03/15/2004 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Philip M. Bred, Diredor of Finai+ce and Ecanomic bevelopment GTarification of Minutes of March 22, 2004 At the meeting of May 17th a member of Council referred to my minutes of March 22nd, 2004 as completely inadequate. I respectfully disagree with that statement. Let me state the reasons for m? disagreement before proceeding on with a discussion of the meeting of March 22° , 2004. • No secretary or clerk was available that evening to take minutes. Donna Roman and requested time off and Deborah Garbo was scheduled to take her place. Ms. Garbo was under the weather the entire day and at my insistence and with the permission of the Council President was excused from the meeting. Council President Buckholtz asked if I would take notes and he said he would do the same. • There was only one matter of business for that evening: consideration for passage of Ordinance 2004-18. Per Robert's Rules of Order: In keeping the minutes, much depends upon the kind of meeting, and whether the minutes are to be published In the meetinQS of ordinarv societies and of boards of managers and trustees, there is no obiect in renorting the debates; the dutv of the secretarv, in such cases, is mainlv to record what is "done" bv the assemblv, and not what is said bv the members. He should enter the essentials of a record, as previously stated, and when a count has been ordered or where the vote is by ballot, he should enter the number of votes on each side; and when the voting is by yeas and nays he should enter a list of the names of those voting on each side. (emphasis added). Per Robert's Rules of Order, the minutes of the 22nd are more than sufficient and could be even said to contain superfluous information. • The minutes in this case are the record of last resort. Ordinance 2004-18 is explained in detail in a 164 page document which is available to Council, residents or the media. In addition, the Mayor compiled an eight page letter of transmittal that distills the budget and provides a concise summary of the budget. • The minutes reflect a minority view of Council. My recollection is that only three Council members had questions or comments regarding the budget. Informal discussions with the Mayor and other Council members prior to the meeting had addressed many of the concerns held by Council members. Page 1 of 6