Title
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION REGARDING THE CITY'S CURRENT MEETING MINUTES FORMAT.
Summary Explanation and Background
SUMMARY EXPLANATION AND BACKGROUND:
1. Over time, the City Clerk's process of creating minutes evolved from action minutes into a hybrid format that blends action with key elements of the discussion. This style is generally known as Discussion minutes. These minutes provide a summary of the key points discussed during meetings, along with the decisions made and actions assigned. This approach attempts to provide valuable context and serves as a reference for future decision-making and ease of research. While this approach is useful in many contexts, there are alternative formats for minutes that could offer different benefits depending on the Commission's priorities for record-keeping and transparency.
2. Following a meeting, the City Clerk and designated staff begin preparing the official minutes.
3. The City Clerk and staff listen to the meeting recordings to document key discussions leading up to each vote. The goal is to capture key points, decisions, directions, and actions for the official record.
4. Below is a review of the current approach versus other styles of meeting minutes:
A) Discussion Minutes (Pembroke Pines' Current Approach): These minutes offer a summary of key points from discussions, including the main ideas and opinions shared, as well as decisions made and actions assigned. They balance brevity with clarity, capturing the essence of the meeting without being overly detailed.
- Advantages:
- Provides a good balance between summary and context.
- Easy to read and not too lengthy.
- Offers transparency into the discussions that led to decisions.
- Disadvantages:
- Can still leave out some important details, especially for complex topics.
- Might not provide enough context for those not present at the meeting.
B) Action Minutes: focus solely on the actions taken during the meeting-motions made, decisions approved, tasks assigned, and deadlines set.
- Advantages:
- Clear and concise.
- Allows for quick reference of decisions and action items.
- Less time-consuming to prepare.
- Disadvantages:
- Provides little to no context for how decisions were made.
- May not fully capture the nuances of the discussion or dissenting opinions.
- Can create future requests for verbatim minutes, which would be time consuming.
C) Verbatim Minutes: are a complete, word-for-word transcript of the meeting. They capture every statement and interaction.
- Advantages:
- Provides the most accurate record of what was said.
- Ideal for legal or highly detailed meetings where exact wording is critical.
- Disadvantages:
- Extremely time-consuming, resource-intensive, and delays production.
- Can be long and overwhelming to review, with no easy way to pull out key decisions or action items.
5. As minute-taking demands accuracy and efficiency, the City may wish to explore the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools as a support solution. Modern AI transcription and summarization technologies can:
- Transcribe audio recordings of meetings in real-time or post-meeting.
- Generate draft summaries based on selected styles (Action, Discussion, or Verbatim).
- Highlight key decisions and action items automatically.
- Reduce staff time spent drafting and editing minutes.
Considerations:
- AI-generated minutes would still require review and approval for accuracy.
- Security and data privacy compliance must be maintained for recordings and transcripts.
- Some customization may be needed to align AI tools with municipal terminology and formatting standards.
6. Research on what nearby cities present as their minutes indicates that many currently use the discussion approach, some use their own version of action only, while few opt for verbatim minutes.
Financial Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT DETAIL: None