Madison Municipal Records Committee Minutes
Committee Members Present: Administrator Melissa Arias, Town Clerk/Tax Collector Marcia Shackford, Archivist Craig Evans, Treasurer Catherine Tilton.
Volunteers Present: Carol Hally & Sharon Coonrod.
Absent: Selectman John Arruda.
Meeting called to order at 2:14 p.m. by Chairman Shackford.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES - Craig made a motion to approve the minutes of the December 12, 2006 meeting, seconded by Catherine, and so voted. Marcia noted that the Press Release on the Moose Plate Conservation Grant acceptance was published in the Conway Daily Sun.
RECORDS SURVEY UPDATE – Marcia ran down the list of the Record Survey information, including which Committee Member is interviewing which Department Head and where we stand with the project.
STATUS OF REVISED MUNICIPAL RECORDS ORDINANCE – Marcia has e-mailed the Town Attorney information and questions on the revisions to the Original Records Ordinance. She hopes to hear something back within the next few weeks.
CONTINUATION OF FINAL REVIEW FOR STANDARDIZATION OF MINUTES – Marcia referenced a Memo dated March 12, 2003 to all department heads on Meeting Minutes. Craig explained the sample document for minutes that should be followed by all departments. Craig reviewed a template taken from the NH Office of Information Technology that could be adopted. If adopted, the template would have to be completed by the recording secretary in conjunction with meeting minutes. Marcia wonders if this template could be replaced by attaching a copy of the meeting agenda to the minutes. Craig said he feels the agendas should be placed on file with each set of minutes, being filed on top of the minutes of the meeting for ease of locating subject matter. The Committee wondered if the standardization of minutes should include a section to spell out when and how the meeting was publicly posted/noticed. Catherine made a motion to include the place and date of posting on the template, seconded by Carol, and so voted. Marcia suggested requiring a header or footer with the date and title of meeting, as well as the number of pages for the complete minutes (ex. 1 of 4, 2 of 4, etc.). Craig said our suggested template would need to be approved by the Selectmen and then used as an example for all Town meeting minutes. Marcia has devised a spreadsheet of the meeting minutes filed in her office for the year 2006, by department, by date. RSA 41:58 spells out that the Town Clerk is to be the official keeper of all Town records. Craig feels the Selectmen will need to make a ruling that in accordance with this RSA, the Town Clerk is to receive all meeting minutes and official documents for filing. Craig would like the Selectmen to make a determination whether or not they feel all minutes of meetings should be accepted by the particular board/group. If so, this would become a Town Policy and be more stringent than the State Law pertaining to RSA 91A. This is something we will look to John Arruda for at an upcoming meeting. We would then forward the draft policy onto Town Counsel for approval prior to a public hearing.
TRAINING & EDUCATING BOARD MEMBERS & OFFICIALS – The Committee discussed how Board Members and elected Officials become properly educated and trained to fill their position. Sharon wondered if some sort of information packet could be put together for handout to new members, new minute keepers, and other officials. Catherine felt a listing of all RSA’s pertaining to her position as Treasurer would have been extremely helpful for her to review at the time she took over as Treasurer. The Chairman of the particular group should be somewhat responsible to make sure the meeting minutes are filed appropriately and that all members are up to speed on their expected duties.
CONTINUED POLICIES DISCUSSION – The Committee discussed the Draft Policy on Mediated Access to Town Records. A pricing list needs to be devised for photocopying expenses as well as a price for accumulated research and labor charges. Marcia suggested looking at some of the larger NH communities to see if they have a research and copy fee policy in place. We could compare their information and use it to devise our own pricing list.
FUTURE COMMITTEE MEETINGS – The 2007 Records Committee Meetings will be held on the following Tuesdays: February 6th, March 6th, April 10th, May 1st, and June 5th.
Meeting adjourned at 3:30 p.m. on a motion by Melissa, seconded by Catherine, and so voted.
Respectfully submitted,
Melissa Shackford Arias, Admin.
Recording Secretary