Mayor: Haines City is years behind on filing, approving meeting minutes
HAINES CITY — A lack of documented meeting minutes has Haines City out of compliance with Florida statute, according to the city's mayor.
At a city commission meeting Thursday, Mayor Anne Huffman read off a list of meetings associated with incomplete minutes. There were minutes that had been created but not approved by the commission, minutes that were started but never finalized and minutes that weren't started at all.
The list was provided by IT Manager Brian Ross.
"This was given to the city clerk in November and again last week. And there has not been an any update. I have asked the city clerk for an update; I have not received it. This is serious," Huffman said. "We need to find out how we can help her to get this city back into compliance."
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City Clerk Erica Anderson was not present at the meeting. Her spot was filled by Deputy City Clerk Erica Sanchez.
City Commissioner Roy Tyler was also absent from the meeting.
Anderson did not reply to a request for comment.
According to section 286.011 of Florida Statute, minutes of any board or commission of a state agency or authority must be "promptly recorded, and such records shall be open to public inspection."
According to Huffman's list, there were 49 instances of incomplete minutes for city commission workshops, regular meetings and special meetings.
Of the 49 , more than half are recorded as not having minutes started at all.
Some of the minutes are caught up in the chain of command. Fifteen sets of minutes were approved by commissioners, but the minutes of the meetings where those approvals happened have either not been written or approved. Since commissioners can flag mistakes or make notes on minutes when presented for approval, the originally mentioned 15 sets aren't considered complete, either.
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While most of the missing minutes are from 2021 and 2022, there are lacking documents for meetings dating back more than two years for a workshop meeting on Dec. 19, 2019 and a budget workshop on Sept. 30, 2019.
There are also 18 meetings of the Community Redevelopment Agency with incomplete minutes and 17 for the Planning Commission, including for meetings dating back to February 2019. Huffman said the Planning Commission minutes "are as equally important as the city commission minutes are."
In total, there are more than 80 official meetings where minutes have either not been recorded or approved.
According to printed documents provided by Huffman, she emailed Anderson after the May 11 update seeking information on who is handling the minutes.
"It is concerning that as of today you don't have any idea what progress has been made and you are out of the office all next week at a conference for which you're certified already," Huffman wrote. "According to Florida Statutes, you have placed this city into non-compliance."
In that same email, Huffman asked Anderson a series of questions about a "transcriber" for the minutes, including who the transcriber is, how much they're being paid and a timeline for getting the transcribed minutes into the city's new system, eScribe. As of Thursday evening, Huffman had not received a response.
Huffman said that she suggested Anderson ask the commission for additional funding to hire a transcriber, but that never happened.
City Commissioner Morris West suggested hosting a workshop rather than a special meeting to address the issue.
"I know that department has been going through some changes and I know she lost a deputy city clerk at one time," West said. "She may need help, she may be short on staff. We may need to help her. She may need to subcontract something out."
West said that he preferred a workshop over a special meeting because workshops do not require the commission open up to comments from the audience, even if the meetings are open to the public.
Huffman raised concerns about timing, saying that this was an "immediate concern" for the commission.
"It seems that [Anderson] doesn't understand the importance of being in compliance. She's not reached out to us," Huffman said. "She was quick to reach out about the credit cards, but not saying anything that she hasn't completed minutes in three years. We need to fix this right away."
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Huffman said that even when minutes are completed, there are sometimes "a lot of mistakes."
"What is almost as concerning as not having the minutes is when you get the minutes and the information is blank or it fails to list part of it," Huffman said. "Accuracy really, really matters because people depend on that."
Partly because of the packed agendas at upcoming meetings and partly because Anderson will be at a conference all of next week, Reilly suggested that Anderson give the commission an update on the state of the minutes at the June 2 meeting. The commission agreed.
"The first part of solving this problem is taking the assessment of where you are right now," Reilly said. "Hopefully, your list is really not that long."
Sanchez hinted that things may not be as dire as they appear.
"I've been chipping away at the list and I just want to say that I did find a lot of those minutes in the records book and it was signed and approved," Sanchez said. "Why are they not in the system, that I don't know."
Sanchez said that she has more current minutes — those recorded since the beginning of the year — on her desktop, she just hasn't been able to transfer them to eScribe. She said IT is trying to fix the issue for her.
Ross told The Ledger he doesn't know specifically what Sanchez is referring to but said he's had issues getting responses from Anderson. He added that the folders managed by the city clerk's office are a "mess."
In other news: Mayor issues public apology
Before opening up to public comment Thursday, Huffman addressed a chaotic special commission meeting last week where former City Manager Ed Dean was fired, tensions between Huffman and residents flared and one resident was escorted from the meeting by police at Huffman's direction.
At that meeting, Huffman provided strict guidelines for residents to follow when commenting on the commission's decision to fire Dean without cause. Residents had to say whether they supported retaining Dean, firing him without cause or firing him with cause and could then provide their reasoning if they wished within a three-minute window.
Residents pushed back against the restrictions, saying it curbed free speech. In an email, Reilly defended Huffman's framing of the public comment period.
"It is my position that the citizens comments period was done consistent with the requirements of Section 286.0114(2), Florida Statutes, and in an effort to maintain orderly conduct and proper decorum in the Special Meeting," Reilly said.
On Thursday, Huffman formally apologized for "allowing the special meeting to become chaotic" and for her "unprofessional actions."
"I realize that it's impossible to satisfy everyone. This role is new for me. This is my second regular commission meeting," Huffman said. "I'm asking for your support and patience from all of you, and my fellow commissioners. A really good thing happened as a result of my failed attempt to maintain control of the special meeting that we had. I have new advisers now who are willing to help me navigate through my term as mayor."
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In her speech, Huffman reiterated claims she made to The Ledger that the reason certain residents speak against her is because she beat four opponents — former Commissioner Ken Kipp, Kimberly Downing, Sameka Atkins and Commissioner Omar Arroyo — when she was reelected in 2021.
"Allow me to pause though and thank Omar, Commissioner Omar Arroyo, for always showing me kindness, respect and professionalism," Huffman said. "He took the loss as an opportunity to strengthen his plan and on April 5, 2022, he made history as the first Hispanic commissioner."
Kipp took to the podium to thank Huffman for her public apology.
"I want to tell you that I appreciate your apology. My advisors told me that we would never hear that from you. So, for myself, I can't speak for everyone, but I definitely accept your apology," Kipp said. "I thank you so much for doing that publicly for that is, in my mind, a step towards doing things right and I appreciate that."
Maya Lora can be reached with tips or questions at mlora@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @mayaklora.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Haines City is years behind on filing, approving meeting minutes, mayor says
