail. A voicemail message is not a public record and voicemail messages do not have to be maintained as public records. These messages are the functional equivalent of phone conversations. Phone conversations clearly are not public records. Additionally, these messages also share many of the attributes of "personal notes" which are not public records either. Finally, these messages cannot be indexed or maintained in any manner that would allow for their easy classification, searching or retrieval. 3. Instant Messaging (IM)/Text Messaging (TM). Except as set forth in this paragraph and in subparagraph (3)(b) 8. and 9. hereof, the data involved in IM/TM communications is not subject to maintenance as a public record. IM/TM has all of the attributes of instantaneous exchange of ideas, as does a regular telephone conversation. Furthermore, the exchange has the same technological issues as to capturing and storage of content that is present with regards to voicemail with an additional concern - the content is often only briefly stored or not stored at all by the third party vendors or hosts that provide these services. Thus, this technology is even closer to a true telephone conversation than are voicemail. Therefore, City employees and officials shall refrain from using such services for official communications purposes or for matters that would result in a public record if another format such as email or written communications were employed, unless the employee or official preserves a copy of such communications by either copying them to their email account, downloading the communications to their city computer, making a computer file of the communications or by printing and retaining a copy of such communications. 4. Audio, Video, Data Transmissions & Communications. Whenever the City copies, records or maintains copies or recordings of such communications or transmissions, those copies may constitute public records that are subject to records requests and which must be maintained according to the appropriate records retention schedule. The Dane County 9-1-1 center is the custodian for police and fire radio communications. 5. Audio/Video Recordings. Unless otherwise provided herein, are public records subject to requests and must be maintained according to the retention schedules published herein. a. Rewritable Recording Systems. Those systems where the recordings are routinely overwritten by newer recordings, such as in continuous loop videotape or digital video written to a camera's hard drive or memory, such data does not constitute a record unless it is further downloaded, printed or separately preserved to memorialize some event or proceeding. Until such time as these recordings are downloaded, printed or separately preserved, these recordings do not have to be preserved and, as the recording equipment programs/protocols may dictate, can be overwritten, erased or otherwise destroyed. However, if such data is downloaded, printed, or separately preserved it shall be treated as a record and shall be retained in accordance with the retention schedules. b. Recordings Made for the Purpose of Preparing Minutes of Meetings. In accordance with Wis. Stat. § 19.21(7), any tape recording of a meeting, as defined in Wis. Stat. § 19.82(2), by any city body as defined by Wis. Stat. § 19.82(1), to include each City board, commission and committee, may be destroyed, overwritten, or recorded over no sooner than ninety (90) days after the minutes have been approved and published if the purpose of the recording was to take minutes of the meeting. 6. Electronic Document Files. Where records, as that term is defined in Wis. Stat. § 19.32(2), exist in an electronic format only, such electronic records shall be maintained according to the appropriate retention schedule. Where both hard copy (i.e., paper) and electronic copies of a record exist they shall each be subject to public records requests. However, when the custodian has designated, pursuant to sub. (9) electronic records as the official records, only the electronic copy shall be retained and made available for inspection under the public records laws. Where the custodian has not made such a designation, only the hard copy shall be subject to inspection as a public record and the electronic copies shall be treated and disposed of as draft documents that do not need to be maintained beyond creation of the final hard copy. 7. Electronic logs/Temporary Data Files. These logs and temporary data files provide detailed information about the design and functionality of the city's computer network. These logs are routinely overwritten on a daily basis due to the high volume of traffic that is being logged. Unrestricted access to these logs and files would constitute a breach of system security and leave the system vulnerable to exploitation and hacking. In order to ensure network security, these logs are available to Information Technology Director's authorized staff only. These determinations apply to the following types of logs and data files: a. Syslogs for Network Electronic Devices. All logs created by network devices such as firewalls, routers, switches, etc., which are used for monitoring and trending computer network traffic patterns and/or detecting unauthorized network traffic. b. Network Server Security, Application and Event Logs. These logs are used to monitor activity on city network servers including successful/unsuccessful login attempts, file system access, hardware performance, etc. These logs provide detailed information about city network account ID's, file system structure, and hardware profiles. c. Network Security Appliance Logs. All logs created by network security devices such as the anti-virus appliance, anti-SPAM appliance, content filtering appliance, etc., which are used to monitor specific types of unauthorized or malicious traffic on the city network. These logs identify specific network traffic patterns and/or protocols that are allowed or disallowed on the city network. d. Application Logs. These logs are used to monitor activity on various database applications, but do not contain specific audits of database transactions. These logs can contain version information, program variables, and programming logic. 