>>I totally agree. Meetings may include housekeeping but they also also
include program discussions and decisions. We provide such a broad range of
public services including public health, social services, conservation,
water, council, by-law, housing, transportation, construction, engineering,
police and all the supporting programs like Info. Mgmt, IT, legal, HR, and
finance. I'd be very nervous disposing of minutes from any of those areas.<<

Meeting minutes are a valuable source of information. Then again, retaining
them could end up being very expensive. Of special concern are budget
meeting records. Here are a couple of examples of what can happen.

The city council has a budget meeting regarding upcoming projects. One of
the items brought forward is the need to fix the sidewalk in front of city
hall. The city engineer says that a tree root is raising the sidewalk and
causing a tripping hazard. The decision is made to include the item in the
budget. However, the maintenance department never gets around to fixing the
sidewalk. For the next several years, the engineer continues to press for
funds to fix it. However, the city is growing rapidly and it has other, more
pressing projects.

Great Aunt Martha comes to visit the community. She is walking along the
sidewalk with her cane and trips and falls over the broken concrete of the
sidewalk, breaking her hip. Because of it she has to go to the nursing home
where she ultimately dies. Her family sues the city for damages. Her is the
evidence the attorney presents to the jury:

- The city knew that this was a significant safety hazzard for many years.

- They budgeted money to fix it years ago but didn't spend the money for its
intended purpose.

- We have continued admissions from the city that it is a known problem from
the budget meeting minutes for the past several years.

- It is obvious they thought much more of the new people moving into town
then they thought of our most vunerable population, the elderly.

- The city has shown a reckless disregard for the safety of its citizens by
leaving this hazard unrepaired for the last several years. As a result,
Great Aunt Martha lost her life. The city should pay.

And they do.

While the above case is hypothetical, the one below is not.

Several years ago my brother was seeking a permit to remove weeds from a
lake in front of his lake home. The city refused saying removal of the weeds
was not permitted. My brother pointed out that his and the lots on either
side of his were the only ones with the weeds, other lots on the bay had a
channel that had been dredged along the shore that was deep enough so weeds
would not grow. The city still refused so he did a little research on how
the channel on either side of his and the neighbors lot came to be. It turns
out that the city had paid to have the channel dug to increase land values
in the mid-1930's. One year they had started on one end and dug until late
fall reaching a point just north of my brothers lot. The second year, they
had started on the other end of the channel and by fall had reached a point
just south of his neighbors lot. On the third year they budgeted money to
finish the project and dredge the portion of the channel that lay in front
of my brothers house. They later took the money and put it towards the war
effort. However, in the action to transfer the money, the city clearly
claimed responsibility for completing the channel and promising the land
owners that it would complete the channel in the future.

Then the water level came up and the channel wasn't needed...until 50 years
later when my brother wanted to cut the weeds. The long and short of it was
the city attorney recognized that the city had an outstanding obligation to
complete the channel. By this time, the cost of completing the channel,
originally estimated at less than $1900 dollars in the 30's would cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars. My brother gave them a relatively simple
choice, provide the permit or finish the channel. They chose the permit.
However, the story may not be over. Any one of the current landowners could
take the city to court and force them to complete the channel.

Bill R

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