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Community Board 11 ethics committee moves to rely on meeting recordings as minutes
Summary
At its November meeting the Community Board 11 ethics committee discussed relying on unabridged video/audio recordings (backed by transcriptions) in place of separately formatted written minutes, citing recent law‑department guidance and planning human review and backup storage.
At its November meeting the Community Board 11 ethics committee in the Bronx debated whether video or audio recordings and their transcriptions can serve as the official meeting minutes under the open meetings law. Chair Ryan Barthel introduced the idea as a time‑saving alternative to posting separately formatted written minutes and suggested linking meeting videos directly from the board’s minutes page.
Supporters said recordings create a complete record and noted that transcripts are already produced automatically, but several members urged caution. One committee member said the Borough President’s office previously pushed back when the board relied on recordings without separate written minutes and recommended confirming the current legal position with staff. The chair said the law department’s community work division recently advised that unabridged video or audio recordings, or transcripts of those recordings, can be treated as meeting minutes.
Members discussed practical safeguards. One member urged a human review of automated transcripts, citing frequent transcription errors ("the transcript ... can be full of little glitches, like, homonyms") and recommended keeping backups of the video files. Barthel acknowledged those limitations but said relying on the video itself — with available backups — would meet the law department’s guidance and save staff time. "It would be a better use of people's time to just put the link to the YouTube recording," Barthel said during the discussion.
The committee did not take a formal vote to change minutes policy at the meeting; members agreed to confirm the legal position with staff (Jeremy) and to discuss operational details at the leadership meeting the next day. If implemented, operational steps discussed included adding a direct link to each meeting’s video on the minutes page and retaining human review for transcript accuracy as a backup measure.
Next steps: staff will confirm the law department’s current guidance and return with recommendations for implementing a video‑first minutes policy and transcript review process.
