Maine law does not require government bodies to record meeting minutes.

Surprised?

You should be.

How, we wonder, can any board recall what it decides year to year, decade after decade, without making note of official actions?

No board can but many do, relying on imperfect memory of those sitting around the table to guide future actions.

We don’t have to look far to see how much trouble reliance on human memory can cause.

In Farmington, townspeople gathered material for a time capsule and set a 1976 date for burial, intending to retrieve the cylinder in 2026. The capsule wasn’t actually buried on the scheduled date, but two years hence. It was supposed to be set in the base of a flag pole in front of the then-new municipal complex but, by then, the grounds around the flag pole were manicured and it seemed unseemly to disturb the landscaping, so the capsule was stored elsewhere.

No one remembers where and no one wrote it down. All anyone remembers is staging a photo in 1976 at the flag pole and, now, the thing is missing.

Picture this kind of haphazard recordkeeping at a meeting in 1976 as selectmen – you pick the town – consider discontinuing roads, setting tax rates, taking properties, establishing escrow accounts or making any of a hundred other decisions. If nothing is written down are we then governed by 30-year-old memories, however sharp or hazy?

In some cases, yes.

Taking minutes of meetings is a nuisance. Few people like to be appointed clerk, but memories fade and twist over the years. Relying on recollection is a sloppy way to govern.

In Maine, most towns do take minutes although not required to because most officials recognize it’s important to make note of all decisions, important and ordinary. That can shift with each new administration, though, forcing towns to rely on incomplete and often biased memories and piecemeal recordkeeping.

As for the time capsule, Farmington has used metal detectors to search the ground and jackhammers to pierce the lawn around the flag pole. The search has turned up nothing and the capsule may be lost forever.

While disappointing that no one can remember where it is, that pales in comparison to basing official government actions – that hold authority over citizens and are the foundation for any municipal tax base – on memory.

Recording minutes of government meetings should be more than a suggestion. It must be a mandatory tool for continuous government function and accountability.


Workaday world


After traveling 15,000 miles in six months and homeschooling his children, former Gov. Angus King says he has gained a new appreciation for truck drivers and school teachers.

He is a walking proverb.

We generally have a sincere appreciation for our own professions and understanding of our own interests, but those foreign to us are easy to criticize and misunderstand until we have literally traveled a mile in someone else’s shoes.

While not all of us can drop our workaday lives and head out ‘cross country as the governor has done, we can all learn from his experience, pausing and considering the lives and circumstances of others before dispensing scorn and passing judgment.


[email protected]