The Minutes Waltz: Update

Ken O’Brien

Yesterday The O’Zone published an article titled The Minutes Waltz (Or Is It Tap Dance?).

In it we contrasted the minutes of the DPW subcommittee as presented to council members and as read at Monday night’s council meeting with the way the O’Zone reported that meeting in our piece Really? Let’s Hope It’s A Trend!.

In response to a comment on Thursday’s article Evelyn Rivera, who prepared the subcommittee minutes, replied in part, “Minutes are just that "Minutes" not "hours" and therefore I do not write minutes verbatim. No one, I repeat, no one edits my minutes. If anyone is interested in the exact wording of a meeting they should attend such meeting otherwise an abbreviated version is all they are getting from me. I tape such meeting so that if anyone wants to sit there and listen to a meeting (whether it's a 5 min. meeting or a 5 hour meeting) they can do so. I am happy to provide them with a copy.”

The Minutes Waltz (Or Is It Tap Dance?)

Ken O’Brien

Last Thursday The O’Zone ran an article titled ”Really? Let’s Hope It’s A Trend!”.

In it we recounted the discussion in the prior evening’s DPW subcommittee meeting surrounding the second item on the agenda. That item read as follows:

“Vote to accept the agreement between the Town of Southbridge and Allan F. DiPietro Masonry for concrete masonry work at various locations in an amount not to exceed $20,000.00. Funding to come from Water & Sewer and DPW current budget accounts.”

Insofar as we had the contents of that article vetted by two members of the subcommittee who were present at the meeting, we felt reasonably certain that it reflected accurately the nature of the discussion on this item.