South Bend tweaks city ordinance to tackle hefty backlog of meeting minutes
SOUTH BEND — The South Bend Common Council on Monday voted to tweak a city ordinance so it can pare down a backlog of meeting minutes from the past two years.
City Clerk Bianca Tirado, who assumed office on Jan. 1 after ousting Dawn Jones in last year's election cycle, said dozens of meeting minutes from 2022 and 2023 were left fully or partially unprepared by her predecessor.
More: South Bend council's decision further delays 'egregious' backlog of meeting minutes
South Bend city code has required the clerk's office to perform this duty "without consultation with anyone not a part of said office."
But an amendment to city code that councilors passed Monday allows the city clerk, with the Common Council president's approval, to hire an outside contractor to prepare an initial draft of meeting minutes. The clerk's office still must review the meeting notes for accuracy before the full council approves them.
Under Indiana's Open Door Law, the council must record and publish minutes for all meetings of the full Common Council and its committees. Minutes must include a summary of discussions at meetings and a record of how all councilors voted on various issues. Best practice dictates that minutes are finished within 14 days of meetings.
Tirado said the clerk's office will hire a company called Minutes Solutions to bring the council into compliance with Indiana's public records laws. She said the company charges by the hour, but a cost estimate for catching up isn't yet clear.
The clerk doesn't necessarily plan to contract with the company moving forward, she said, but only to quickly reduce the backlog. Tirado said her current staff is on track with all of the minutes from this year, preparing them within 14 days of each meeting.
An explanation of the amended ordinance does, however, note that new technology would allow the city clerk's staff to prepare minutes much more efficiently. But paying for the new services would cost more, at the moment, than paying an outside company with the technology.
The clerk's office was allotted $594,000 in the 2024 budget. About $278,000 is devoted to wages, according to a budget breakdown. Tirado earns about $80,000.
"I train my staff to do the minutes currently," Tirado said, "and they are pushing minutes out in a timely fashion, as it should be."
Common Council President Sharon McBride said councilors hadn't been aware of the extent of the delays until late in Jones' term. An audit Tirado conducted at the start of this year revealed that minutes were undrafted or unfinished for more than 70 public meetings.
"We are way out of compliance," McBride said. "Until the clerk's office changed and an audit was done, we as council wouldn't know all of the minutes that were done or weren't done properly."
Luke Britt, Indiana's public access counselor, visited the council after dysfunction between the Common Council and the city clerk's office led to the cancellation of a council meeting. He advised the council it could allow the clerk to hire outside help, McBride said.
Contact South Bend Tribune city reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: South Bend Common Council changes city code for city clerk
