Policy 7210J

BOARD ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS

References:   W.S. §16-4-404 (a-d); Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. §552)

The Board of Trustees of Western Wyoming Community College (the College) recognizes that email and other electronic communications are critical communication tools which allow information to be disseminated quickly and efficiently.  The Board adheres to the letter and the intent of the Wyoming Public Meetings Act and stipulates that no meeting shall be conducted by electronic means or any other form of communication that does not permit the public to hear, read or otherwise discern meeting discussion contemporaneously. 

Generally, College administration will use email to provide Trustees with information on College events, meeting reminders, responses to questions, training opportunities, legislative actions and other items of interest. 

Each Trustee is provided with a College email address for the duration of the their term.  The College-provided email address is the preferred account for email communications although Trustees may choose to use their personal account.  Trustees opting to use their personal account acknowledge that any electronic communication from a personal account may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act and as such, there is no expectation of privacy for any messages sent or received.  Upon separation from the Board, the College-provided email account will be disabled.

The Board recognizes the risks inherent with the use of electronic communications and seeks to mitigate those risks with the following expectations.

Trustees may use electronic communications to send messages or forward information to each other on an individual basis but should avoid sending these communications to the entire Board to avoid violation of the Wyoming Public Meetings Act.

Trustees should not discuss College business in a ‘chat-room’ or ‘group text’ setting unless there are no more than three Trustees involved in the discussion.

Trustees are prohibited from discussing substantive matters by email or from using email to interactively communicate among themselves concerning College business.

In order to avoid the appearance of a violation of the Wyoming Public Meetings Act, Trustees should refrain from using the ‘reply to all’ function.  Use of this function could create the potential for a conversation among trustees.

Trustees should refrain from summarizing electronically communicated responses collectively received from Trustees and relaying that summary, or the collection of original responses, back to three or more trustees.

Trustees will not use their College-provided email for any political campaign activities or communications.

Cross Reference: Board Policy 7610A

Adopted: May 11, 2023