FAIRHOPE, Ala. — There are still some kinks to work out of the city’s digital audio recording of City Council meetings, Fairhope’s city clerk said this week.

“Yes, we did have a glitch,” Lisa Hanks said after Monday’s meeting. “The council meeting was not recorded.”

The council passed a resolution at its Dec. 28 meeting to begin the digital audio recording of council and Planning and Zoning Commission meetings. The resolution was introduced by Councilman Rick Kingrea, who said he believed there needed to be an accurate recording to help in the preparation of records and for a period of time after in case someone wanted to review the entire meeting later.

Councilman Mike Ford objected to the proposed procedure, stating it would encourage attorneys to seek yet more records from the city regarding litigation against or involving the city. The resolution was passed with his the lone dissenting vote.

Minutes of official meetings often include only the formal actions taken, with much of the discussion not included. In Fairhope, the minutes do include some discussion in the minutes.

Daphne has been audio-recording its council meetings for several years, which are used to assist in preparation of its minutes. That clerk’s office also puts its entire council packet on its Web site; but that is one step Fairhope has not yet taken. However, last year Fairhope did put its municipal ordinances online.

At the start of the Jan. 11 meeting, Council President Lonnie Mixon asked Hanks if he had turned on the tiny digital recorder correctly and was told he had. The meeting then took place, presumably being recorded, but which turned out not to be the case.

Hanks said after the meeting, that the recorder did not come out of its “sleep mode.”

Although the council meeting was not properly recorded, the Jan. 4 meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting was, Hanks said.

Those digital recordings will be maintained on a computer in the clerk’s office and possibly on CDs and are public records, she said.

The city’s information technology director, Jason Colee, was not present at the Monday meeting and could not be reached by press time.