8. Emerging Technologies and Records Retention. As new information technologies emerge the Director of Information Technologies, or their designee, shall evaluate these technologies and their benefit to City operations. The Director shall consider whether any of these technologies provide the capacity to archive public records created by these technologies. Whenever it is economically and practically feasible to archive records created by such technologies that archiving shall be incorporated into any deployment of said technologies. Whenever the technologies do not provide for such archiving capabilities the Director of Information Technology shall consider whether the benefits of employing such technologies outweigh the risks that some public records may not be retained by deployment of such technologies. Where such benefits outweigh these risks City employees shall refrain from using such technologies for official communications purposes or for matters that would result in a public record if another format such as email or written communications were employed. In the event that such technologies are used for communications purposes the employee shall preserve a copy of such communications by either forwarding them to their email account or downloading to a file that is accessible to the department records custodian. The Director shall also ensure that, as soon as practical and economically feasible, archiving systems are obtained for any information technology that is deployed without an archiving system. 9. Use of Technologies to Avoid Duty to Preserve Public Records Prohibited. No employee shall use or employ any form of communications or information technology with the intent or design to circumvent the records retention requirements of this ordinance. For example, Text Messaging shall not be used in lieu of email to share or create a public record unless the employee complies with the provisions of subparagraph (3)(b) 8., above. (4) Access to Records; Fees. (a) Format For Delivery of Records. 1. Same Format as Record Exists & Redacted Records. Except as otherwise provided by law, any requestor may receive or inspect a record in the same medium (physical, electronic, or digital) in which the City maintains the record. Whenever electronic redaction cannot be done in a secure manner that preserves such redactions and prevents the viewing of the redacted information then such redactions should be made by hand, not electronically A requestor may not be charged for the time necessary to review a record and to redact or excise non-releasable materials. 2. E-mailing or Transferring Records. When practicable, records may be e-mailed or transferred to the requestor via SFTP (secure file transfer protocol). In order to ensure the integrity of City records, any e-mailed document shall be converted to a secure format prior to sending the document to anyone outside of the City government. There shall not be any reproduction charge for e-mailing or transferring records, however, such records may still be subject to payment of a location fee as established in Wis. Stat. § 19.35(3)(c). (b) Reproduction Fees. To the extent possible, the Director of Information Technology and the Finance Director shall develop a uniform fee schedule for the reproduction of records that shall be used by every department and division. Such schedule shall include the following provisions and considerations: 1. Fees imposed upon a records requestor may not exceed the actual, necessary and direct costs of reproducing of the record, unless a fee is otherwise specifically established or authorized by state or federal law. 2. If the record exists in such a format that it cannot be easily reproduced, such as a mock-up of a building, then the custodian may photograph the record and may charge the requestor for the actual, necessary and direct costs of such photographing. The fee schedule for reproducing records shall be: a. No charge for copying records of which in the normal course of business ten (10) or more copies are made, such as agendas, minutes and reports. b. Full cost of reproduction for materials not otherwise identified in the schedule developed under this subsection. In such cases, the Department/Division Head who is the records custodian, in consultation with the Finance Director, must determine the costs for reproduction of such records. The determination of these costs shall be made by utilizing a practice or factors that are as uniform as practicable across City departments/divisions. c. If the record is reproduced and provided on electronic media the custodian may charge the requestor for the actual costs and in accordance with the uniform fee schedule. d. Other Fees. i. Location Fee. If the cost of locating a requested record is fifty dollars ($50) or more, the requestor shall pay the full cost, as determined by the department or division head. Such cost shall not exceed the actual, necessary and direct cost of locating such record. Whenever it is determined that such location costs will exceed fifty dollars ($50) and the requestor is required to pay the full cost, the requestor may be required to post a deposit with the custodian that is equal to the reasonable good faith estimate of such costs. ii. Mailing Fee. Custodians shall impose a fee upon a requestor for the actual, necessary and direct cost of mailing or shipping of any copy or record that is mailed or shipped to the requestor. e. Fee Waivers. A custodian may provide copies of a record without charge or at a reduced charge where the department or division head determines in writing that waiver or reduction of the fee is in the public interest. The Common Council has determined that for all requests of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) or less it is in the public interest to waive reproduction/duplications fees for all non-profit 501(c)3 corporations. f. Prepayment of Fees. Custodians may require prepayment by a requestor of any fee or fees imposed under this Subdivision if the total amount exceeds five dollars ($5) and a custodian shall require prepayment by a requestor of any fee or fees imposed under this subdivision if the total amount exceeds fifty dollars ($50). If prepayment is required, the custodian shall not provide access to the records until such prepayment has been posted with the custodian. (5) Special Rules Regarding Reproduction of E-mail Records. (a) Reproducing E-mails. All City of Madison e-mail transactions are preserved in a searchable data archive for a period of seven (7) years. When requests are made for such records, custodians should clarify with the requestor, the various search terms and e-mail boxes that the requestor would have the City search for. Once the requestor has specified search terms, the custodian should contact the Information Technology Department for technical assistance in fulfilling the request. (b) E-mail chains. E-mails are often sent to multiple recipients. A requestor may be provided with one copy of such an e-mail and all responses to that e-mail. (6) Time for Compliance and Procedures. (a) Time. The fulfillment of public records requests is a high priority for the City. Therefore, each custodian, upon request for any record, shall, as soon as practicable and without delay, acknowledge receipt of the request and either fulfill the request or notify the requestor of their determination to deny the request in whole or in part and the reasons therefore. If a request may take more than ten (10) business days to process, then the custodian must respond