Inaccurate Minutes

Question

I notified the clerk (and chairman) well in advance of the draft minutes being approved as a 'true and correct record' etc. of an omission, which rendered the minutes inaccurate.

The omitted sentence was crucial as without it, it shows complete justification for the decision made. The omission had been deliberately left out as with it included, would have rendered the decision illogical.

The unamended draft minutes have now been agreed.

Can anyone advise me of a remedy as this one action questions the integrity of any record of council business.

Thank you

Answer 1

Were the draft minutes approved at the last meeting you attended?  In future, if this is done again, under minutes of the last meeting, state what has been omitted, tell the clerk you want your statement minuting. Even if the rest agree to the minutes, your statement should make it clear to a neutral reader that something was going on. Consider making audio recordings of future meeting if you can.

Comments

Thank you Graeme. It's a sad day when errors are reported but go unchanged. Recording of meetings is almost a necessity these days.

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Problem you have is the proper officer is not obligated to memorialise any statement whilst accept some do politely request certain things (most recent locally was an apology where a member politely asked if it was possible).  As Dave the Clerk says the minutes only need to record the decision.

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Yes, I suppose that's true. Thanks

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I'm intrigued to know whether you were at the meeting where the minutes were approved and whether your suggested correction was discussed?

Answer 2

There is no requirement to include a justification of the decision in the minutes. The minutes only need to record the decision.

Comments

When a vote is taken on any matter, any member may ask for the votes to be recorded in the minutes to show who voted for and against the motion. In this scenario, only the names of those for and against the motion must be recorded, without a requirement for any narrative to show why they cast their vote in such a way.