By Mark Squibb/April 7, 2022
A Mount Pearl City councillor feels the City should put more emphasis on uploading draft meeting minutes online for the public to access.
The conversation came about after Deputy Mayor Nicole Kiley made a motion to slightly amend City regulations at last week’s meeting.
The section in question reads in full, “Minutes of the Public Council Meeting will be placed on the City’s website within three (3) working days following completion with a statement to the effect that such minutes are not the official transcript, which can only be provided following their adoption at the next meeting of Council.” The proposed amendment would change “the next meeting of council” to “a public meeting of council.” A new section would then be added, stating that minutes of the public council meeting will be placed on the City’s website within three working days following their adoption at a public meeting of Council.
Kiley said the amendment is to ensure the public is provided with an accurate and complete set of council minutes in a timely manner. She said the amendment would also ensure everyone is on the same page regarding what to expect, and when.
City Clerk Stacey Pratt explained that under the former regulation, it was unclear as to what ‘completion’ meant.
“This just tightens it up, so now we have three working days following adoption, so now we have a clear start and a clear ending,” said Pratt. “Like Deputy Mayor Kiley said. It’s a tightening up so there’s only one singular practise being followed.”
Councilor Jim Locke noted that with the technology available today, such as Voice to Note software, it may be that verbatim minutes may be made available shortly following the meeting, and that the committee was looking into that possibility.
Councilor Isabelle Fry, had an admittedly different opinion on the matter.
“What would be the downside in posting the minutes directly after the meeting with a caveat that these are still in draft and that they won’t be formal until the adoption at the following meeting?” asked Fry, who expressed concern over the length of time it will take for minutes to become published under the new regulation. In most scenarios that period will be more than two weeks.
Pratt confirmed that minutes would be posted between one and three days after being adopted at the following meeting. As council typically meets every two weeks, this would mean it could take about 17 days for the minutes to be published.
“To your point about, why not post the draft minutes immediately after they’re prepared, the risk there would be action,” said Pratt. “So, if the minutes are posted and there’s an incorrect note in there or there’s an error or an incorrect direction or a note for approval or whatever the case may be, and the public or a member of the media or whatnot acts on it, that’s the risk.”
Pratt noted that adopted minutes have been combed through and any mistakes corrected before being published.
Fry said she agreed with that point, but allowed that residents might still like to see a synopsis of the meeting rather than having to watch it in its entirety (this particular meeting ran for an hour and forty minutes.)
“For example, if we do something at this meeting now, it won’t be known to the public until the minutes are posted for what, two weeks, almost three weeks, and that’s not really timely,” said Fry. “So, I’m just wondering if we could maybe reconsider and have a draft posted.”
Pratt noted that draft minutes are posted with the agenda for the upcoming meeting, so it’s not quite two weeks before the draft minutes appear online. Finalized minutes would be posted within one to three business days following their adoption, two weeks out from the meeting.
Fry said she understand the rationale, but that she would still like to see the minutes posted in a timelier manner.
“Personally, I don’t see any harm posting it as a draft,” she concluded.
Mayor Dave Aker said that the regulations represented a minimum standard and that council could go ‘over and above ‘if they so desired.
Councillor Bill Antle posited that if council can post draft minutes with the fololowing meeting agenda, they ought to be able to publish draft minutes more immediately following the meeting that the minutes actually recorded. He also pointed out that the meetings are livestreamed, and that anybody at anytime can tune in and watch as they see fit.
“There’s always a record of what happened in the meeting in the video,” agreed Mayor Dave Aker. “The purpose of the minutes, frankly, isn’t to get into too much verbatim, it’s (to reflect) the intention of council. And, if we as colleagues don’t sit down and look at those minutes and all agree that that was the intent of council, that doesn’t mean that those minutes were really that valid. Certainly, we would want someone looking at them. I think that’s the intent here, is to get the minutes right. But to councillor Antle’s point, you can still see what we discussed and what we decided, but I do belive the minutes are going to be a synopsis of what happened, but I think they have to be approved by members of council at the end of the day.”
Aker noted that he’s been at the council table for 12 years, and that changes to minutes are incredibly rare.
Town CAO Dana Spurrell reiterated that folks can tune into the livestream video or a recording of it at anytime, and that draft minutes are posted with the following agenda. She said it takes time for staff to vet and document the draft minutes before being published, so staff could probably get a draft on the website earlier, though she’s not sure how much earlier. She added the regulation referred to the official minutes, not draft minutes.
After a few more minutes of discussion, the matter was put to a vote. Fry voted against the motion, but proposed an amendment that the draft minutes be posted as soon as they are ready. That motion also carried.
