Ochos Park Authority tables approval of minutes after members identify multiple errors

At its July meeting, the Ochos Park Authority deferred final approval of the prior meeting minutes after several board members identified spelling errors and misplaced items in the draft.

Board members said the errors included misspellings of member names, incorrect assignment of staff and professional titles, and paragraphs placed under the wrong agenda reports. The board voted to table approval of the minutes until the next meeting to allow staff to correct and recheck the document.

The request to correct the minutes began during roll call and continued through the minutes review. Ochos Park Authority board member Jennifer McAllister pointed to a common misspelling of her name and said, "There's not 2 c's. There's only 1." Other corrections included the spelling of Terrell McGoldrick and the proper spelling of Richard Dellinger’s name. Members also asked that staff names (Mark Gartner, Jim Schell, Paul Alexander and John Lloyd) be placed on the correct staff line in the minutes.

Members flagged substantive placement errors. Several speakers said three paragraphs that appeared under the long-term planning report (attributed to Gary Leeds) should be moved to the superintendent's report (attributed to Jim Schell). Gary Leeds said, "I don't think that belongs in under long term planning," and the board agreed to revisit that section and related lines at the next meeting to determine whether additional deletions or moves were needed.

After discussing the corrections, the board agreed to delay formal approval. The board recorded a vote to table approval of the minutes; the chair called for those in favor and members responded "aye," and the motion to table carried.

The board indicated it will circulate a corrected draft ahead of the next meeting and take up final approval at that time.