to the requestor within those ten days with an estimate of when such processing shall be completed and an explanation of the reasons supporting that estimate. (b) City Attorney Consultation Required. Before any custodian may deny access to any records or portion thereof, the custodian must consult with the City Attorney. Such consultation shall occur as soon as practicable after the custodian has assembled and reviewed the requested record. In any response to a requestor, the custodian shall include a statement that they consulted the City Attorney regarding the denial of access to any records. Any denial of access made by a custodian without such consultation and statement is not considered a response from the City of Madison. (c) Public Records Opt-Out Policy and Procedures. The City shall develop a procedure whereby individuals may inform the City that their safety may be endangered by the release of any otherwise available public records and whereby such individuals may request that such records be maintained as confidential records. The Office of the City Attorney and IT shall work cooperatively to develop the necessary procedures and policies to facilitate such communications and to respond appropriately to such communications. (7) No Destruction of Records While a Request is Pending or While a Denial of a Request is Being Appealed. No custodian may destroy any record at any time after the receipt of a request for inspection or copying of the record until after the request is granted or until at least sixty (60) days after the date that the request is denied. If any legal action is pending regarding or related to the record, the record may not be destroyed without the express authorization of the City Attorney. No record that is the object of or which has been produced pursuant to a discovery order or a subpoena may be destroyed without the express consent of the City Attorney. (8) Retention Schedules. The City, in accordance with Wis. Stat. §§ 19.21(4)(b) and 16.61(3)(e), adopts the following records retention schedules: (a) Retention Schedule. The City of Madison Records Manager, in consultation with the Information Technology Director and City Attorney, shall develop and maintain the City of Madison's Records Retention Schedule in accordance with the provisions of Wis. Stats. §§ 16.61(3)(e) and 19.21(4) and such records shall be maintained in accordance with the provisions of that schedule. Such schedule must be approved by the Wisconsin Public Records Board and published by the Information Technology Director. Consistent with this schedule, records documenting legislative proposals introduced for Council consideration are public records and the City encourages the greatest public access and transparency to such records regardless of whether a particular version of a legislative proposal is ultimately adopted by the Common Council. All versions of proposed ordinances and resolutions and all accompanying documents referenced in a proposed ordinance or resolution that have been introduced or considered by the Council, or that have been published as part of an agenda, shall be retained in the legislative file consistent with the applicable retention schedule. Any changes to an ordinance or resolution or any accompanying report or other document introduced for consideration before the Council or any board, commission or committee shall be labeled sequentially and added as a new version of such ordinance, resolution, report or document, and any previous versions shall be retained visible to users of the legislative management system. (b) Records that are Evidence. No record may be destroyed that has been identified as, or that may have value as, evidence in any civil or criminal legal proceeding, labor arbitration or disciplinary action. No record may be destroyed at any time within sixty (60) days of the denial of a request to review the record or any part thereof. (c) Compliance with Federal or Other Retention Requirements. Notwithstanding the City of Madison Records Retention Schedule set forth in sub. (8)(a) above, custodians may not destroy any record where any contract, grant, funding conditions, state or federal statute require that such records be maintained for a longer period of time. (d) Offer of Records to State Historical Society Before Destruction. The City is required to offer all obsolete records to the State Historical Society in accordance with Wis. Stat. § 19.21(4)(a), prior to destruction of those records. The State Historical Society may grant a waiver of this requirement to certain categories of records through the records disposition authorization approval process. (9) Electronic Formatting or Other Reproduction of Records. Any City officer, or the director of any department or division of City government may, with the approval of the Director of Information Technology, may retain and preserve public records in their possession by means of microfilm, or another reproduction method, optical imaging or electronic formatting. Such records shall meet the standards for photographic reproduction set forth in Wis. Stat. §§ 16.61(7)(a) and (b), 2001-2002 Wis. Admin. Code § PR 1 (current through Wis. Admin. Reg. No. 467, Nov. 1994) and Wis. Admin. Code § Adm. 12 (current through Wis. Admin. Reg. 554, Feb. 2002). Such records shall be considered original records for all purposes. Such records shall be preserved along with other files of the department or division and shall be open to public inspection and copying according to the provisions of state law and of Subsections (1) through (3) of this ordinance. This ordinance does not require that past copies of a record be converted to the new format(s). However, when the decision is made to convert old records to the new format, the original hardcopy of any document or record which has been converted to the new format may be destroyed once the Records Disposition Authorization for that records classification has been approved by the Wisconsin State Public Records Board and only when such destruction is permissible under Subsection (7) of this ordinance. (10) Severability. The provisions of this ordinance are severable. If any provision of this ordinance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional or if the application of any provision of this ordinance to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid or unconstitutional, such holding shall not affect the other provisions or applications of this ordinance which can be given effect without the invalid or unconstitutional provisions or applications. It is hereby declared the intent of the Common Council that this ordinance would have been adopted had any invalid or unconstitutional provision or applications not been included herein. (Sec. 3.70 R. & Rec. by ORD-08-00093, 8-23-08; Am. by ORD-25-00008, 3-8-25)

Madison General Ordinances § 3.71 OPEN MEETINGS OF MUNICIPAL BODIES.

