Hal,
We maintain the speaker cards from each meeting for approximately two weeks
while we electronically transcribe into a separate file the names on all the
cards that were submitted, regardless of who spoke and who did not. Many
times people will submit a card but decline the opportunity to address the
council if someone else already expressed a similar opinion. This is
not uncommon.
We
do not detail the reason for why a card was not accepted because, as you noted,
we take ‘action minutes’ of our council meetings. Action minutes are the
official written record of what transpires during a meeting and serve the
important function of chronicling council action on items that are properly
agendized (including oral communications) and direction given to staff.
The action minutes are not a record of the discussion. Along with the
online video record of the meeting, I believe this provides the public with a
very thorough and accurate record of what took place in regard to the
agenda. Many times a member of the public will not fill out a card
properly or may request to speak on an item that is taken off the calendar or
was on a previous agenda. We will retain the card or throw it away
depending on the situation but there is no formal or written policy on this
practice. For instance, we do not retain the card for someone who wished
to speak on an item but then had their question answered by staff before the
meeting began and decided to leave the chambers soon after. This is
also not uncommon.
The completed cards are available to view in our offices as long as legal
counsel clears them for viewing. This means that the person making the
request can be given the name or the “nom de guerre” that the speaker chose to
place on the card but the address may be redacted depending on the
situation. You are welcome to visit our offices during our public counter
hours (Monday – Thursday
I
hope this answers your questions. I apologize for my delayed response but
we have been shorthanded in the office and have other public inquiries of equal
import to which we are trying to respond. I thank you for your interest in the
process of municipal governance.
ak
____________________________________________________________________________
Ardashes
"Ardy" Kassakhian
City
Clerk, City of
613
E. Broadway, RM 110
Office:
(818) 548-2090 Fax: (818) 241-5386
__________________________________________________________________________
P Save trees. Please
only print this e-mail if absolutely necessary.
-----Original Message-----
From: halweber@earthlink.net [mailto:halweber@earthlink.net]
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2009 9:49 AM
To: Kassakhian, Ardashes
Cc: Howard, Scott; Drayman, John; Friedman, Laura; Najarian,
Ara; Quintero, Frank; Weaver, David
Subject: Speaker Cards and the Public Record
Ardy Kassakhian
Ardy:
In order for a member of your
staff to prepare the Minutes of City Council meetings, it is necessary for that
person to have access to the Speaker Cards in order to document the names of
"Those appearing:"
The Speaker Cards are therefore
public records, at least for as long as it takes to prepare the meeting Minutes
and for them to be approved at a subsequent City Council Meeting.
Are ALL Speaker Cards, including
those from anyone who may have been denied the opportunity to address the
council, turned over to the person who prepares the Minutes?
If so, is
the denial, and the reason for same, included in the Minutes? If
not, why is this information omitted from the public record?
How long are Speaker Cards retained
by your office, and during that time can the public inspect them, including the
cards from anyone who may have been refused the opportunity to address the
council?
Sincerely,
Hal Weber