How to Achieve Legal Compliance to Local Government Act

Now lets examine the legal compliance issues with regards to Council Minutes.

Local Government Act 1993

Section 12B

"(1) Everyone is entitled to inspect the current version of the .. documents free of charge"

"Note: Subsection (8) is in similar terms to section 59A (Public interest)

of the Freedom of Information Act 1989 . "

"Note: A council could also make copies of the documents available at other places, for example, at libraries. A council may have other information available for inspection free of charge: for example, the rate record, the valuation list and the register of dog registrations."

12B Copies of documents

(1) A right under this Act to inspect a document includes the right to take away a copy of the document.

(2) Accordingly, a council must have a copy of all relevant documents available for copying by, or on behalf of, any person who asks for one.

(3) The copies may be taken away either free of charge or on payment of reasonable copying charges, as the council chooses"

Section 375 Minutes

"(1) The council must ensure that full and accurate minutes are kept of the proceedings of a meeting of the council.

(2) The minutes must, when they have been confirmed at a subsequent meeting of the council, be signed by the person presiding at that subsequent meeting

Section 703 Minutes

"Every entry in the minutes of the business transacted at a meeting of the council and purporting to be signed by the person presiding at a subsequent meeting of the council is, until the contrary is proved, evidence:

(a) that the business as recorded in the minutes was transacted at the meeting, and

(b) that the meeting was duly convened and held"

Solution

There are no precedents for acceptance of Council Minutes being electronically signed as evidence of business records. There are no precedents for the acceptance of electronic signatures, bio-metric signatures or VeriSign signatures. The software vendor providing their guarantee that it will be alright and the technology can be trusted gives you no protection or security. As the Local Government Act does not recognise this technology as evidence.

Therefore the only answer to the legal compliance issue is to either print, sign and bind the Council Minutes OR print, sign, FBI (Film-Based Imaging) and bind the Minutes as the official record of the Council business.

Gosmicro have been providing preservation quality work to the Local Government for 20 years. Contact them today at http://www.gosmicro.com.au/contactus.htm