Local government minutes are written by town and city clerks, deputy clerks, town administrators, administrative assistants assigned to boards, board and recording secretaries, school board secretaries, and unpaid volunteers on committees. Open meeting laws usually put the legal duty on the body itself, while separate statutes, charters and bylaws often name a specific officer. Who drafts them varies by state and by type of government, but the content standard generally does not change with the drafter.
Ask who writes the minutes and most people will say "the clerk." For the city council of a mid-sized city, that is usually right. For everything else a local government runs, it is often wrong.
The planning board's minutes might be drafted by the town administrator's assistant. The library trustees might take turns. The school board's minutes might come from a board secretary who is also the district's business manager. The conservation commission's minutes might be written by a retired resident who volunteered because nobody else would, at her kitchen table, two days before the next meeting.
All of those documents are part of the public record. Most of them are written by people for whom minutes are a fraction of the job, or not their job at all.
The people who actually write them
- Town, city and county clerks. The default answer, and in many states a statutory one. The clerk usually owns the governing body's minutes and often the records of every other body as well.
- Deputy and assistant clerks. When the clerk can't be in two rooms at once, the deputy covers the second meeting. In some offices the deputy writes most of the minutes and the clerk reviews them.
- Town administrators and managers. In small towns without a large clerk's office, the administrator frequently staffs the board, prepares the agenda and drafts the minutes too.
- Administrative assistants to boards. Planning, zoning, building and public works departments often assign a staff member to support "their" board, and minutes come with the assignment.
- Board and recording secretaries. Some bodies hire a part-time recording secretary paid by the meeting. Others elect one of their own members as secretary.
- School board secretaries. In many districts the board secretary is a district employee whose other duties include business operations or administrative support for the superintendent.
- Volunteers. Advisory committees, task forces and smaller commissions often have no staff at all. A member writes the minutes, or nobody does.
That last group matters more than it looks. As we wrote in The Subcommittee Multiplier, open meeting laws generally define public bodies by function, so an advisory committee can owe minutes to essentially the same standard as the council. The people least supported to write minutes are often writing them for the bodies with the least oversight.
Why it varies by type of government
The U.S. Census Bureau's 2022 Census of Governments counted 3,031 county governments, 35,705 municipal and township governments, 12,546 independent school districts and 39,555 special district governments, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis summary of the data. Each type tends to staff its minutes differently, and state law shapes all of them.
Cities
Cities usually have a dedicated clerk or, in Texas, a city secretary. California's Government Code says the city clerk "shall keep an accurate record of the proceedings of the legislative body" (Gov. Code § 40801). In Texas, the secretary of a Type A general-law municipality "shall attend each meeting of the governing body" and keep accurate minutes (Local Gov't Code § 22.073). Home-rule cities typically set the duty in their charters instead. Even in cities with a full clerk's office, the boards and commissions below the council are often staffed by the department that supports them.
Towns and townships
Towns are where the work spreads furthest. New York's Town Law says the town clerk "shall attend all meetings of the town board, act as clerk thereof," and keep a complete and accurate record of each meeting's proceedings, and it lets the first deputy town clerk perform the clerk's duties when the clerk is absent (Town Law § 30). That covers the town board. It does not staff the planning board, the zoning board of appeals, or the committees a town creates as it goes. In small towns those fall to the administrator, a department assistant, or a volunteer.
Counties
Counties tend to have the clearest statutory assignment for the governing board. In Texas, "the county clerk is the clerk of the commissioners court," and the court must require the clerk to record its proceedings (Local Gov't Code § 81.003). In practice, that often means a deputy clerk in the county clerk's office attends and drafts. County boards and commissions beyond the governing body vary widely.
School boards
School boards usually have a designated secretary. Pennsylvania's Public School Code says the board secretary "shall keep a correct and proper record of all the proceedings of the board" (24 P.S. § 4-433). Depending on the district, that secretary may be a board member, the business manager, or an administrative employee with a full set of other duties.
Special districts
Water, fire, park, library and utility districts are the most varied of all. A large district may have a board clerk. A small one may rely on a district manager, a contracted administrator, or an elected board member serving as secretary. State special district laws and the district's own bylaws decide.
What makes the job hard
Writing minutes is a skill, and it is rarely the skill anyone was hired for. A few things make it harder than it looks:
- Many bodies, one person. The same deputy clerk might cover the council, the planning commission and the parks board, each with its own conventions and approval cycle.
- Part-time staff. Small governments often run on part-time positions. Minutes compete with licenses, records requests, elections and the front counter.
- Volunteers. A volunteer secretary has a day job. Minutes get written in the evening, from handwritten notes, sometimes weeks later.
- Turnover. When the person who did it for ten years leaves, the format, the shortcuts and the unwritten rules often leave too. We covered that in detail in what actually breaks when a long-tenured clerk leaves.
- Little or no training. Professional development exists for municipal clerks (more below), but an administrative assistant or volunteer handed a board usually gets last year's minutes and a "good luck."
What the law asks of whoever writes them
Two kinds of law usually apply at once, and it helps to separate them.
