City's Minutes And Agendas

Yesterday I criticized the city for not having the minutes of council's weekend retreat available for the public to view.  I posted a screen grab that I found under the GOVERNMENT tab.  There I found a list of the 2011 agendas and minutes only.  Today I find out that a tab on the main page entitled AGENDAS and MINUTES is located to the left.  That tab, however, only has the 2012 minutes; And it has the audio of Saturday's council retreat.

I apologize for the confusion. 

I inquired with the city's spokesperson about the meeting's minutes to which I got this response:

The meeting was posted to inform the public and the media of the meeting so they could attend if they so wished, of which a few citizens did attend.   Additionally,  City management decided to move forward with an audio-only recording of this event which  complied with the Texas Open Meetings Act, Section 551.021 of the  Government Code as follows:

(a)  A government body shall prepare and keep minutes or make a tape recording of each open meeting of the body.

The media and the public always has a right to request (through the Texas Public Information Act by submitting an open records request) to view and/or, as in this case, listen, to the most recent City Council meeting at the City of Laredo Public Access Channel studio, as soon as it is available, usually, the next day after the meeting.  You can submit that request via the City’s website at www.cityoflaredo.com.

Finally, the minutes of the meeting are being transcribed as we speak, and should be ready for approval at the next City Council meeting , taking place on Monday, April 2.  Once they are approved, they are posted online.