(2/15) At the February Town Council Meeting, the Council debated the need for a more comprehensive account of meeting minutes.

The need for more comprehensive meeting minutes came on the heels of the split decision by the Council to accept the January 8th and 22nd meeting minutes with a 3-2 vote. Council President Amy Boehman and Commissioner Valerie Turnquist voted against approving the minutes, citing the records did not reflect the actual meeting.

Turnquist previously refused to approve the November 6 meeting minutes because the minutes didn’t reflect important changes to the Community Legacy Grant that were to be implemented by Town staff going forward.

Commissioner Hoover had previously motioned to table the December 5 and 12 minutes with similar concerns.

"As it stands, the Town Council minutes are not a full and accurate account of our meetings as required by our Town Code," Turnquist said. "To be transparent about the business that we conduct, our minutes should reflect what we discussed."

According to Town Attorney Clark Adams, the three basic requirements for meeting minutes include: what was discussed, what the votes were and what the actual decision made was. Adams acknowledged that while additional information may be included, there is more likelihood of disagreement from members of Council about exactly how to characterize that information.

"You can see in the videos of our meetings that we often take some sidebars in our discussions and we always have and always will. To resolve the issue, I think it’s a matter of coming together as a Council and figuring out what we want captured in our meeting minutes," Boehman said.

Turnquist noted that the minutes include a record of public comments and commissioner comments, but in terms of agenda items where a vote is recorded, only the staff’s presentation and recommendation is included. Relevant questions, concerns, or requests from commissioners for additional information are not part of the record. "This is our record of what transpired," she said, "and should be captured in the minutes so readers can put the information in perspective."

Commissioner O’Donnell stated with the staff that the Town had, what the Council was asking them to achieve could be a struggle, and that commissioners and residents could always access video recordings if they needed more information.

Turnquist however pointed out that other municipalities offer much more detailed meeting minutes and would like to see more detailed summary bullet points regarding discussions and how decisions were determined.

Mayor Davis acknowledged the difficulties Town staff faced when trying to please everyone and having to watch meeting videos fully to manually transcribe the meetings. In hopes of resolving the issue, Davis asked the Council to write down and send to him their thoughts on what each commissioner would like to see reflected in the minutes.