POLICY ON MINUTES

It is the policy of the Board of County Commissioners of Franklin County, Kansas that its minutes should be a record of the proceedings of the Board sufficient to inform future generations of the actions taken by the Board.

1. The minutes of the Board of County Commissioners shall be an accurate account of the actions taken by the Board.

2. Minutes shall contain a record of what was done at the meeting of the Board not what was said by the members. Minutes are not to be a verbatim record of comments by any party.

3. The Board of Commissioners has the authority to amend, correct, and approve the minutes as presented to it. No other individual or board shall make changes to the minutes unless directed by the Board of Commissioners.

4. No item shall be read into the record of the minutes unless approved by the Board of Commissioners or required by statute.

5. The minutes shall not reflect the minute taker’s opinion, favorable or otherwise, on anything said or done in the meeting.

6. Prior to approval by the Board of Commissioners all copies of the minutes shall be stamped "draft" and are not the official record of the proceedings of the Board.

7. All amendments or corrections to the minutes approved by a majority of the Board shall be made to the minutes prior to their placement in the minute book. No item corrected or amended by the Board shall appear in its original form in the final version of the minutes. No version other than that approved by the Board shall be placed in the official minute book.

8. The minutes shall contain the name and address of all guest speakers but shall not contain a summary of their remarks. The general subject of the remarks shall be given after the speaker’s name and address.

9. Minutes of public hearings shall not contain verbatim transcripts of participant’s comments. The minutes shall reflect whether the speaker was in favor or opposed to the subject but shall not attempt to summarize all of the speaker’s comments.

10. The County Clerk is recognized as the clerk of the board and is entrusted to carry out the terms of this policy to the best of her ability. Nothing in this policy shall be interpreted as interfering with any statutory duty of the office of county clerk.