Santeetlah council discusses meeting concerns
Lake Santeetlah – The Town of Lake Santeetlah continues to look at the way it records its minutes.
Council Member Roger Carlton expressed concerns regarding the way the town’s minutes were recorded at Jan. 14’s monthly meeting.
He said the summary minutes used by the town were not detailed enough, especially for people coming back to look at past action taken in town meetings.
However, he said he did understand that the minutes should not be the meeting recorded verbatim, especially in regards to the town clerk’s workload.
“We don’t want to frustrate our staff,” Carlton said. “We want to keep this clean and simple.”
Vice Mayor Keith Predmore volunteered to review the minutes for errors or needed changes to be sent back to the town clerk. He said there needed to be someone specifically in charge of the minutes.
“There has to be someone in charge and that person’s going to be me,” Predmore said.
Town Attorney Brian Gulden said he understood the concern and said it was within the town’s purview to request more detailed minutes. However, he did not recommend that the town make its minutes a complete transcription of the meeting. He reiterated a statement he made at the town’s December meeting that they were minutes, not seconds.
Members of the board also discussed the town’s contract with an off-duty Graham County Sheriff’s Deputy for patrol. Some members expressed concerns that his hours patrolling the town were erratic, and that the deputy needed to patrol on a schedule set for him by the town, rather than whenever he could make it to Lake Santeetlah.
Some members of the board also mentioned some property thefts and an egging incident that occurred in 2020.
Representatives of the town plan to meet with Sheriff Jerry Crisp to try to smooth out the patrol issues.