3.71 - OPEN MEETINGS OF MUNICIPAL BODIES. (1) Council Findings. Subchapter IV of Ch. 19 of the Wisconsin Statutes quoted hereinafter, sets forth the public policy of the State of Wisconsin with reference to open meetings of governmental bodies. Such statutes read as follows: "19.81 Declaration of Policy. (1) In recognition of the fact that a representative government of the American type is dependent upon an informed electorate, it is declared to be the policy of this state that the public is entitled to the fullest and most complete information regarding the affairs of government as is compatible with the conduct of governmental business. (2) To implement and ensure the public policy herein expressed, all meetings of all state and local governmental bodies shall be publicly held in places reasonably accessible to members of the public and shall be open to all citizens at all times unless otherwise expressly provided by law. (3) In conformance with article IV, section 10 of the constitution, which states that the doors of each house shall remain open, except when the public welfare requires secrecy, it is declared to be the intent of the legislature to comply to the fullest extent with this subchapter. (4) This subchapter shall be liberally construed to achieve the purposes set forth in this section, and the rule that penal statutes must be strictly construed shall be limited to the enforcement of forfeitures and shall not otherwise apply to actions brought under this subchapter or to interpretations thereof. "19.82 Definitions. As used in this subchapter: (1) 'Governmental body' means a state or local agency, board, commission, committee, council, department or public body corporate and politic created by constitution, statute, ordinance, rule or order; a governmental or quasigovernmental corporation; or a formally constituted subunit of any of the foregoing, but excludes any such body or committee or subunit of such body which is formed for or meeting for the purpose of collective bargaining under subch. IV or V of ch. 111. (2) 'Meeting' means the convening of members of a governmental body for the purpose of exercising the responsibilities, authority, power or duties delegated to or vested in the body. If one-half or more of the members of a governmental body are present, the meeting is rebuttably presumed to be for the purpose of exercising the responsibilities, authority, power or duties delegated to or vested in the body. The term does not include any social or chance gathering or conference which is not intended to avoid this subchapter. (3) 'Open session' means a meeting which is held in a place reasonably accessible to members of the public, and open to all citizens at all times. In the case of a state governmental body, it means a meeting which is held in a building and room thereof which enables access by persons with functional limitations, as defined in s. 101.13(1). "19.83 Meetings of governmental bodies. (1) Every meeting of a governmental body shall be preceded by public notice as provided in s. 19.84, and shall be held in open session. At any meeting of a governmental body, all discussion shall be held and all action of any kind, formal or informal, shall be initiated, deliberated upon and acted upon only in open session except as provided in s. 19.85. (2) During a period of public comment under s. 19.84(2), a governmental body may discuss any matter raised by the public. "19.84 Public notice. (1) Public notice of all meetings of a governmental body shall be given in the following manner: (a) As required by any other statutes; and (b) By communication from the chief presiding officer of a governmental body or such person's designee to the public, to those news media who have filed a written request for such notice, and to the official newspaper designated under ss. 985.04, 985.05 and 985.06 or, if none exists, to a news medium likely to give notice in the area (2) Every public notice of a meeting of a governmental body shall set forth the time, date, place and subject matter of the meeting, including that intended for consideration at any contemplated closed session, in such form as is reasonably likely to apprise members of the public and the news media thereof. The public notice of a meeting of a governmental body may provide for a period of public comment, during which the body may receive information from members of the public. (3) Public notice of every meeting of a governmental body shall be given at least 24 hours prior to the commencement of such meeting unless for good cause such notice is impossible or impractical, in which case shorter notice may be given, but in no case may the notice be provided less than 2 hours in advance of the meeting. (4) Separate public notice shall be given for each meeting of a governmental body at a time and date reasonably proximate to the time and date of the meeting. (5) Departments and their subunits in any university of Wisconsin system institution or campus are exempt from the requirements of subs. (1) to (4) but shall provide meeting notice which is reasonably likely to apprise interested persons, and news media who have filed written requests for such notice. (6) Notwithstanding the requirements of s. 19.83 and the requirements of this section, a governmental body which is a formally constituted subunit of a parent governmental body may conduct a meeting without public notice as required by this section during a lawful meeting of the parent governmental body during a recess in such meeting or immediately after such meeting for the purpose of discussing or acting upon a matter which was the subject of that meeting of the parent governmental body. The presiding officer of the parent governmental body shall publicly announce the