From: Merritt Perry
To: [email protected]
Cc: Rhea Varley
Subject: FW: DRAFT Email for Jason Holder/Build a Better Bayside Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2025 2:51:10 PM
Attachments: CA Clerks Association Minutes Guide_2015.pdf image001.png
Good afternoon, Jason,
I tried to reach you to discuss in this issue, but only was able to leave a voicemail. I wanted to share information in response to your letter regarding the minutes of the Arcata City Council meeting of June 18, 2025, the City understands and appreciates your concerns. Effective September 18, 2024, the City transitioned from lengthy summary minutes to action minutes for City Council meetings. When brief summary is included in the minutes of the Arcata City Council, it is in conformance with the City Clerks Association of California (now California Municipal Clerks Association) Guidelines for Preparing Minutes for Governmental Agencies (attached). The guidelines note on Page Two that “Since the main purpose of minutes is to record the legislative body’s decision, summary minutes should be brief. By concentrating on the legislative body’s decision, brief summary minutes will provide only a select recording of what was discussed at the meeting. Brief summary minutes should not attempt to reproduce, however summarily, what every speaker said. It should only record the essence of the discussion and include the main threads that lead to the body’s conclusion.”
The proposed additions detailed in the letter regarding July 16, 2025, City Council meeting agenda item 9-c. could effectively change the style of minutes from action with some brief summary to lengthy summary/verbatim minutes, provide inconsistency in the record of the proceedings of the Arcata City Council, and not serve the intent of the Government Code, which is to record the proceedings of the legislative body. Additionally, it is likely that more detail was provided than necessary in the named minutes for the hearing portion of Old Business, Item a. (June 18, 2025) when instead simply recording the name of the public commenter and whether they supported or opposed the proposed project would have sufficed. The Council may consider directing the Clerk to edit the minutes to reflect the standards more appropriately for action minutes at tonight’s meeting.
Written comments that were received by a majority of the Council after the posting of the June 18, 2025, City Council meeting agenda and before the start of the meeting were placed in the agenda binder located on the counter in the lobby at City Hall pursuant to Government Code section 54957.5. In addition, these writings were posted to the meeting site on the City’s webpage for agendas as they were received.
We appreciate your concerns and we hope that this information provides some clarity.
Merritt Perry
City Manager
City of Arcata
736 F Street, Arcata, CA 95521
Phone (707) 822-5953
[email protected]