Clerk Net

First of all, please note that there isn't any statutory guidance on this issue.

I think that the town board has at least a couple of options. It could simply put the opening of the closed session minutes for the particular meeting in question on the agenda for approval, as you suggest. The attorney could then have each other set of closed session minutes that s/he felt were ready for opening also placed on the agenda during some meeting for council vote.

Keep in mind that closed session minutes may only be sealed for as long as necessary to avoid frustrating the purpose of the closed session. This means that many sets of closed session minutes (those pertaining to property acquisition, for example) will be opened fairly soon, while some (those involving personnel discussions, for example) might be permanently sealed (for example, as part of someone's personnel file).

If the town board finds this case-by-case determination of whether and when to open burdensome, it could adopt a resolution setting out a policy for unsealing closed session minutes. That policy might delegate to the town attorney and clerk and/or manager the authority and responsibility to review the closed session minutes quarterly (you could make
the interval of time different), and then open those closed session minutes for which the purpose of the closed session would no longer be frustrated by keeping them closed. The action opening the minutes (date and by whom) should be noted at the top of the opened minutes. If the board opened the minutes, the board's action will of course also be noted in the minutes of the meeting at which the board voted.

Opened closed session minutes should either be inserted somewhere in the regular minutes book (at their appropriate page, or in the back), or kept in a separate "opened closed session minutes book." If the opened minutes do not appear at their appropriate page chronologically in the minutes, you should make a marginal notation in the minutes stating where they can be found.