Content of Minutes of a meeting

Question

A recent Council meeting was asked to select a Councillor for a role as the Clerks Management Team. Two applied and it went to a vote of the Councillors present.  A Councillor was selected. The minutes only reported the successful Councillor and did not name the unsuccessful Councillor. Also the minutes did not disclose the voting numbers: for, against and abstentions (which on checking appeared different from the total number of Councillors present).

Some Councillors have objected but  the minutes were not changed. One reason given was that the audio recording of the meeetingis available if anyone wants to know the relevant voting. As the Signed minutes represent a legal document  was Council correct in accepting minutes as described?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, the council was correct. The requirement is for the minutes to record decisions made. In general, there is no requirement to record the discussion or details of the voting.

However, at the time the matter is being discussed, any councillor can request that the votes should be recorded in the minutes, and if such a request is made, then it must be honoured. Although the legislation does not specifically say so, it is generally accepted that a councillor can alternatively ask for their own vote to be recorded (as a subsidiary right based on the principle described).

The right to have the votes recorded cannot be exercised retrospectively.

Comments

Thanks for your response. May I just ask for clarification, if you can, on a couple of points. Must a resolution  be recorded in the minutes (including Amendments to resolutions) even if rejected (i.e. a majority of Councillors voted against the resolution).  Secondly if a Councillor asks for the votes to be recorded at the time: can this be merely the general votes for and against: or the names of  a Councillor or Councillors voting for or against?

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A decision not to do something is still a decision and must be recorded. Where a request is made for the votes to be recorded in the minutes, the details of how each councillor voted must be minuted.

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Many thanks.