<span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: ‘Lucida Sans’;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Who is responsible for getting the Police Jury minutes to the newspaper for publication? The Jan. 7 Police Jury meeting minutes have never been published.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Parish Administrator Bryan Beam said his office is responsible for publishing the minutes of the Calcasieu Parish Police Jury meetings in the</span> <span style="font-style: italic;" class="R~sep~ACopyBody">American Press</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">and uses a contractor to post minutes online.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“There are various items that must be incorporated into each set of minutes such as resolutions and ordinances, so some processing time is involved,” Beam wrote in an email.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“For any meeting minutes that may not yet be posted in the newspaper or on our website, a request can be made for an excerpt of the minutes pertaining to a particular item by calling 721-3510 or by emailing administration@cppj.net.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">State law, R.S. 42:20, requires public bodies to keep written minutes of their public meetings. And the statute says the minutes must at least include the following:</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“The date, time, and place of the meeting.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“The members of the public body recorded as either present or absent.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“The substance of all matters decided, and, at the request of any member, a record, by individual member, of any votes taken.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyListing">“Any other information that the public body requests be included or reflected in the minutes.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“The minutes shall be public records and shall be available within a reasonable time after the meeting …,” reads the statute.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">“If the public body has a website, the public body shall post on its website a copy of the minutes … and shall maintain the copy of those minutes on the website for at least three months after the posting. If the public body is required to publish its minutes in an official journal, the public body shall post its minutes on its website … within ten days after publication in the official journal. If the public body is not required to publish its minutes in an official journal, the public body shall post its minutes on its website … within a reasonable time after the meeting.”</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Beam said Wednesday that the January meeting minutes will be published in the paper and be posted online “within the next couple of weeks.” The website on which the Police Jury’s minutes are posted listed no minutes for 2016 as of Saturday.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">To watch the Jan. 7 meeting or others, visit the Police Jury’s website and click the C-GOV link at the bottom left of the home page. The Jan. 7 meeting runs 2</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">1</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">⁄</span><span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">2</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">hours.</span>

<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">During the meeting, the panel, among other business, commended a longtime parish employee for his service; received an update on plans for replacing the deck on the Interstate 210 bridge; heard from members of the hurricane museum board and voted to call an election on a property tax to help fund it and other museums; voted to call an election for a water district tax; handled a zoning matter; acted on some servitude and cooperative endeavor agreements; made fire board, IMCAL and other appointments; and offered its condolences to the families of some recently deceased residents.</span>

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<span style="font-weight: bold;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Online:</span> <span class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">www.cppj.net; www.legis.la.gov.</span>

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<span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">The I</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nform</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">er answers questions from rea</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ders each Sunday, Monday a</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">nd Wednesday. It is re</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">searched and written by</span> <span style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">Andrew Perzo</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">, an</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">American Press</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">staff wri</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">ter. To ask a question, call</span> <span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">494-409</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">8 and leave voice mail, or ema</span><span style="font-size: 8pt;" class="R~sep~ACopyEditors~sep~endnote">il informer@americanpress.com.</span>