During the approval of minutes portion of South Whitehall commissioners’ virtual July 15 meeting, board President Christina “Tori” Morgan noted commissioners continue to go “round and round” in conversations about the minutes’ content.

She said with the process of adding details or content, and tabling previous meeting minutes, the board was losing sight of what minutes are supposed to be.

Additionally, Commissioner Matthew Mobilio said minutes were intended to be brief overviews of topics discussed in meetings and the outcomes of decisions.

He noted, however, fellow Commissioners Diane Kelly and Michael Wolk have “demanded” township staff include their statements from June 3 during which they requested Mobilio’s resignation regarding comments he previously made on Facebook.

Mobilio said their inclusion served no purpose and the minutes were being used for political purposes.

Kelly said there was a lack of consistency in the preparation of meeting minutes, noting some minutes included no summaries of public comments while others did.

She asked about the process for determining what is included in the minutes.

Kelly also said she asked for her statements during the June 3 meeting to be included because they were not.

Morgan said the statements should technically be omitted for being personal statements and added minutes are the official record and should not be a personal platform for any individual commissioner to disseminate information or include personal quotes.

Morgan also said, historically, the board had informally used the guidance of Robert’s Rules of Order and the Sunshine Act when compiling meeting minutes.

She put forth a motion to formally use these two rules as guidance to create clear and concise procedures.

Kelly also asked whether the audio and video recordings of the meetings meet state code requirements about maintaining minutes.

Solicitor Joe Zator said the minutes must reflect Sunshine Act requirements. There are no requirements for video or audio recordings, transcripts or in-depth details.

Zator said keeping the audio and video goes above and beyond requirements.

Wolk said his submissions and comments were accurate and represented the interests of township residents.

He noted that in several sets of minutes, while comments from Morgan, Mobilio or Commissioner Joe Setton were comprehensive, he and Kelly needed to repeatedly point out their comments were not included.

Wolk also said minutes needed to accurately include what commissioners say in meetings to preserve open government, as well as abide by the commissioners’ First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and press.

“We have the right to have our comments included in the public record,” he said, adding any attempts to block or restrict comments were “censorship, pure and simple” and demonstrated a lack of integrity and public trust.

Wolk also said that regarding votes, the decisions split 3-2, where he and Kelly are in the minority.

He suggested Morgan’s motion censored their comments and statements.

Morgan pushed back on Wolk’s comments.

“In no way shape or form,” Morgan said, was the motion meant to censor any commissioner.

She added the motion was intended to only create structure in the meeting minutes and create an efficient, clear process without serving as a personal platform.

The resulting motion passed 4-1 with Wolk, Morgan, Mobilio and Setton voting yes, and Kelly voting no.

Additionally, the June 3 minutes - with Kelly and Wolk’s statements included as attachments - were approved in a 3-2 decision with Mobilio and Setton opposed.