Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes: what the decisions show

Meeting minutes decisions address access to minutes, agendas and audio recordings under FOIA and whether minutes satisfy Open Meetings Act standards for approval, content and availability. Recurring disputes include failure to respond to requests for minutes, whether recordings of open meetings must be disclosed, whether approval was delayed for months, and whether minutes contain adequate summaries of discussion, actions taken and votes.

In these decisions, the Public Access Counselor has generally found violations where bodies did not respond to requests, did not prepare minutes for a meeting, approved minutes late, or kept minutes that lacked summaries and vote information. It has found no violation or closed matters without action where minutes reflected limited discussion, where no later meeting had occurred to trigger approval, where a request for copies was handled through FOIA, or where claims of errors lacked supporting facts.

At a glance: 13 documents from 2017 to 2026(3 binding opinions, 10 determination letters). Outcome: 9 found a violation (in whole or part), 3 found none. Most often cited alongside: 7(1)(a) (Federal/State-law confidentiality — or public defender case files, for documents issued under the other amendment version) (1); 7(1)(f) (Preliminary drafts, notes, and deliberative materials) (1); 7(1)(l) (Closed-session meeting minutes not yet released under OMA Sec. 2.06) (1).

Recurring issues

• Public bodies failed to respond to FOIA requests seeking meeting minutes, agendas or audio recordings of open meetings. (Agendas and meeting minutes from January to April 2026, Audio recordings of a housing authority board's public meetings)
• Boards approved meeting minutes months after the meetings or failed to prepare minutes for a meeting at all. (Delayed approval of meeting minutes, Meeting minutes approval and website posting, A township board's failure to approve meeting minutes)
• Minutes lacked required content such as summaries of discussion, descriptions of actions taken and records of votes. (A board's meeting minutes and vote documentation, A school board's agenda descriptions and meeting minutes, Procedures for approving and publishing committee meeting minutes)
• Requesters challenged how minutes are made available, including approval by committees, posting, and use of FOIA for copies. (Procedures for approving and publishing committee meeting minutes, City council meeting minutes, Approval of meeting minutes by a plan commission)

Practical points

• Requests for copies of minutes, as opposed to inspection, may be processed through a FOIA request.
• Minutes should include a summary of discussion, actions taken and votes recorded for open and closed sessions.
• Minutes should be prepared for each meeting and approval should not wait until several later meetings have passed.

Summary drafted from the linked decisions and checked against them; read the decisions themselves before relying on it. Not legal advice.