Title
Previously Transcribed Meeting Minutes and Options for Casting Votes
Body
RECOMMENDED ACTION (Motion):
Staff recommends the Commission participate in the discussion and provide staff direction.
BACKGROUND:
The City Recorder has prepared a presentation regarding two house-keeping items. First is the approval of old or previously transcribed minutes that have never been approved by their respective governing bodies. The second item is to discuss the Commission's preference on options for casting future votes at the dais.
As part of the City Commission's Goal #4, the City Recorder's office is working to implement an electronic records management system Citywide. During this project, some research was conducted to scan old City Commission meeting minutes, along with other Boards and Committee's meeting minutes. Some minutes were found to have not been approved by the governing body and now need to be brought before those governing bodies for approval.
First, it is important to understand what is meant by approving the minutes. It is not an approval of what was done. It simply confirms that the minutes are an accurate record of what took place. Second, it is important to note that Commissioner and/or Board members generally have a duty to vote, and may be excused from voting on matters involving their own financial interest or their own official conduct. Along these same lines, there is no statute that allows an excuse for a member who objects to the decisions reflected in the minutes that are up for approval. As stated in the Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised 11th edition, P. 355:
"A member's absence from the meeting for which minutes are being approved does not prevent the member from participating in their correction or approval."
Over the next several months, staff may be asking Commissioners and Board members to vote on minutes of meetings they did not attend.
As part of an open and transparent government, the previous City Commission approved a contract with Granicus to provide electronic voting in 2012. Prior to electronic voting, the City Recorder did a roll call vote and tallied the votes on a piece of paper. Once implementing the electronic voting in 2012, the Commission transitioned using only the touch-screen monitors to place their votes and reading and/or displaying the results.
In 2015, the Mayor asked the Commission to do both the electronic touch-screen voting and the verbal roll call affirmation of the vote cast. Over time, the Commission has relaxed on the use of the electronic voting and started to rely again on the use of the verbal roll call vote.
Here are some options for casting votes during a Commission meeting:
Option #1: City Recorder performs a verbal roll call vote and rotates which Commissioner is called upon first. After the verbal vote is spoken, the Commissioners then places their electronic vote.
Option #2: All Commissioners place their electronic vote at the same time. Once the electronic voting is complete and locked, the City Recorder then performs a verbal roll call vote in the same order each time.
Option #3: All Commissioners place their electronic vote at the same time and there is no verbal roll call vote, but once the results display, the Mayor reads the results verbally into the record.
Staff would like to recommend the Commission go with option number 2 and the City Recorder with make sure to pause allowing the Commissioners to place the votes and lock them in before continuing with the roll call vote.