FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Starting early next year, City Council meetings will be audio-recorded and retained for five years, according to a resolution the council passed Monday at its last meeting of 2009.

Councilman Rick Kingrea sponsored the resolution, which passed 3-1, with Councilman Mike Ford voting against and Councilwoman Debbie Quinn absent.

“It’s sort of a knee-jerk reaction to what happened here at one meeting a while back,” Ford said. “You’re going to have this tape out there, and every attorney in town is going to be looking for this tape to hang us by.”

Ford referred to a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting earlier this month at which the issue arose whether the minutes from an October 2006 council meeting accurately reflected what happened at the meeting. Some residents said a developer promised at that council meeting to follow any subsequent land-use regulations adopted regarding property he owns on Fly Creek, but that the alleged comments were not included in the minutes of the meeting.

The commission took action at its Dec. 7 meeting, following a discussion that indicated the developer’s alleged commitments were not included in the 2006 council minutes, which did not require application of the more stringent land-use regulations adopted after the 2006 meeting to the developer’s current project request.

“I think it’s important that the citizens have the right to come in, especially if its on a hot topic, that they hear exactly of what any of the five of us or mayor or whoever gets to speak, Kingrea said. “I think that’s much more important for a free exchange of ideas than being frightened about some lawyer — I won’t say what kind of lawyer — suing the city.”

Ford said they he didn’t characterize his objections to the resolution as the city’s fear of being sued but as a form of risk management, which the city uses in other areas.

Kingrea noted that meetings of the county commission and school board are not only audio-recorded but also videotaped.

The proposed resolution was discussed at a work session prior to the council meeting, at which Ford also raised objections to it, including that the length of time the recordings are retained should be shortened. At the council meeting, Kingrea moved for changing the length of retention of the recordings from seven to five years.

Ford moved during the council meeting to have the recordings retained for two weeks to facilitate preparation of the minutes and then be destroyed, but the motion died for lack of a second.

“Five years is a long time,” Ford said. “If we really want to record the minutes, why not record it, (but) once the minutes are approved, that’s it, isn’t it?”

Kingrea said he had contacted the Alabama League of Municipalities and was surprised to learn that council minutes could be changed by the council.

“The minutes can be changed at any time,” Kingrea said. “You cannot alter the facts that were reported, but the minutes themselves can be changed at any time.”

Councilman Dan Stankoski supported the resolution at the work session and during the council meeting.

“It does add a layer of safety to everyone concerned,” he said at the council meeting. “It breeds transparency.”

In other business, the council:

• Approved the purchase of three Ford Expedition vehicles for the police department at a cost of $25,532 each, and five video systems for police vehicles at a cost of $22,875.