time, place and subject matter of the meeting of the subunit in advance at the meeting of the parent body. "19.85 Exemptions. (1) Any meeting of a governmental body, upon motion duly made and carried, may be convened in closed session under one or more of the exemptions provided in this section. The motion shall be carried by a majority vote in such manner that the vote of each member is ascertained and recorded in the minutes. No motion to convene in closed session may be adopted unless the chief presiding officer announces to those present at the meeting at which such motion is made, the nature of the business to be considered at such closed session, and the specific exemption or exemptions under this subsection by which such closed session is claimed to be authorized. Such announcement shall become part of the record of the meeting. No business may be taken up at any closed session except that which relates to matters contained in the chief presiding officer's announcement of the closed session. A closed session may be held for any of the following purposes: (a) Deliberating concerning a case which was the subject of any judicial or quasi-judicial trial or hearing before that governmental body. (b) Considering dismissal, demotion, licensing or discipline of any public employee or person licensed by a board or commission or the investigation of charges against such person, or considering the grant or denial of tenure for a university faculty member, and the taking of formal action on any such matter; provided that the faculty member or other public employee or person licensed is given actual notice of any evidentiary hearing which may be held prior to final action being taken and of any meeting at which final action may be taken. The notice shall contain a statement that the person has the right to demand that the evidentiary hearing or meeting be held in open session. This paragraph and par. (f) do not apply to any such evidentiary hearing or meeting where the employee or person licensed requests that an open session be held. (c) Considering employment, promotion, compensation or performance evaluation data of any public employee over which the governmental body has jurisdiction or exercises responsibility. (d) Considering specific applications of probation or parole, or considering strategy for crime detection or prevention. (e) Deliberating or negotiating the purchasing of public properties, the investing of public funds, or conducting other specified public business, whenever competitive or bargaining reasons require a closed session. (f) Considering financial, medical, social or personal histories or disciplinary data of specific persons, preliminary consideration of specific personnel problems or the investigation of charges against specific persons except where par. (b) applies which, if discussed in public, would be likely to have a substantial adverse effect upon the reputation of any person referred to in such histories or data, or involved in such problems or investigations. (g) Conferring with legal counsel for the governmental body who is rendering oral or written advice concerning strategy to be adopted by the body with respect to litigation in which it is or is likely to become involved. (h) Consideration of requests for confidential written advice from the ethics board under s. 19.46(2), or from any county or municipal ethics board under s. 19.59(5). (Am. by Ord. 12,245, 11-3-98) (2) No governmental body may commence a meeting, subsequently convene in closed session and thereafter reconvene again in open session within 12 hours after completion of the closed session, unless public notice of such subsequent open session was given at the same time and in the same manner as the public notice of the meeting convened prior to the closed session. (3) Nothing in this subchapter shall be construed to authorize a governmental body to consider at a meeting in closed session the final ratification or approval of a collective bargaining agreement under subch. IV or V of ch. 111 which has been negotiated by such body or on its behalf. "19.86 Notice of collective bargaining negotiations. Notwithstanding s. 19.82(1), where notice has been given by either party to a collective bargaining agreement under subch. IV or V of ch. 111 to reopen such agreement at its expiration date, the employer shall give notice of such contract reopening as provided in s. 19.84(1)(b). If the employer is not a governmental body, notice shall be given by the employer's chief officer or such person's designee. "19.87 Legislative meetings. This subchapter shall apply to all meetings of the senate and assembly and the committees, subcommittees and other subunits thereof, except that: (1) Section 19.84 shall not apply to any meeting of the legislature or a subunit thereof called solely for the purpose of scheduling business before the legislative body; or adopting resolutions of which the sole purpose is scheduling business before the senate or the assembly. (2) No provision of this subchapter which conflicts with a rule of the senate or assembly or joint rule of the legislature shall apply to a meeting conducted in compliance with such rule. (3) No provision of this subchapter shall apply to any partisan caucus of the senate or any partisan caucus of the assembly, except as provided by legislative rule. (4) Meetings of the senate or assembly committee on organization under s. 71.11(44)(c)3 or 77.61(5)(b)3 shall be closed to the public. "19.88 Ballots, votes and records. (1) Unless otherwise specifically provided by statute, no secret ballot may be utilized to determine any election or other decision of a governmental body except the election of the officers of such body in any meeting. (2) Except as provided in Sub.