Agenda - Council - 03/12/1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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because of the level of detail required for his eases and the many interruptions that are a normal part of his job. He prefers to assign his work to one staff person who is familiar with it. Right now she works part-time and her primary responsibilities, beyond assisting in the clerical pool, are doing Planning Commission minutes and typing the Ramsey J~esident, so the time available to assist him is very limited. Processing Meeting Minutes: The Recording Secretary takes minutes for the twice monthly meetings of the City Council and its committees and quarterly meetings of the Charter Commission and Fire Board. That is one of her core job duties and she enjoys it. Minute taking for other commissions and boards is performed by Administrative Services staff (Plannin. g and Zoning Commission); staff to the commission (Economic Development Commission); or Finance staff (Park and Recreation Commission). Minute taking can consume significant amounts of time, especially for commissions that require detailed minutes. The person assigned to do meeting minutes for the Planning and Zoning Commission recently kept track of her time and discovered that for one meeting she spent 16, hours preparing the agenda, attending the meeting and taking minutes, typing the minutes, and extracting the staff directions. That time includes interruptions to answer phones and wait on customers at the counter. Minute taking has become burdensome for this particular employee because she only works 20 hours per week and she is the person the City Engineer relies on most heavily to do his clerical work. Meetings of t~e Economic Development Commission are generally only an hour long. The Economic Development Coordinator takes notes, then spends approximately two hours writing, the minutes, which are then typed by Administrative Services staff. Park and Reoreation Commission meetings last about two hours unless there is a public hearing. The Accounting Clerk in Finance attends the meetings, and is allowed two and one-halfhoum to write the minutes. The staff person assigned to the Commission would prefer more detailed minutes than the Accounting Clerk can provide. A different staff member who provided that level of detail while substituting for the Accounting Clerk estimates that it would take four hours without interruptions to write the minutes. The Board of Adjustment and the Horse Care Board meet on an "as-needed" basis and the meetings are generally only an hour long. Administrative Services staff members all agreed that minute taking sh~)uld be a responsibility of Administrative Services. However, when the regular minute takers are unavailable, it is difficult to find volunteers willing to attend evening meetings. I asked about options other than a live person being present to take notes. Even the best quality audio tapes are difficult because the person transcribing the tape can't always identify who is speaking to make motions or express opinions. Video tapes present similar problems. The camera doesn't always focus on the person who is speaking.