Opinion ID: 852855
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: An Affidavit Supplementing the Public Record

Text: Borsuk has made one procedural contention about the trial court's review. The Town filed the affidavit of Charles G. Sawyer, President of the St. John Plan Commission, with its brief in response to Borsuk's motion for summary judgment. Sawyer stated various considerations of the Plan Commission in denying Borsuk's request, such as the adverse effect that increased traffic would have on the public health, safety, morals, convenience, and general welfare of the Town. (Appellants' App. 632-35). Generally, boards and commissions speak or act officially only through the minutes and records made at duly organized meetings. Brademas v. St. Joseph County Comm'rs, 621 N.E.2d 1133, 1137 (Ind.Ct.App.1993). The actions of individual members of a board or commission outside a meeting cannot be substituted for the actions at a duly constituted meeting or for the minutes thereof. Scott v. City of Seymour, 659 N.E.2d 585, 590 (Ind.Ct.App.1995). Although evidence outside of a commission meeting offered by members of the commission cannot substitute for the minutes of the meeting, evidence used to supplement the minutes is properly admissible. See Peavler v. Board of Comm'rs, 528 N.E.2d 40, 48 (Ind.1988) (implying that testimony of commissioners would have been admitted if offered); Scott, 659 N.E.2d at 591 n. 1; Gerbers, Ltd. v. Wells County Drainage Bd., 608 N.E.2d 997, 1000 (Ind.Ct.App.1993). Indiana cases that have strictly adhered to the principle of boards speaking only through their minutes and records seem to have involved situations where the minutes or records were silent on the issue that the additional evidence sought to prove. In these cases, the courts refused to permit the use of external evidence as a substitute for the minutes. [4] In this case, the minutes do address the reasons for denying Borsuk's request for rezoning. (Appellants' App. at 710, 826-36, 843-47). Therefore, the trial court properly admitted Sawyer's affidavit as a supplement to the minutes of the Plan Commission and Town Council.