(1) in the case of officers, any member of a governmental body may require that a vote be taken at any meeting in such manner that the vote of each member is ascertained and recorded. (3) The motions and roll call votes of each meeting of a governmental body shall be recorded, preserved and open to public inspection to the extent prescribed in s. 19.21. "19.89 Exclusion of members. No duly elected or appointed member of a governmental body may be excluded from any meeting of such body. Unless the rules of a governmental body provide to the contrary, no member of the body may be excluded from any meeting of a subunit of that governmental body. "19.90 Use of Equipment in Open Session. Whenever a governmental body holds a meeting in open session, the body shall make a reasonable effort to accommodate any person desiring to record, film or photograph the meeting. This section does not permit recording, filming or photographing such a meeting in a manner that interferes with the conduct of the meeting or the rights of the participants. "19.96 Penalty. Any member of a governmental body who knowingly attends a meeting of such body held in violation of this subchapter, or who, in their official capacity, otherwise violates this subchapter by some act or omission shall forfeit without reimbursement not less than $25 nor more than $300 for each such violation. No member of a governmental body is liable under this subchapter on account of their attendance at a meeting held in violation of this subchapter if they make or votes in favor of a motion to prevent the violation from occurring, or if, before the violation occurs, their votes on all relevant motions were inconsistent with all those circumstances which cause the violation. "19.97 Enforcement. (1) This subchapter shall be enforced in the name and on behalf of the state by the attorney general or, upon the verified complaint of any person, by the district attorney of any county wherein a violation may occur. In actions brought by the attorney general, the court shall award any forfeiture recovered together with reasonable costs to the state; and in actions brought by the district attorney, the court shall award any forfeiture recovered together with reasonable costs to the county. (2) In addition and supplementary to the remedy provided in s. 19.96, the attorney general or the district attorney may commence an action, separately or in conjunction with an action brought under s. 19.96, to obtain such other legal or equitable relief, including but not limited to a writ of mandamus, an injunction or a declaratory judgment, as may be appropriate under the circumstances. (3) Any action taken at a meeting of a governmental body held in violation of this subchapter is voidable, upon action brought by the attorney general or the district attorney of the county wherein the violation occurred. However, any judgment declaring such action void shall not be entered unless the court finds, under the facts of the particular case, that the public interest in the enforcement of this subchapter outweighs any public interest which there may be in sustaining the validity of the action taken. (4) If the district attorney refuses or otherwise fails to commence an action to enforce this subchapter within 20 days after receiving a verified complaint, the person making such complaint may bring an action under subs. (1) to (3) on their relation in the name, and on behalf, of the state. In such actions, the court may award actual and necessary costs of prosecution, including reasonable attorney fees to the realtor if they prevail, but any forfeiture recovered shall be paid to the state. "19.98 Interpretation by attorney general. Any person may request advice from the attorney general as to the applicability of this subchapter under any circumstances. (Sec. 3.44(1) Am. by Ord. 12,196, 8-31-98) (2) Place of Meetings. All boards, committees, subcommittees, commissions and authorities of the City of Madison shall hold all their meetings at some room in the City-County Building, the Madison Municipal Building, or at some other place of business accessible to the general public, including but not limited to restaurants and hotels. No such meeting may be held in a location which is not accessible to persons with disabilities. (Am. by Ord. 10,363, 1-30-92; Renum. by ORD-07-00048, 4-12-07) (3) Notification of Meetings. All boards, committees, subcommittees, commissions and authorities of the City of Madison shall give public notice of all their meetings by sending to the City Clerk, the official newspaper and those news media who have filed a written request for such notice, a statement as to the time, date, place, and subject matter of all meetings. This may be done by providing a copy of the meeting agenda. The Clerk shall make such notices available to the public. (Am. by Ord. 10,363, 1-30-92; Renum. by ORD-07-00048, 4-12-07) (4) Compliance With Open Meeting Law. All of the provisions of Subchapter IV of Ch. 19, Wis. Stats., including the exceptions, shall be observed by all boards, committees, subcommittees, commissions and authorities of the City of Madison. Any member of such a governmental body who violates the provisions of that law as set forth in Sec. 19.96 thereof shall be subject to a forfeiture of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than three hundred dollars ($300) for each such violation. (5) Any person may request advice from the City Attorney as to the applicability of this ordinance to all boards, committees, subcommittees, commissions and authorities of the City of Madison. (Sec. 3.44 Am. by Ord. 5555, 8-4-76; Renum. by ORD-07-00048, 4-12-07)

Madison General Ordinances § 3.72 PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY TO MUNICIPAL DATA SETS.

