For Committee Members: Meeting Minutes

The Open Meeting Law states: “Minutes of all open sessions shall be created and approved in a timely manner. The minutes of an open session, if they exist, and whether approved or in draft form, shall be made available upon request by any person “within 10 days” and “The minutes of any open session, the notes, recordings or other materials used in the preparation of such minutes, and all documents and exhibits used at the session, shall be public records in their entirety and not exempt from disclosure.”

Minutes Must Include

• Date, time, and place of the meeting
• Members present or absent
• A summary of the discussions on each subject
• A list of documents and other exhibits used at the meeting
• The decisions made, and the actions taken at each meeting, including the record of all votes.

Notes

• Note that recordings of meetings are not a substitute for minutes

Review and Approval

• The Clerk must distribute draft minutes to committee members ahead of next regular meeting of the committee for their review
• The committee must vote to accept all minutes
• The Selectboard asks Committees to review and approve minutes in a timely fashion. This would be ideally at the next meeting or, in rare cases, the meeting after that.

Posting

• Minutes are public information and must be sent immediately upon approval to the Town Clerk for posting on the Town’s website
• It is the Chair’s responsibility to ensure recording and posting of minutes although the task may be undertaken by another
• All Committees are legally responsible for keeping and posting their minutes