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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03.c. Approve change to Board minute format and videotaping of Board meetingsCentral Contra Costa Sanitary District 3. c. BOARD OF DIRECTORS r r POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: July 23, 2015 Subject- APPROVAL OF FORMAT CHANGE FOR BOARD MINUTES AND VIDEOTAPING OF BOARD MEETINGS Submitted By: Initiating Dept /Div.: Elaine R. Boehme Secretary of the District Secretary of the District REVIEWED AND RECOMMENDED FOR BOARD ACTION: Roger Bail S. y General Mana er ISSUE: The Secretary of the District has been directed to look at options for expediting the production of Board meeting minutes so they can be scheduled for Board approval on the next Board agenda, and to review whether continued production of Board action summaries is worthwhile. RECOMMENDATION: Rescind Resolution No. 2004 -074, which authorized audio recordings of Board meetings and subsequent destruction, and adopt new Board Policy No. BP 020 — Minute Style and Video Recording of Board Meetings approving changing to the preparation of action minutes for Board meetings and video recording of Board meetings with a single- camera setup. FINANCIAL IMPACTS: Equipment for a single- camera setup would cost approximately $5,300. Installation of equipment and wiring would cost approximately $5,000, totaling $10,300 in one -time costs. The approximate monthly cost for an outside service to upload and tag the Board meetings would be $150 per meeting, or $3,600 per year for two Board meetings per month. Equipment and installation for a three - camera setup would cost approximately $40,000. A remote videographer would be required to operate the three cameras, and the cost for that service and uploading and tagging the video would be approximately $695 per month for two meetings. If desired, two additional cameras could be added at a later date. There would be a cost savings associated with reduced staff time necessary to draft the current lengthy, more detailed minutes and reduced time spent by Managers and other staff reviewing them. ALTERNATIVES /CONSIDERATIONS: Direct staff to make no changes to the current minute and action summary process, or provide other direction to staff. N:\ ADMINSUP\ADMIN \DIST- SEC\MINUTES\Action v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping) \PP - Videotaping of Board Meetings final to Admin.docx Page 1 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: July 23, 2015 subject: APPROVAL OF FORMAT CHANGE FOR BOARD MINUTES AND VIDEOTAPING OF BOARD MEETINGS BACKGROUND: The District is legally required to keep a formal record of Board meetings by way of written minutes that record decisions made and action taken by the Board of Directors. As stipulated in the District's Records Retention Schedule, minutes are kept permanently. Currently, audio recordings are made of the Board meetings, and these are destroyed within 30 days of approval of the minutes in accordance with Resolution No. 2004 -074. There are several different styles of minutes commonly used in the public sector in California: 1) verbatim; 2) detailed summary; and 3) action. Currently, detailed summary minutes are drafted, reviewed and scheduled for approval on the Board agenda two meetings later (usually one month after the meeting). The average number of pages is 8 per Board meeting of single- spaced print. Much of what is written in the minutes is subjective, as staff determines what should and should not be included. In addition, Board meeting action summaries are prepared immediately following the Board meeting for distribution to the Board and staff. The action summaries are created from the Board agenda and show only the action taken and votes of the Board. They are posted to the District's website and used by staff for follow -up action. Attached is a comparison chart of summary minutes versus action minutes. (See Attachment 1.) DISCUSSION: In order for the Board minutes to be drafted, reviewed by staff and scheduled for approval on the very next Board agenda, they would need to be drafted, reviewed and finalized within the week immediately following the Board meeting. That week often has four Committee meetings scheduled, with corresponding Committee action summaries which need to be drafted and reviewed for inclusion in the next draft Board agenda packet going out that same week. If it is desired to have the minutes available for approval on the next Board agenda, it is recommended that action minutes be prepared, which would allow for a faster turnaround time. They could be formatted from the Board agenda and be similar in style to the current committee action summaries but with more detail. The action minutes would include a brief description of the item, key discussion points and Board action. Preparation of Board action summaries could be eliminated. As there would be limited information contained in the action minutes, it is advisable that a recording of the meeting be made available to complement the action minutes. This could be posted to the District website and tagged to correspond to the related agenda item. Many cities and public agencies have moved to action minutes paired with video recordings although a survey of our local sister agencies (see Attachment 2) revealed that only one N:\ ADMINSUP \ADMIN \DIST- SEC\MINUTES\Action v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping) \PP - Videotaping of Board Meetings final to Admin.docx Page 2 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: July 23, 2015 subject: APPROVAL OF FORMAT CHANGE FOR BOARD MINUTES AND VIDEOTAPING OF BOARD MEETINGS currently videotapes its Board meetings. There are inexpensive services that will upload the video and tag the agenda items for easy reference. Video Recording Currently, Board meetings are audio recorded and tapes destroyed once the minutes are approved. They are available to the public upon request. Since the listener may not know who is speaking, they are not generally useful other than to staff. Agencies that prepare action minutes usually combine them with a video recording that is linked to the agenda and tabbed so the viewer can easily select which portion of the meeting they wish to view. The link also pulls up the related staff report. The options for videotaping the meetings range from posting a single- camera video on YouTube to a multiple- camera setup operated by a videographer. The YouTube option does not allow for indexing or tagging of agenda items, while all other options do. It is recommended that, if movement to action minutes and videotaping of Board meetings is desired, the single- camera setup be selected as this has a lower cost and does not require a