3.72 - PUBLIC ACCESSIBILITY TO MUNICIPAL DATA SETS. (1) Declaration of Policy. It is in the best interest of city that its agencies and departments make their data available online using open standards. Making city data available online using open standards will make the operation of city government more transparent, effective and accountable to the public. It will streamline intra-governmental and inter-governmental communication and interoperability, promote efficient solutions for government, advance innovative strategies for social progress, and create economic opportunities. (2) Definitions. As used in this ordinance: "Agency" means any city office, department, division, or agency. "Data" means final versions of statistical or factual information: 1. In alphanumeric form reflected in a list, table, graph, chart or other non-narrative form, that can be digitally transmitted or processed; and 2. Regularly created or maintained by or on behalf of and owned by an agency that records a measurement, transaction, or determination related to the mission of an agency. Such term shall not include information provided to an agency by other governmental entities, nor shall it include image files, such as designs, drawings, maps, photos, or scanned copies of original documents. Nothing in this ordinance shall be deemed to prohibit an agency from voluntarily disclosing information not otherwise defined as "data" in this subdivision. "Department" means the Information Technology Department. "Determination" means any final decision made by an agency with respect to a person, including, but not limited to: 1. Eligibility for services or benefits; 2. Issuing a permit; 3. Registration, certification and licensing; and 4. Liability for civil and criminal penalties. "Measurement" means to quantify by means of comparison to a reference standard any characteristic of an observable event, occurrence or object. "Open standard" means a technical standard developed and maintained by a voluntary consensus standards body that is available to the public without royalty or fee. "Public data set" means a comprehensive collection of interrelated data that is available for inspection by the public in accordance with any provision of the Wisconsin Public Records Laws (Wis. Stats. §§ 19.31-19.37) and the Madison Public Records Ordinance (Sec. 3.70, MGO) and is maintained on a computer system by, or on behalf of, an agency. Such term shall not include: 1. Any data set or portion thereof to which an agency may deny access pursuant to the public records laws or any other provision of a federal or state law, rule or regulation or local law; 2. Any data set that contains a significant amount of confidential data pursuant to the preceding subsection and where removing such data would impose undue financial or administrative burden; 3. Data that reflects the internal deliberative process of an agency or agencies, including but not limited to negotiating positions, future procurements, or pending or reasonably anticipated legal or administrative proceedings; 4. Data stored on an agency-owned personal computing device, or data stored on a portion of a network that has been exclusively assigned to a single agency employee or a single agency owned or controlled computing device; 5. Materials subject to copyright, patent, trademark, confidentiality agreements or trade secret protection; 6. Proprietary applications, computer code, software, operating systems or similar materials; or 7. Employment records, internal employee-related directories or lists, and facilities data, information technology, internal service-desk and other data related to internal agency administration. 8. Legacy Data. Any public data set that, due to its size or complexity, or due to technology constraints, cannot be made available on the internet, shall be classified as legacy. Agencies shall make best efforts to avoid placing public data sets into the legacy classification. 9. Any data set or portion thereof which contains any personally identifiable information that can be associated with a particular individual through one or more identifiers or other information or circumstances and specifically includes, but is not limited to, a private individual's home address, personal electronic mail address, personal telephone number, social security number and/or driver's license number. "Technical standard" means the common and repeated use of rules, conditions, guidelines or characteristics for products or related processes and production methods, and related management systems practices; and 1. The definition of terms; 2. Classification of components; 3. Delineation of procedures; 4. Specifications of dimensions, materials, performance, designs or operations; 5. Measurement of quality and quantity in describing materials, processes, products, systems, services or practices; 6. Test methods and sampling procedures; or 7. Descriptions of fit and measurements of size or strength. "Transaction" means any interaction between an agency and any person related to the mission of an agency. "Voluntary consensus standards body" means a domestic or international organization that develops and maintains a technical standard that utilizes a transparent deliberative process, permits the participation of any party, and achieves general consensus, although not necessarily unanimity, of the participating parties, including a process for attempting to resolve any differences in viewpoint. (3) Availability of Municipal Data Sets. (a) Compliance Date and Annual Reports. By no later than September 30, 2013 and thereafter, the public data sets that agencies make available on the Internet shall be accessible through a single web portal that is linked to the city's website. Each agency shall be responsible for identifying and publishing data sets. The Department shall be available to agencies for consultation and technical support only. The Department shall not be responsible for identifying or publishing data sets. By December 31, 2013 and annually thereafter, if an agency cannot or will not make all of its publicly available data sets available through the City's website, the agency shall file a written report with the Department and with the Common Council setting forth which public data set or sets that it is not making available, the reasons why it cannot or