Minutes

The Law

The board, commission or other policymaking body shall keep written minutes of all its meetings. The minutes shall include at a minimum the date, time and place of the meeting, the names of members in attendance and those absent, the substance of the proposals considered and a record of any decisions and votes taken that show how each member voted. All minutes are open to public inspection. Draft minutes shall be prepared within ten working days after the meeting and shall be approved, amended or disapproved at the next meeting where a quorum is present. Minutes shall not become official until approved by the policy making body.

Commentary
All public bodies subject to the provisions of this Act are required to keep written minutes of all open meetings. (As discussed in the next section, minutes need not be kept during closed sessions.) Minutes of open meetings shall record at least the following information: 

• the date, time and place of the meeting;
• the names of all members of the public body in attendance and a list of those members absent;
• a statement of what proposals were considered; and
• a record of any decisions made by the public body and of how each member voted.

This means that minutes must contain a description of the subject of all discussions had by the body, even if no action is taken or considered. The description may be a concise, but accurate, statement of the subject matter discussed and does not have to be a verbatim account of who said what. It may be useful, although it is not required, to also record in the minutes the other persons invited or present who participate in the deliberations. 

A draft copy of the minutes is required to be prepared within ten working days of the meeting. Draft copies of minutes must be available for public inspection and should clearly indicate on the draft that they are not the official minutes and are subject to approval by the public body. 

The public body must approve, amend or disapprove draft minutes at the next meeting of a quorum, and the minutes are not official until they are approved. Official minutes open to public inspection under this Subsection are also subject to public inspection under the Inspection of Public Records Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 14-2-1 to -12.

Example 29:
A quorum of the members of a state commission meet with the commission’s staff to discuss some technical matters related to internal management. The matters discussed are not exempted by the Act from the open meetings requirement. The discussions conducted by a quorum of the commission constitute the discussion of public business and minutes must be kept. 

Commentary
The statute’s requirement that the minutes record how the members voted on proposals does not require a roll call on each vote, providing the vote of each member may be ascertained. Thus, a unanimous vote need not be recorded by listing the members. Where the vote is not unanimous, minutes that state “four members in favor, Mr. Jones against the motion” adequately reflects how the members voted as long as the minutes also list the members in attendance. If a vote taken by roll call is required in a particular situation by the rules of parliamentary procedure or otherwise, the minutes should record the vote of each individual member. The Act’s requirement that the minutes show how each member voted on a matter decided by the public body precludes the members from voting anonymously. 

Example 30:
At a regular open meeting, the State Astronomy Board elects a chairperson. The members want to vote on the nominees by secret ballot. This is not allowed by the Act because the minutes must reflect how each member voted.