The Narberth Borough Finance Administration Committee advanced a revised rules-and-procedures draft and discussed placing public-comment rules in a separate document at its Jan. 16 meeting.

Committee member Michael Gardini summarized edits incorporated after feedback: clarifying the difference between an abstention and a recusal; harmonizing parallel provisions for the president and vice president; and adopting solicitor-recommended legal clarifications. The solicitor recommended that the public-comment rules be adopted concurrently with the broader rules document, and the committee agreed to defer final action so both documents could be synchronized and posted together.

Members also discussed the benefits of clearer definitions (for example capitalizing defined terms such as “Chair” to indicate a specific definition) and adding an accessible format — a binder or digital packet — to help new council members find governance documents.

The committee reviewed draft public-comment guidelines intended to set expectations for speakers (time allotments, whether staff will be called on, address disclosure practices) and debated several points that will be refined before council consideration. Committee members suggested allowing the presiding officer discretion in limiting participation when turnout is high, permitting nonresidents to speak in many circumstances, and encouraging the practice of identifying a speaker’s block (for example “200 block of Vine Street”) rather than a full mailing address for privacy reasons.

On communications, the committee discussed pilot-testing AI-generated, newspaper-style meeting summaries as an accessibility tool. The proposer recommended a six-month internal pilot and emphasized that such summaries would not replace official minutes, which remain the legal record. Staff raised concerns about sustainability, staff time to review and post summaries, risk of inaccuracy, and the possibility of creating unofficial documents that could be mistaken for official records. The committee agreed to continue developing draft public-comment rules and to explore an internal AI-summary pilot with accuracy checks and prominent disclaimers if pursued.