will not do so and the date by which the agency expects that any such public data set or sets will be available on the city's website. (b) Metadata. Such public data sets shall have metadata (information about the data set) made available to the public through the single web portal. Agencies will be responsible for providing the metadata as defined by the Department. The Department shall provide all agencies with a template for metadata. (c) Technical Standards. Such public data sets shall be made available in accordance with technical standards published by the Department and shall be in a format that permits automated processing using open standards where practical and shall make use of appropriate technology to notify the public of all updates. (d) Requirement to Keep Data Sets Current. Such public data sets shall be updated as often as is necessary, or at least annually, to preserve the integrity and usefulness of the data sets to the extent that the agency regularly maintains or updates the public data set. (e) Data Set Users May Remain Anonymous. Such public data sets shall be made available without any registration requirement, license requirement or restrictions on their use provided that the department may require a third party providing to the public any public data set, or application utilizing such data set, to explicitly identify the source and version of the public data set, and a description of any modifications made to such public data set. Registration requirements, license requirements or restrictions as used in this section shall not include measures required to ensure access to public data sets, to protect against unlawful abuse or attempts to damage or impair use of the web site, or to analyze the types of data being used to improve service delivery. (f) Data Sets Must Be Searchable. Such public data sets shall be accessible to external search capabilities. (g) Prioritizing Availability of Data Sets. Requests received for inclusion of particular public data sets shall be considered by agencies in making determinations as to priority for public data set inclusion. Agencies shall also consider the following factors in prioritizing access to data sets: 1. Whether the data set can be utilized to increase agency accountability and/or responsiveness; 2. Whether use of the data set could improve public knowledge of the agency, its missions, operations and resources; 3. Whether it furthers the agencies missions; 4. Whether the data set creates or has the capacity to create economic opportunities; 5. Whether the data set responds to any need or demand identified by public consultation, and; 6. The accuracy and completeness of the data set, i.e., preliminary, inaccurate or misleading data sets should not be published in order to avoid misleading or confusing the public. Such a determination regarding publication does not foreclose a requesters access to such data sets under either the Wisconsin Public Records Laws (Wis. Stats. §§ 19.31-19.47) or the Madison Public Records ordinance (Sec. 3.70, MGO). (h) Public Feedback. The Department shall investigate the feasibility of establishing an on-line forum or other mechanism to solicit feedback from the public. (i) Preservation of Bandwidth. The Department may take reasonable measures to maintain bandwidth availability of the city's website. (j) Cost Benefit Determination. Each agency, in consultation with the Department, shall determine whether the costs of converting any publicly available data set to a searchable and publishable digital format outweigh any potential public benefit derived from such publication. If an agency determines that such costs outweigh the benefits of publication, then such data sets shall be maintained in their original format subject to inspection as provided by the Wisconsin Public Records Laws (Wis. Stats. §§ 19.31-19.47) and the Madison Public Records ordinance (Sec. 3.70, MGO). (k) No Release of Data Sets That Would Endanger Safety. In accordance with Wis. Stat. § 19.35(1)(am)2.a., Secs. 3.70(1) & (6)(c), MGO, the City shall not make available under this ordinance, any data or data set the release of which would endanger an individual's life or safety. (4) Open Data Legal Policy. a. The Department shall conspicuously publish the following Open Data Legal Policy on the city's website: "Public data sets made available on the web portal are provided for informational purposes. The City does not warranty the completeness, accuracy, content or fitness for any particular purpose or use of any public data set made available on the web portal, nor are any such warranties to be implied or inferred with respect to the public data sets furnished therein. The City is not liable for any deficiencies in the completeness, accuracy, content or fitness for any particular purpose or use of any public data set, or application utilizing such data set, provided by any third party. Discontinuance of Data: The City reserves the right to discontinue availability of content on this website at any time and for any reason. The City reserves the right to claim or seek to protect any patent, copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights in any of the information, images, software, or processes displayed or used at this website. If the City claims or seeks to protect any intellectual property rights in any of the information, images, software, or processes displayed or used at this website, then this website will so indicate on the webpage on or from which such information, images, software, or processes are accessed. These Terms of Use do not grant anyone any title or right to any patent, copyright, trademark or other intellectual property rights that the City may have in any of the information, images, software, or processes displayed or used at this website. Nothing in the City's Open Data ordinance or policies shall be construed to create a private right of action to enforce any of their provisions and therefore, any failure to comply with these provisions shall not result in liability to an agency." (Sec. 3.72 Cr. by ORD-12-00102, 8-15-12)

Source: City of Madison, Wisconsin, Madison General Ordinances (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/wi/madison/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=COORMAWIVOICH1--10_CH3OFBOEMPURE_SUBCHAPTER_3EOPMEPUREFetched: 11/1/2026