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DATE:
TO:
FROM:
SUBJECT
STAFF REPORT
CITY COUNCIL
CITY CLERK
File # 610-10
December 20, 2011
Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
~~
Joni Pattillo, City Manager ° ~'
Consideration of Changing City Council Minutes to Action Minutes
Prepared by Caroline P. Soto, City Clerk
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
The City Council will consider changing the format of City Council meeting minutes from
summary minutes to action minutes.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
There are sufficient funds within the current budget to affect this change.
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council consider this matter and take the appropriate action.
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Submitted By Reviewed By
City Clerk Assistant City Manager
DESCRIPTION:
Per Government Code Section 36814 and 40801 (Attachment 1), the City Clerk is required to
keep a record of the proceedings, or minutes, of the City Council meeting. The law, however, is
not specific as to the format or content of the minutes.
Meeting minutes are generally prepared in one of three formats: action, summary or verbatim.
Action minutes usually contain only the motion and the vote(s) with very little, if any, narrative
included in the minutes. Summary minutes (the form currently used by the City of Dublin)
contains the same information as the action minutes, yet also includes City Council, Staff and
public comments and narrative. The amount of detail captured in summary minutes varies by
minute-takers and can vary between City Council, Commission or Committee. Verbatim
minutes are aword-for-word transcript of the public meeting.
As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, the City of Dublin, through the City Clerk, prepares
summary minutes for all City Council meetings and special meetings. Staff has been directed
to, where possible, prepare the minutes for the previous City Council meeting for consideration
Page 1 of 2 ITEM NO. 8.5
and approval on the next City Council agenda. The preparation of the minutes is very time-
consuming, as Staff estimates that it takes up to 3 hours for each hour of a City Council
meeting. Staff is also concerned as to the ability to capture the nuances of complex
conversations/issues accurately into the minutes. Because of the dedicated time needed for
accurate minute transcription, the City Clerk, an exempt employee, usually works on minutes
after regular office hours, including weekends. On the few occasions when another City
Manager Office Staff member handles transcription, it may also require overtime.
In addition to the meeting minutes, there are two additional methods for capturing the City
Council's actions at each meeting. The City Clerk keeps a full audio recording of the meeting,
which Staff can reference to capture the nuances of the City Council's discussion/direction. The
City Council meetings are also streamed digitally on TV 30. The City's website also includes the
agenda, minutes, and video recordings of each action. The website allows the viewer to watch
each item independently, making it easier for the viewer to pick an item instead of watching the
entire meeting.
Staff would recommend that the City Council consider allowing Staff to move from summary
minutes to action minutes. Staff believes that, by accepting action minutes as the official record
of the City Council meeting, the City would realize the following benefits:
• Staff would be able to prepare action minutes that would be available to the public the
next business day.
• The action minutes would be posted to the City's website with a video link to each
agenda item.
• The action minutes would save Staff 15+ hours per month, usually overtime, that are
currently spent preparing minutes.
Per City Council rules, if the City Council were to allow for the preparation of action minutes,
City Councilmembers would still have the ability to specifically request that items or statements
be entered "into the record", recognizing this would add some time to the preparation of the
minutes.
The City's current Record Retention Schedule designates the City Council meeting minutes as
permanent records. As is currently done with summary minutes, City Council action minutes
would be prepared, approved, scanned and later transferred to an acceptable media format for
permanent retention. City Council meeting videos are also designated as permanent records in
the City's Record Retention Schedule and would, therefore, be available to the City in the event
actions and/or discussions of the City Council needed to be reviewed and/or verified. Videos of
the previous four years of City Council meetings are currently available to the public on the
City's website, and as a new year is added, the earlier year will be kept in a permanent media
format as required by the City's Records Retention Schedule. The City Clerk is currently
working with the City's video consultant to ensure permanent retention of meeting videos. A
DVD of each Regular City Council meeting is also available in the City Clerk's Office for public
viewing, if necessary.
NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH:
None.
ATTACHMENTS: 1. Government Code Sections 36814 and 40801
2. Sample Action Minutes on Website
3. Current Summary Minutes Format
Page 2 of 2
WAIS Document Retrieval
36811. 7f all council members are absent from any regular meeting,
the city clerk shall declare the meeting adjourned to a stated day
and hour. The city clerk shall cause a written notice of the
adjournment to be delivered personally to each council member at
least three hours before the adjourned meeting.
36812. After incorporation, the city council is judge of the
qualifications of its members and of election returns. It shall
determine contested elections of city officers.
36812.1.. if a written statement to contest the election of a city
officer pursuant to Sections 16400 and 16401 of the Elections Code is
filed with the city clerk prior to the commencement of any
proceeding by the city council, pursuant to Section 36812, the
authority of the city council to commence those proceedings shall be
suspended for the applicable period of time specified in Section
16401 of the Elections Code for the filing of the statement of
contest.
Upon the expiration of the period of time, the city council may
proceed pursuant to Section 3681.2 if no proceedings have been
instituted pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 16500} of
Chapter S of Division 16 of the Elections Code, or those proceedings
are terminated without judgment being rendered by the court.
3&812.5. A city may defend any person elected to the city council
or to the office of city clerk or city treasurer in any election
contest instituted for any of the causes set forth in subdivisions
(a}, (d}, or (e} of Section 16100 of the Elections Code,
36813. The council may establish rules for the conduct of its
proceedings. It may punish a member or other person for disorderly
behavior at a meeting,
36814. The council shall cause the clerk to keep a correct record
of its proceedings. At the request of a member, the city clerk shall
enter the ayes and noes in the journal.
3687.5. Any reference to "councilman" or "councilmen" shall also
mean and include "councilwoman" or "councilwomen.° A female member of
a city council may designate herself "councilwoman." Any member of a
city council may designate himself or herself "councilmember."
Page 2 of 2
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WAIS Document Retrieval
CALIFORNIA CORES
GOVERNMENT CORE
SECTION 40801-40814
40801. The city clerk shall keep an accurate record of the
proceeding of the legislative body and the board of equalization in
books bearing appropriate titles and devoted exclusively to such
purposes, respectively. The books shall have a comprehensive general
index.
40802. The city clerk is the accounting officer of the city and
sha11 maintain records readily reflecting the financial condition of
the city.
40804. The city clerk shall cause a summary of the city's financial
report required by Section 53897., in a form prescribed by the State
Controller, to be published once in a newspaper of general
circulation, pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 6000),
Chapter 1, Bivision 7, Title 1 of the Government Code. If there is no
such newspaper he shall cause copies of the statement to be posted
in three public places in the city designated by ordinance as the
places for posting of public notices.
40805. The report shall be published or posted not later than 120
days after the close of the fiscal year for which the report is
compiled.
40805.5. The financial and accounting duties imposed upon the city
clerk by Sections 40802 through 40805 may be transferred to a
director of finance when such office has been established and the
powers and duties thereof defined by ordinance.
40866. The city clerk shall keep a book marked "ordinances" and
record in it all city ordinances with his certificate annexed to
each, stating:
{a} It is a true and correct copy of a city ordinance.
(b) The ordinance number.
{c) It has been published or posted pursuant to law.
40807. The record with the certificate is prima facie evidence of
the contents of each ordinance and of its passage and publication. Yt
is admissible as such evidence in any court or proceedings.
40808. The official city records in the custody of the city clerk
Page 1 of 2
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~AMYI,l1 OF ACTION 1VIINUTE~ ON WEB~ITE
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