Braddock District Council Meeting Minutes

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Per the Council’s By-laws (Article VI, Section 3), the Secretary is responsible to maintain correct and complete records of the proceedings of the Council and maintain an electronic archive of minutes. All records and archived documents of the Council are to be available to the public.

Memorandum for the Record

Regarding Missing Braddock District Council Minutes and Other Records

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic that began in March, 2020,  the Council ceased meeting in person during 2020, then met online sporadically during 2021 and early 2022. The virtual meetings were recorded. It was the understanding of the Council Chair during that period that the recording of the meeting served as the minutes. However, County committees that met virtually during the State of Emergency for COVID-19 were required to create and post written minutes of all meetings in addition to making a recording. It would be reasonable to conclude that the Council should have followed this guidance from the County Attorney and therefore taken and posted written minutes.

As the pandemic wore on, Council membership declined, meetings all but ceased, and the number of officers dwindled to essentially just the Chair. On 15 June, 2022, a virtual meeting was held at which new officers were elected for the 2022-23 term. The new leadership began a reboot of the Council, to include taking responsibility for the archived records maintained on the legacy website.

The status of Council documents as of 18 July, 2022, is as follows:

• The last approved minutes of the Council that have been located are from September, 2019

• A draft of the minutes of the October, 2019 meeting was located, along with archives for minutes and other (non-financial) records for the years 2009 to 2019. These archived records will be moved to a new Braddock District Council website as it is rolled out during July-August, 2022

• No archived records, written or electronic, prior to 2009 were located

• Minutes of the 15 June, 2022 virtual meeting at which a new slate of officers was elected exist in draft form and will be submitted for approval of the membership at the September 2022 meeting, then posted on the new website

• Recordings of the virtual meetings held after March, 2020 through the 15 June, 2022 are not available, nor is there any record of what dates these meetings were held

This Memorandum for the Record is intended as a “cleansing statement” to account for the records that were determined to be missing by the new Council officers upon assumption of their duties

Going forward from June, 2022, minutes will be recorded for all meetings, in-person and virtual (if conditions warrant such meetings), approved at the next regular Council meeting, and posted promptly on the new Council website.

Robert W. Cosgriff

Chair

18 July, 2022

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Download this Memorandum as a PDF here