Council minutes: how much is too much?

Mac Olsen
South Peace News

Councillor Jeff Burgar considers the amount of information recorded in the minutes of High Prairie town council meetings very limited and he made a motion during the Jan. 28 meeting for more information to be put in, which was defeated. All but Mayor Rick Dumont were there when Burgar made the motion. Dumont attended later, leaving deputy mayor David Vanderwell to run the meeting. The issue is section 208 1(a) of the Municipal Government Act, which says, “all minutes of council meetings are recorded in the English language, without note or comment.” CAO Larry Baran says he is “caught between a rock and a hard place.” “We’re supposed to be at the absolute minimum for listing the topic and the resolution of council,” says Baran. “The minutes of the council meeting cannot have any more information than this.” He adds it is not up to the recording secretary to create a Hansard, which is a word-for-word transcription of the meeting. For example, a Community Futures board has the names of those present, motions and resolutions, the date for the next meeting and time of adjournment. South Peace News showed Baran the minutes for the High Prairie Regional Multiplex Partnership Group’s second ice surface committee meeting Jan. 13. Those minutes have a detailed statement about damage to the east-side exterior panels on the Gordon Buchanan Recreation Centre: “The committee discussed the damages done by Smith Welding to the east-side exterior panels on the building. Concerns of completing repairs versus full panel replacements of the panels were discussed. Mayor Dumont expressed concerns of the importance of ensuring the repairs are done properly as this is a new building or whether or not a ‘repair’ of damages would be acceptable over the long-term. Lindsay Pratt will follow up with Smith Welding to find a solution to resolving whether or not insurance should be covering the costs, and whether or not cutting and replacing the damaged panels would be the best solution.” However, Baran says council meeting minutes should not be recorded this way. “That’s not the way we want to do minutes. We want to conform to the direction we’re receiving from Municipal Affairs. Also, everyone has a different perspective or interpretation of the minutes, so they should be as impartial and objective as possible.” Burgar disagrees, saying the MGA does not limit what goes into minutes. He adds future councils should have detailed information from past councils to refer to when issues arise. “If it was the intent of the legal minds behind the Municipal Government Act to have minutes as short as possible, they would say it. I am arguing for more open minutes so that three years from now, five years from now or 10 years from now, new people uninformed of the situation that we are in at the moment and the reasons behind our decisions, will have an opportunity to actually read those,” says Burgar. “You don’t have to put in your comments. You don’t have to put in your opinions. You can just state the discussion and the facts as is. The secretary has nothing to do with the minutes. The minutes are the responsibility of the CAO.” As for Baran’s reference to Hansard, “I said at the (council) meeting that we’ve got three people there that are taking notes. Larry’s taking notes, two other people are taking notes and these people cost money, not to mention the time of the councillors. These meetings cost money and if we can’t have a full record of them, I think there is something wrong. To me, this is just an argument to start videotaping the meetings and making them available.” Burgar also says the statement from the second ice surface committee meeting is a statement of facts and it is exactly what he wants in the council minutes. “That’s not comment, that’s a report of the facts. It’s exactly what we should have,” he says. “I think the legal advice that we are getting is, as any lawyer says, to be on the safe side. (But) being on the safe side is not giving you open and transparent government.” Councillor James Waikle agrees with what Burgar would like to do, but says council is bound by the MGA. However, he is open to making a motion at the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association meeting in Calgary next fall requesting a change to the MGA. “The AUMA is our lobbying voice to the provincial government for such things, so that should be the next step.” However, such a motion would have to be submitted to AUMA soon because the package for the meeting is being prepared. “If councillor Burgar wants to make that as a motion in council for the Town of High Prairie, to make that motion at the AUMA, it can certainly be considered,” says Waikle. Vanderwell prefers to talk to council first. “I’m not saying no, I’m not saying yes. I reserve judgment until I get a better idea of what way council leans on that and what previous attempts have been made at dealing with the issue,” says Vanderwell.

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