I have an open government question from a story that has been playing out in Seneca Falls. I’m not a reporter these days, but I’m trying to help the community get to the bottom of an issue regarding a recent vote.
The gist: the Seneca Falls Town Board is saying two votes are valid, despite there being no record of a motion or second before either vote, which is on video. Some residents are asking for a re-vote next month, but the Supervisor says the votes stand because Robert’s Rules aren’t legally binding. However, the town board adopts Robert’s Rules annually at its organizational meeting. So, in order for a vote to be legally binding, wouldn’t a motion and second be necessary?
Another wrinkle is that the elected town clerk wasn’t at the meeting, so she has no way to verify who made the motion or second. What kind of legal exposure would a clerk have if a supervisor instructed her to add someone as the motion maker even though there’s no record of it on video?
This is an interesting question that we have not encountered before.
If the town board has adopted rules of procedure that require all motions to be seconded, then this could be a problem. We could not find any adopted rules online, but they may or may not exist.
However, even if the vote was not done properly, a lawsuit would have to be filed to challenge what occurred. Even if a court rules the motion was not properly passed, they will be able to simply do the vote over, so the end result may very well be the same.
The clerk has the ability to do the minutes as she deems appropriate. Below is an opinion from the Committee on Open Government.
