HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-25-24 10-24 Clerk's PresentationBill No. 10-24: Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of South Bend, Indiana, amending Section 2-7(c) of Chapter 2, Article 1 of the South Bend Municipal Code, “Duties of the City
Clerk as Clerk of the Council” to permit the City Clerk to hire outside contractual services for the initial preparation of drafts of meeting minutes.
February 26, 2024
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The transition from outgoing clerk to newly elected clerk has resulted in a gap and backlog of unprepared meeting minutes of both Council and Committee meetings from the term of the
outgoing clerk.
The newly elected clerk is working to complete this backlog and the use of outside contractual services would bring the Council into full legal compliance more quickly.
Under the statute as currently written, only those directly employed by the Clerk's office can draft and send minutes to the Subcommittee of Minutes and the full Council.
BILL NO. 10-24 BACKGROUND
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BILL NO. 10-24 BACKGROUND
Clerk Bianca Tirado took office January 1st, 2024, for her term which runs January 1, 2024- December 31, 2027.
A full audit of Council and Committee minutes from January 1, 2022-December 31, 2023
The audit took place from January 4, 2024- January 29, 2024
The audit discovered:
20 partial or never drafted Council minutes from 2023
58 partial or never drafted Committee minutes from 2023
8 partial or never drafted Council minutes from 2022
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AUDIT PROCESS
Reviewed City Clerk drive to find which Minutes were missing
Cross reference LaserFiche to see which Minutes were missing from public access
Do a full sweep of the City Clerk Hard Drive for missing minutes
Review each Council and Committee Minutes from 2022- 2023 to see if they meet the legal minimum of the Open Door Law.
Review past minutes to determine which minutes were never brought to the sub-Committee of Minutes and Council.
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OPEN DOOR LAW
Regarding minutes, the agency must keep a memoranda of meetings that include:
the date, time, and place of meeting,
members of the governing body recorded as present or absent,
the general substance of all matters discussed and decided,
A record of all votes taken by individual member (if done in a roll call)
The Open Door Law provides the public with the right of access to the meetings of many government agencies at the local and state level. The law entitles the public to receive notice
and the ability to inspect and copy meeting memorandum.
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The minutes must be made public for inspection and copying to the public; however, the law does not give a specific time deadline for when these items are available to the public just
that “The memoranda are to be available within a reasonable period of time after the meeting. The minutes, if any, are to be open for the public for inspection and copying” I.C. § 5-14-1.5-5
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Council Minutes that have the legal minimum as outlined by APRA that needed grammatical and minor edits and were never brought to Council for approval in 2022 and 2023:
2023
April 10th April 24th August 28th November 13th
2022
June 13th June 27th October 10th October 24th
November 14th November 28th December 12th
BREAKDOWN OF 2022 & 2023 MINUTES
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Council Minutes that are drafted but do not meet the legal minimum requirements outlined by APRA and need to be heavily modified:
2023
January 9th February 6th March 13th May 8th
June 12th June 26th July 24th August 14th
September 11th December 11th
2022
September 12th
BREAKDOWN OF 2022 & 2023 MINUTES
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Council Minutes that were never drafted:
2023
January 23rd February 13th February 27th
March 27th July 10th
BREAKDOWN OF 2022 & 2023 MINUTES
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Committee Minutes from 2023 that need to be redone because they lack roll calls and other information critical to meet the minimum standard of IN Open Door Law:
February 27th- Residential Neighborhoods, Community Investments, and Zoning & Annexation
March 13th- Zoning & Annexation and Health & Public Safety
March 27th- Health & Public Safety and Zoning & Annexation
April 10th- Health & Public Safety, Community Investments, Zoning & Annexation
April 24th- Community Investments, Zoning & Annexation
May 8th- PARC
June 12th- Community Investments, Zoning & Annexation
BREAKDOWN OF 2022 & 2023 MINUTES
June 26th- Personnel & Finance
July 24th- Public Works and Property Vacation,
August 14th Zoning & Annexation
August 28th- Community Investments, Zoning & Annexations
September 25th- Zoning & Annexations
October 23rd- Personnel & Finance
October 23rd- Zoning & Annexation
November 13th- Public Works & Property Vacation
November 27th- Personnel & Finance, Zoning & Annexation
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Committee Minutes from 2023 that were never completed:
February 6th- Public Works & Property Vacation, Zoning & Annexation, Community Investments
February 9th- Health & Public Safety, PARC, Property Works & Public Vacation, Residential Neighborhoods
May 8th- Community Investments, Zoning & Annexation
May 22nd- Zoning & Annexation, Community Investments
June 26th- Health & Public Safety, Community Investments
July 10th- Zoning & Annexation, Community Investments
Breakdown of 2022 & 2023 Minutes
July 24th- Community Investments, Health & Public Safety, Zoning & Annexation
September 11th- Community Investments, Zoning & Annexations
October 9th- Utilities, Community Investments, Personnel & Finance
December 11th- Personnel & Finance
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(c) The Clerk, or a designated representative of the Clerk’s Office, in addition to the powers and duties enumerated in other sections of this Code, shall attend all regular and special
meetings of the Council and shall keep an accurate journal of the proceedings of the Council and exercise and perform the powers and duties as provided and prescribed by law, this Code
or ordinances. The City Clerk’s Office shall prepare minutes without consultation with anyone not a part of said office. However, when necessary, the City Clerk, with the approval of
the Council President, may contract with an outside contractual service company to prepare an initial draft of meeting minutes. All meeting minutes must still be reviewed for accuracy
by the City Clerk’s office and the Council Subcommittee on Minutes prior to any submission for approval by full Council.
SECTION 2-7 (C) AS AMENDED BY THIS ORDINANCE
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QUESTIONS/COMMENTS
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