Town Council Minutes' Format Matter
Dec. 2005 - Jan. 2006
Wethersfield, CT
Public Comments and Concerns
of
Michael Cuddigan
Comments on 1/3/2006 to Council
I'm speaking tonight on 2 agenda items.
The first is item B2A (Change in Town Council Minute Format). At the last meeting, it was referred to as Town Council and Boards and Commissions minutes. I don't know if the scope has been narrowed. I don't know whether the Town Council can tell the Boards and Commissions what to do. But, my comments will be the same, regardless.
My view is that minutes should reflect what happens at the meeting. That includes what the elected and appointed officials say, as well as what the public says. That provides citizens with a sense of how decisions were reached.
Town Attorney John Bradley, in his 12/28/2005 memo to Town Manager Bonnie Therrien said: "The purpose of narrative minutes, among other things, is to create a historical record of the proceedings of the council. Detailed minutes can provide great assistance in ascertaining legislative intent i.e., in determining why the council passed a certain ordinance or took a certain action. Likewise, information gleaned from the minutes can be very useful in interpreting the meaning of ordinances and resolutions."
Town Manager Bonnie Therrien, in her 1/3/2006 Council comments on this subject said: "I discussed this change at my last Department Head Meeting and the staff indicated that they prefer the old format with more information as opposed to less. They believe that the additional information helps them with the history of an agenda item and they feel public comments minutes are important for Board and Commission members."
The views of these professionals should be given great emphasis in your vote on this agenda item.
'Working Notes' have been mentioned as a substitute. I don't know what they are; how long they would be retained; they do not appear to be mentioned or defined in CT General Statute 1-225; that's the statute related to minutes that Atty. Bradley references.
An audio or video tape is not an acceptable alternative to minutes. You'd have to listen to the whole 2 to 3 hours to get what you want. I don't know how long the tapes are retained. Tapes are no longer available in the Public Library. Reliability of the video tapes has historically been shaky.
My conclusion is that I want the minutes restored to the level of detail that existed prior to the 12/5/2005 meeting.
The second topic is Agenda Item B6A (Approval of the 12/19/2005 Minutes). These should not be approved. A major topic of that meeting was the discussion of the Minutes Changes itself.
You 9 Councilors spent at least 15 minutes on this subject. Yet, the minutes only say "Councilors had mixed opinions regarding the new format; therefore it was decided to table the motion until more information is obtained."
I don't understand why the 12/19/2005 and the 12/5/2005 minutes have been significantly cut down in detail when the Council has not yet voted to make any changes in format or style.
