TOWN OF MANSFIELD

POLICY MEMORANDUM

To:                   All Town Employees and Volunteers

From:             Matthew W. Hart, Town Manager

Prepared by: Mary L. Stanton, Town Clerk

Date:              May 1, 2007

Subject:        Procedures for the Posting and Retention of Agendas and Minutes

              I.      Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide clarification and guidance regarding the posting and retention of agendas and the writing, posting and filing of minutes for the Boards, Commissions and Committees in the Town of Mansfield.

The purpose of an agenda is to inform both the participants and the public what items are to be discussed at the meeting.   The minutes of any organization serve as the permanent record of subjects discussed, conclusions reached, actions taken and assignments given.

Meeting Schedules

Prior to January 31^st of each year all Boards, Commissions, Agencies and Committees of the Town of Mansfield must file a schedule of their regular meetings with the Town Clerk’s office. This schedule must be filed at least 30 days prior to the first meeting of the agency.

Agenda

Each Agency must make its agenda for any regularly scheduled meeting available to the public at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

A special meeting may be called up to 24 hours (excluding weekends and holidays) prior to the event.  An agenda stating the time, place and business to be transacted must be filed as soon as the decision to have a meeting has been made.

An emergency meeting may be held without the above notice requirements.  However, the agency must file its minute, including the reason for the emergency meeting, within 72 hours (excluding weekend and holidays) of such meeting.

Minutes

The votes of each member of an agency must be available to the public, if requested, within 48 hours of the end of the meeting.  Complete minutes either draft or approved, depending on the meeting schedule, must be available for public inspection within 7 days.

Agenda

There are many ways to format an agenda.  The agenda essentially flow-charts the activities of a meeting and therefore can change depending on the purpose of the meeting.  There are, however, some standard headings that are common to most municipal agendas.

·        Name of the Board or Commission

·        Date and Time of the Meeting

·        Location of the Meeting

·        Call to Order

·        Roll Call

·        Approval of Minutes, including any corrections

·        Opportunity for Public Comment

·        Old Business

·        New Business

·        Reports

·        Communications

·        Executive Session, if needed

·        Adjournment

Minutes

Minutes should reflect the substance of a meeting and be a clear and accurate record of the proceedings.  Minutes should usually follow the agenda items chronologically.  All motions must be verbatim and all actions and assignments recorded.  The name of the Board or Commission, the date and type of meeting (regular or special), the time of the beginning and the end of the meeting, the corrections to the draft minutes, if any, and a list of those present should be included as part of the record. The amount of discussion included in the minutes should be sufficient to reflect the sense of the organization on each agenda item.

Town agencies are responsible for scheduling their meetings on the Town Calendar. This calendar may be accessed both by staff and citizens on the Mansfield web site, mansfieldct.org.  It is suggested that all meeting rooms be reserved as soon as the schedule for the year is known.

All agendas shall be sent to the publicnotices web address (publicnotices@mansfieldct.org).  This will cause the agenda to be posted on the signboard outside the Town Clerk’s office, on the town’s website, the cable station, when appropriate, and distributed to those citizens who have signed up for META MAIL.

Once minutes have been approved they too shall be sent to the publicnotices web address.  These minutes will be posted on the website, sent to all META MAIL participants and will be filed as a permanent record in the Town Clerk’s vault.

Draft minutes shall be available to the public seven days following the meeting. Copies of these drafts may be requested from the individual departments or through the web master at publicnotices@mansfieldct.org.  The website shall state that draft minutes are available upon request.  Said requests will be forwarded to the correct department via the web master.

The exceptions to this procedure are the following: Town Council, Planning and Zoning Commission, Inland Wetland Agency, Board of Education, Zoning Board of Appeals and Charter Revision Commission.  These organizations will post, as described above, but will be responsible for the copying of their minutes into the permanent minute books.

A copy of the agenda of each meeting must be retained for one year.  The Town Clerk’s office will be the owner of record of all agendas sent to the office and will maintain the file and request authorization to destroy when appropriate.  Individual agencies may retain a copy of the agenda for their records and use.

The minutes of each meeting are permanent records of the Town.  All approved minutes shall be filed in the Town Clerk’s office via publicnotices except as noted in the last paragraph in Section IV.  Departments will be responsible for ensuring that the minutes of the Boards and Commissions that they staff are properly filed.

Any questions or comments regarding this policy should be directed to the Town Clerk.