UMRBA Standard Operating Procedures for Public Meetings

Statement of Purpose

The principal purpose of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association (UMRBA) is to maintain communication and cooperation among the states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin and among federal agencies with missions on matters related to water resources planning and management of the Upper Mississippi River Basin and in other areas of the United States.

A UMRBA member state shall be represented on the Association by a representative appointed by and serving at the pleasure of the Governor of the member state.  A Governor and/or the Governor’s duly appointed representative may designate additional alternate representatives.

The purpose of UMRBA is to facilitate dialogue and cooperative action regarding water and related land resource issues.  More specifically, the Association endeavors to:

  • Serve as a regional interstate forum for the discussion, study, and evaluation of river-related issues of common concern to the states of the Upper Mississippi River Basin.
  • Facilitate and foster cooperative planning and coordinated management of the region’s water and related land resources.
  • Create opportunities and means for the states and federal agencies responsible for the management of water resources in the Upper Mississippi River Basin to exchange information.
  • Develop regional positions on river resource issues and serve as an advocate of the basin states’ collective interests before Congress and the federal agencies

UMRBA convenes workshops, summits, planning sessions, and other meeting formats as one-time events as deemed helpful to advancing coordination around a particular matter.  These events are unique, tailored to the issue area and engagement goals.  The UMRBA Board will set the direction for the convenings and each state representative will select their respective state’s participation in the convening.  The UMRBA Board will also determine whether to invite experts or representative stakeholder individuals and/or entities to provide UMRBA with insight, experience, and recommendations.  These meetings are not designed as public meetings.

The UMRBA Board may establish standing councils or committees and other ad hoc working groups to provide the Board with recommendations or advance certain priorities interstate water resource coordination.  The coordinating entities will sometimes convene meetings that are open to the public and allow for public interaction and/or will invite experts or representative stakeholder individuals and/or entities to provide with coordinating entity with insight, experience, and recommendations.  These meetings are not designed as public meetings.

There are occasions when UMRBA may convene public listening sessions to gain awareness of public opinion or to generally disseminate information.

Standard Operating Procedures

General Communications

  1. Information about the date, location, logistics for in-person and remote participation, agendas, and minutes will be made available on UMRBA’s website and disseminated via email distribution list arranged for i) the UMRBA quarterly meetings or ii) the respective interstate coordinating entity.
  2. Meeting information will be posted on the Events web page, which can be found on the top menu bar.
  3. The distribution list will be open to anyone who requests to be added.
    1. UMRBA will monitor turn over in people serving relevant positions within state agencies, federal agencies, and other organizations who actively participate and attend UMRBA quarterly meetings and/or UMRBA-established coordinating entities and update contact information as appropriate.
    2. UMRBA will circulate a hardcopy attendance list, on which attendants are asked to provide an email if they choose to be added to the UMRBA distribution list(s).
    3. UMRBA will submit a comment in the chat of the remote connection platform at the beginning of the meeting asking attendees to email UMRBA at umrba@umrba.org if they wish to be added to the UMRBA distribution list(s).
  4. UMRBA staff will use microphones and a large speaker to accommodate sound quality, particularly for people who are hearing impaired as well as to accommodate remote participation.
  5. UMRBA will design a facilitation process for each convening in ways that advance the specific purpose for the convening and that maximize the ability for individuals to meaningfully participate.  This includes implementing UMRBA’s Public Participation Plan, Disability Accessibility Plan, and Language Accessibility Plan.
  6. UMRBA will strive to (and default to) make each convening accessible to remote participation. However, UMRBA will evaluate the needs of the in-person interactions, such as work groups, and may elect not to provide remote participation.  If remote participation is provided, UMRBA will implement the following practices:
    1. Participants will have the option to view a live transcript (or closed captioning) and the ability to select preferred language for closed captioning.  Additionally, the participant may adjust closed captioning size to their individual preference.  Participants can freely enable captions and select language without the involvement of the meeting host and without visibility by other meeting participants.
    2. UMRBA will assign a staff person (or other individual) with using a tablet or laptop to monitor the interest among the remote participants for engaging in the meeting, particularly by monitoring for “raised hands” and comments in the chat forum. The assigned staff will use discretion to vocalize the comments given their relevance to in-person participants and/or the meeting facilitator will ensure that the individual is able to vocalize their comment to the full convening.
    3. UMRBA will assign a staff person to monitor technical difficulties and work to resolve them with other UMRBA staff and/or participants, as appropriate.
    4. The facilitator or UMRBA staff will remind in-person participants to state their name prior to making a comment and request that in-person participants use a microphone to voice their oral comments.

Potential Process Improvements

  1. Develop a web-based system for individuals to self-select to be added to the UMRBA distribution list(s) or to unsubscribe.  If feasible and cost-effective for UMRBA, once developed, add instructions about subscribing or unsubscribing to the distribution lists to the standard quarterly meeting communications and Events webpage – and/or individual webpages for each quarterly meeting.
  2. Implement UserWay on UMRBA’s website to enable a more inclusive digital environment.  This will allow for meeting information (announcement, agendas, logistics information) to be translated into other languages and accessible to people with visual impairments.

