For the third time since the Covid-19 state of emergency was declared by the Governor, she has issued an Executive Order allowing local boards, commissions, committees, subcommittees, authorities, councils and nonprofit boards to use telephone or video conferencing methods to continue meeting and conducting business while ensuring the public has access to join the meetings. Public bodies are required to provide detailed procedures by which the public may participate in the meeting remotely, such as telephone number or website address, to provide procedures by which persons with disabilities may participate.

Executive Order 2020-75 makes no substantive changes and communities can continue to meet as they have been under the previous Executive Order. The one significant component of EO 2020-75 is the length of time the order will be in effect. Different than previous orders which were in effect for 28 days, this order will last nearly twice that long and expire on June 30, 2020.

Michigan Municipal League hosted webinars (here and here) on communities conducting remote-access meetings, and here is a link to our blog on how to avoid “zoombombing”.

John LaMacchia is the Assistant Director of State and Federal Affairs for the League handling transportation, infrastructure, energy and environment issues. He can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0303