Anyone can sue anybody for any reason.  Such is today's litigious society.  Whether the suit is successful is another story.  But it will likely end up costing the person sued time and money.  All you can do, before it happens, is to make sure that you are protected and that your position is clearly defined and documented.

                Elected officials and their advisors are vulnerable.  If their professionals offer advice and officials choose a path that's not in agreement with that council, they may put themselves, and possible their constituents, at risk.  It is a decision they must make, and are elected to do so when the occasion arises.  Not all decisions are right and not all are wrong, but each carries a level of risk.

                Pennsylvania law requires that government agencies record the time, date, and place of their meetings; the names of the members present, the substance of all official action taken during the meetings, and a record of how each individual voted. The minutes also must list all members of the public who participated in the meetings and a summary of their comments.

                According to Pennsylvania's Manual for Municipal Secretaries, there is no single standard method of taking notes during the meeting, for wording motions, for deciding what to include and what to exclude, or for the format of the finished product.

                The manual also offers that minutes should accurately reflect what occurs at a meeting. Unless the governing body desires a verbatim record, oral expressions of opinions, remarks or statements should not be included on a word-by-word basis. A short summary of the discussion, prepared by the secretary, should be enough to give the reader an understanding of the subject of the discussion, the varying points of view expressed, and the major proponents of each. The summary should relate clearly to the resulting governing body action on the issue and should help to explain the disposition of the culminating motion.

                Requests by members to have their statements recorded in full in the minutes are legitimate, but are subject to approval by the presiding officer or the full membership under the governing body's own rules. If approval is granted, the secretary should be sure to secure the member's approval of the form and contents of the remarks entered. When the member is speaking from a prepared text, a copy of this text should be provided for the secretary's use in preparing minutes.

                Tape recording of meetings is used by many government agencies but there are drawbacks.  The machine used could stop working or there could be quality, clarity and consistency issues.  Often it is difficult to identify who is speaking.  When more than one person speaks at once, there can be difficulty in determining what is being said and by whom. 

                The laws and guidelines offer some flexibility for preparation of minutes.  And the governing body does have the opportunity set their own rules and the authority to amend its minutes to make them accurately correspond with what occurred.

                The minutes are a legal document and approving or amending them is done by a vote.  If an official feels that something that could be of legal consequence was overlooked, they have an obligation to bring it up.

                Then the group has to determine what the next action will be.