Convening Logistics/Arrangements

  1. The date and location (in-person, hybrid, or fully virtual) will be determined at the soonest time possible.
  2. UMRBA will select the convening location (in-person, hybrid, or fully virtual) in ways that advance the specific purpose for the convening and that maximize the ability for individuals to meaningfully participate.  This includes implementing UMRBA’s Public Participation Plan, Disability Accessibility Plan, and Language Accessibility Plan.
  3. As soon as it is practical after the date and location is determined, UMRBA shall send an announcement of the meeting date and location (city, not facility).  The meeting date and location will be disseminated via email with a downloadable calendar invitation.  The information will also be posted on UMRBA’s website.
  4. For an in-person convening, the location (city) will be selected solely for the purposes of convening state agency representatives as determined by the UMRBA Board as well as invited experts or representative stakeholder individuals and/or entities. The in-person location will be confirmed by a Chair of the UMRBA Board, chair of the standing councils or committees, or other set of individuals tasked with supporting the convening design.
  5. UMRBA will assign a staff person to research and make a recommendation for a facility within the determined city.  The Executive Director will provide authorization for the meeting venue selection and contracting.  Factors included in decision making will include accessibility, safety, cost, and meeting purpose. 

Meeting Announcement and Agenda

  1. UMRBA will disseminate a meeting announcement at the soonest time possible and a preliminary agenda approximately four weeks in advance of a convening.  The meeting announcement will include:
    1. A direct link to the convening event webpage, which will include logistics information, tentative schedule, meeting purpose, and a sense of invited participants.
    2. An attached PDF of the logistics information, tentative schedule, meeting purpose, and a sense of invited participants.
    3. The UMRBA Notice of Nondiscrimination.
    4. A request to contact the UMRBA Nondiscrimination Coordinator, Natalie Lenzen, at umrba@umrba.org, within two weeks (and two weeks prior to the meeting) to request language assistance service, auxiliary aid or service, and/or another reasonable accommodation.
  2. UMRBA will disseminate the preliminary agenda approximately four weeks in advance of each convening.  The communication of the preliminary agenda will include:
    1. A direct link to the convening event webpage, which will include logistics information, schedule, preliminary agenda, and a sense of invited participants.
    2. An attached PDF of the logistics information, tentative schedule, preliminary agenda, and a sense of invited participants.
    3. The UMRBA Notice of Nondiscrimination.
    4. A request to contact the UMRBA Nondiscrimination Coordinator, Natalie Lenzen, at umrba@umrba.org, within two weeks (and two weeks prior to the meeting) to request language assistance service, auxiliary aid or service, and/or another reasonable accommodation.
  3. UMRBA will disseminate the final agenda approximately two weeks in advance of each convening.  The communication of the final agenda will include:
    1. A direct link to the convening event webpage, which will include logistics information, schedule, agenda, anticipated participants, and read ahead (or reference) materials.
    2. The UMRBA Notice of Nondiscrimination.
    3. An insert of “how to participate” in the convening meetings, such as the process for engaging in the conversation and/or offering a public comment.  This insert will also include information about using features within Zoom (or other platform) that facilitate remote participation (e.g., raise hand feature).
      • A request to inform the UMRBA Nondiscrimination Coordinator, Natalie Lenzen, at umrba@umrba.org, of known challenges to participating in a meeting because of language or other accessibility barriers.
      • The notice will include information that certain accommodations may not be feasible, but that UMRBA staff will review their capabilities and work with the individual to consider opportunities to enhance the individual’s accessibility to fully participate in the meeting.
    4. An annotated agenda with an explicit purpose for the agenda topic and relationship to the meeting materials.  This information may be placed within the agenda packet of read head materials, on the attachment page for the section of materials.
    5. A list of acronyms frequently used during interstate water resource management convenings. 

 Meeting Documentation and Post-Meeting Actions

  1. UMRBA will disseminate a summary of the convening purpose, discussion, and outcomes. The level of detail provided in the summary will be determined in advance of the convening by the Chair of the UMRBA Board, chair of the standing councils or committees, or other set of individuals tasked with supporting the convening design.
  2. For any “formal” public comment, UMRBA will take the actions listed below.  A “formal” public comment is defined as a comment reserved by a public participant in advance of the meeting – whether reserved as a special presentation time or to comment on a specific agenda topic.  Any other comment provided by a public participant during the meeting will be considered informal and, therefore, the same process of a formal response will not be undertaken.
    1. The UMRBA Executive Director will coordinate a response with the UMRBA Board Chair and other Board members.
    2. Within a month of the public meeting or as soon as practicable, the UMRBA Executive Director will submit to the public participant the coordinated response to their comment.
    3. During the Executive Director’s report of the next UMRBA quarterly meeting, the UMRBA Executive Director will provide a report on UMRBA Board’s consideration of the public participant’s comment and whether it will result in any change to a UMRBA policy or program activity.