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2006 Kansas Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2006)

handle is hein.sag/sagks0005 and id is 1 raw text is: January 4, 2006

ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2006- 1
Blaine Finch
Franklin County Counselor
109 West Second Street
P.O. Box 643
Ottawa, Kansas 66067-0643
Re:       Counties and County Officers--County Clerk--Duties of County Clerk;
Keeping Records; Taking County Commission Minutes
Counties and County Officers--County Commissioners--Powers of Board of
Commissioners; Control Over County Records; County Commission Minutes

Synopsis:

The board of county commissioners is the entity authorized to determine the
form and content of finalized minutes for a such board, not the county clerk.
A board of county commissioners may not substantially alter the statutorily
assigned duties of a county clerk under K.S.A. 19-305 without compliance
with K.S.A. 12-3901 et seq. The county clerk, or a deputy or assistant
assigned by the clerk, remains the person officially responsible for taking
such minutes. Once the minutes are in a form approved by the commission,
K.S.A. 19-305 requires the county clerk to record those finalized minutes in
a book provided for that purpose. Cited herein: K.S.A. 12-3901; 19-212;
and 19-305.

*

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Dear Mr. Finch:

As Franklin County Counselor, you request our opinion regarding several issues relating to
the taking of minutes of Franklin County Commission board meetings. You inform us that
the Franklin County Commissioners (Commissioners) recently adopted a resolution setting
forth a policy for taking minutes.' The Franklin County Clerk has objected to this policy and
1You note that this was done after consulting several sources in order to standardize the
procedures in question. The adopted resolution includes provisions stating that the minutes shall be an
accurate accounting of the actions taken by the Board, but should not include personal opinions or
verbatim accounts of what was said by individual board members or other speakers at meetings. The

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