What is the process for the review and approval of minutes for local government boards?

There are three separate and distinct stages in the minutes approval process for local government boards. Different people should play different roles at each stage.

1. It is the clerk’s legal responsibility to prepare the minutes or journal of the board’s proceedings. The clerk’s minutes are the draft that the board considers and acts to modify or approve.
2. It is the role of each board member to review the draft minutes, note any proposals that they have for changes, and bring those proposals to the board meeting where the minutes will be considered for approval. No one except the board, voting in a properly called and held meeting, has the legal authority to tell the clerk to change her or his draft minutes to incorporate such proposed changes.
3. It is the role of the board, meeting in a properly called and held meeting, (a) to review the draft minutes as a group, (b) to consider and act on any proposals for changes in the draft that are brought to it by board members, the presiding officer, the clerk, the manager, department heads, or other interested parties, and (c) to vote to approve the final, official minutes. Those approved minutes are to include whatever changes the board chooses to make. Otherwise, they are to retain the wording of the clerk’s original draft.