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Date: 8/18/2020
EASTHAMPTON – The City Council recently approved a measure that would increase the transparency of the council as a whole and its subcommittees.
By unanimous vote, the council approved at its Aug. 5 meeting New Council Rule 11L, which requires all minutes of the committees must finalize and approve their meeting minutes and send them to the city clerk for public availability within three meetings.
“Basically, it means don’t get more than three meetings behind on your minutes,” said City Councilor and Rules & Government Regulation Committee Chair Tom Peake said.
The rule was proposed by City Council President Peg Conniff.
“My rationale for putting this forward was really just my noticing on the city website that we have been woefully behind in getting our minutes out,” she said. “Minutes are a way for the public to know what has transpired in our meetings – not everyone has the ability to watch the meeting, some people prefer to have minutes – and there was some seriously bad activity last year in terms of lagging of getting those minutes out.”
Conniff added she reviewed the Open Meeting Law enforced by the Attorney General’s Office and note the city council is “not entirely adhering to all of their standards.”
Conniff admitted in some cases, three meetings still might be too long to wait for approved minutes, especially for committees that do not meet as regularly, but “it’s a good place to start.”
Councilor Lindsey Rothschild said the rule was reasonable, but opined that councilors should spread the responsibility.
“I know I’m the clerk of two different committees and I’ve had a fellow councilor refuse to be a clerk on any committee and I don’t think that’s fair; I don’t think that’s collegial,” she said. “So, I look to my fellow councilors. If you are not stepping up to clerk and if you don’t want to share the responsibility, maybe consider not running next time.”
Councilor Owen Zaret admitted having concerns about the original language of the rule, but thanked Conniff for bringing the issue forward, stating he “never disagreed with the spirit of this.” He added he was “satisfied” with the solution developed by the Rules and Government Regulation Committee. He also concurred with Rothschild’s sentiments.
“Clerking on the committee is potentially one of the most important roles of that committee because it distributes the information in those meetings to the public and there’s always opportunities to help carry the load,” he said.
Councilor Homar Gomez and Dan Rist also supported Rothschild’s assertion. Gomez also noted the city council is not the only governing body struggling with maintaining timely minutes.
In response to Gomez, Conniff said, “We probably do need to do a refresher on Open Meeting Law because all of our meetings are public and open and therefore they fall under Open Meeting [Law].”
Conniff said she would “take ownership” of communicating with boards and committees regarding Open Meeting Law requirements.