videographer to operate multiple cameras. Additional cameras and videographer services can be added at a future date if required. The video recordings of the Board meetings would be retained permanently in accordance with the District's Records Retention Schedule. Posting video recordings of Board meetings, along with links to each position paper, meets District Strategic Goals Four (Be an Industry Leader), and Five (Provide Exceptional Customer Service, Transparency). COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION: The Administration Committee reviewed the information on March 31, 2015 and recommended that, in lieu of preparing detailed summary minutes, a proposal be taken to the full Board to convert to action minutes supplemented by indexed videotaped recordings of Board meetings that would be available on the District's website and retained permanently. At its meeting of May 21, the Board requested that staff draft a policy, including a single- camera videotaping operation, to be reviewed by the Administration Committee, with a view toward making a more formal recommendation to the full Board at a future meeting. The Committee reviewed the draft policy at its meeting of July 6, 2015 and recommended that the Board approve the policy and proceed with the abbreviated minutes and video recording of Board meetings and a single- camera setup. N:\ ADMINSUP WDMIN \DIST- SEC\MINUTES\Action v Summary Minutes (ind. videotaping) \PP - Videotaping of Board Meetings final to Admin.docx Page 3 of 4 POSITION PAPER Board Meeting Date: July 23, 2015 Subject-, APPROVAL OF FORMAT CHANGE FOR BOARD MINUTES AND VIDEOTAPING OF BOARD MEETINGS RECOMMENDED BOARD ACTION: Rescind Resolution 2004 -074 and adopt Board Policy BP 020 - Minute Style and Video Recording of Board Meetings authorizing the preparation of action minutes for Board meetings and video recording of Board meetings with a single - camera setup. Attached Supporting Documents: 1. Comparison of Summary vs Action Minutes 2. Survey data 3. BP 020 - Minute Style and Video Recording of Board Meetings N:\ ADMINSUP \ADMIN \DIST- SEC\MINUTES\Action v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping) \PP - Videotaping of Board Meetings final to Admin.docx Page 4 of 4 ATTACHMENT COMPARISON OF SUMMARY MINUTES VS ACTION MINUTES N. IADMINSUPIADM INIDIST- SECIMINUTESIAction v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping)IComparison- Summary v Action Minutes. docx DETAILED SUMMARY ACTION MINUTESIVIDEO MINUTES Type of Minutes DETAILED SUMMARY ACTION Includes summary of Action minutes would be discussion. supplemented with indexed (tagged) video recordings available on website within 24 -48 hours - retained permanently. Availability of SKIPS ONE MEETING NEXT MEETING Minutes for Approval The lengthy drafting and Less preparation would enable approval process makes it staff to have action minutes impossible to have ready at available for approval at next next Board meeting; must skip meeting. one meeting cycle. Responding to The minutes are not available Because the recording is indexed Public Records Act to the public until the draft is (tagged) by item number, requests published as part of the recordings of any particular agenda packet one month agenda item would be available after the meeting. on the website within 24 -48 hours of the meeting. Who Said What? Summary minutes include Minutes would capture limited comments by Board Members, comments /vote. Viewer would staff and the public. need to watch video clip or listen Subjective content. to audio. Expense None other than extensive Cost would depend on number staff time to prepare minutes. and quality of video camera(s) and equipment, and service to tag and upload recording. Possible need for a videographer in multi- camera setup. Minutes as a Keyword searches are No keyword search is available, Historical Reference available in Laserfiche to other than what would be in the search summary minutes by brief action minutes. Would need subject matter, name, etc. to review taped segments to obtain pertinent data. Access for Staff Staff needs to attend the Staff could review the relevant meeting to hear Board portion of the video tape once discussion. posted to the website. Transparency Content is subjective. Minutes Minutes would be available more not available for one month. quickly. Viewer would see actual speakers on video. Action Summaries Action summaries are also No action summaries needed. prepared and distributed. N. IADMINSUPIADM INIDIST- SECIMINUTESIAction v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping)IComparison- Summary v Action Minutes. docx ATTACHMENT 2 Survey of Special Districts re Videotaping of Board Meetings March 2015 Survey: Are your Board meetings videotaped? Organization Response Notes Castro Valley Sanitary District No Contra Costa Water District No Delta Diablo No Dublin San Ramon Services District Yes Single camera video uploaded to YouTube East Bay Municipal Utility District No Planning to put audio files on EBMUD web page Fairfield- Suisun Sewer District No Inland Empire Utilities Agency No Ironhouse Sanitary District No Mt. View Sanitary District No Napa Sanitation District No Oro Loma Sanitary District No Union Sanitary District No Vallejo Sanitation and Flood Control District No West County Wastewater District No N.IADMINSUPIADMIMDIST- SECIMINUTESIAction v Summary Minutes (incl. videotaping)ISurvey -Do you Videotape your Bd Mtgs.docx Number: BP 020 Authority: Board of Directors Effective: July 23, 2015 Revised: Reviewed: Initiating Dept. /Div.: Secretary of the District BOARD POLICY ATTACHMENT 3 Central Contra Costa Sanitary District MINUTE STYLE AND VIDEO RECORDING OF BOARD MEETINGS PURPOSE To establish a policy regarding the format of minutes of Board meetings and the video recording of Board meetings. POLICY The written minutes of Board meetings shall be prepared and kept by the Secretary of the District, approved by the Board of Directors, and shall be brief, summary-style minutes documenting: Action items motions, seconds and vote counts; Summarized comments made by members of the public; Key statements made by Board Members; and Policy reasons for decisions made. Minutes will generally be scheduled for approval by the Board of Directors on the next Board agenda. In accordance with goals of the District's Strategic Plan to maintain openness and transparency in the way the Board conducts its business, and to provide excellent customer service, video recordings shall be made of each Board meeting held in the Board Room. These recordings will be posted to the District's website and retained permanently, in accordance with the District's Records Retention Schedule. [Original Retained by the Secretary of the District]