Open meeting laws usually put the duty on the body. Michigan says "each public body shall keep minutes of each meeting" (MCL 15.269). Massachusetts says "a public body shall create and maintain accurate minutes" (G.L. c. 30A, § 22). Texas says "a governmental body shall prepare and keep minutes or make a recording of each open meeting" (Gov't Code § 551.021). Pennsylvania's Sunshine Act requires that written minutes be kept of all open meetings of agencies (65 Pa.C.S. § 706).
Office statutes, charters and bylaws often name an officer. The California, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania provisions above assign the governing board's record to a clerk, city secretary or board secretary by title.
The practical result: if you are a volunteer drafting for an advisory committee, you are generally doing the body's legal duty on its behalf, and the body is responsible for what it approves. If a statute names your office, the duty is yours by title, even when someone else types the draft.
The content and timing rules apply no matter who drafts. Michigan's minutes must show the date, time, place, members present and absent, decisions made, and all roll call votes, and proposed minutes must be available for public inspection within 8 business days. New York requires a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions and other matters formally voted upon, with the vote, available within two weeks (Public Officers Law § 106). Massachusetts adds a summary of the discussion on each subject, and its regulations treat minutes as timely if created and approved within the next three meetings or 30 days, whichever is later (940 CMR 29.11). For a fuller comparison, see what the law actually requires your minutes to contain.
If the job was just handed to you
Whether you are a new deputy clerk or the committee member who said yes, these steps will get you most of the way.
- Find your rules. Read your state's open meeting law section on minutes, then your charter, bylaws or rules of procedure. Your state clerks' association or attorney general's office often publishes a plain-language guide.
- Copy the house style. Pull the last several sets of approved minutes and match them: headings, how motions are written, how votes are recorded, how much discussion is summarized.
- Start from the agenda. Build your draft on the agenda before the meeting. Every item becomes a heading, and much of the record is written before anyone speaks.
- Capture the actions exactly. Who made each motion, who seconded, the exact wording, and how each member voted on any roll call. These are the parts people check.
- Summarize, don't transcribe. Most statutes ask for actions and votes, sometimes with a summary of discussion. Robert's Rules of Order also treats minutes as a record of what was done rather than what was said. Leave out opinions, adjectives and your own commentary.
- Record the meeting if your policy allows. A recording lets you check a vote or a name rather than guess.
- Draft within a day or two. Memory fades fast, and your state may have a hard deadline. Mark the document "Draft" until the body approves it, and know how approval and amendments work.
- Ask for help. The clerk's office has usually seen your question before. If you are a clerk, the International Institute of Municipal Clerks has run the Certified Municipal Clerk program since 1970, requiring 60 education points and 50 experience points, and state associations run institutes and workshops.
Where Govably fits
We built Govably for exactly these people: the clerk covering four boards, the administrator who also staffs the planning board, the volunteer secretary writing at night. Govably writes the minutes from the meeting recording in your board's house style, with motions, movers, seconders and votes captured. VoicePrint learns each board member's voice and names them correctly across meetings, so the committee that meets four times a year is named correctly, just like the council. Your Client Success Manager, who has written minutes, sets up your format and stays with you.
It does not replace the person responsible. Someone still reviews the draft, and the body still approves it. It just means the person who was handed the job is editing a draft instead of starting from a blank page.
The through-line
Behind every set of local government minutes is a person, and very often it is not the person the public assumes. The law usually holds the body responsible and sometimes names an officer, but the drafting falls to whoever is available: clerks, deputies, administrators, assistants, secretaries and volunteers. Supporting all of them, not only the clerk, is how the public record stays accurate.
Frequently asked questions
Who is legally responsible for meeting minutes in local government?
It depends on the state and the type of government, and often two laws apply at once. Open meeting laws usually put the duty on the body itself: Michigan says each public body shall keep minutes, and Massachusetts says a public body shall create and maintain accurate minutes. Separate statutes then often name an officer. New York's Town Law makes the town clerk the clerk of the town board, Texas makes the county clerk the clerk of the commissioners court, and Pennsylvania's Public School Code tells the school board secretary to keep a record of the board's proceedings. Check your own state's open meeting act, your office statutes, and your charter or bylaws.
Can a volunteer or board member take the minutes?
Often, yes, especially for advisory committees and smaller boards that have no assigned staff. Where the open meeting law puts the duty on the body, the body can generally designate a member or volunteer to draft them. Where a statute assigns the duty to a named officer, such as a city clerk or county clerk, that officer remains responsible. Whoever drafts them, the body still has to approve them, and the content standard does not drop because the drafter is a volunteer.
Do minutes have to be a word-for-word transcript?
Generally no. Most statutes ask for a record of actions and votes, sometimes with a summary of discussion. New York requires a record or summary of all motions, proposals, resolutions and any other matter formally voted upon and the vote thereon. Massachusetts adds a summary of the discussions on each subject. Robert's Rules of Order also treats minutes as a record of what was done rather than what was said. A verbatim transcript is usually neither required nor helpful.
How quickly do minutes have to be finished?
Deadlines vary by state. Michigan requires proposed minutes to be available for public inspection within 8 business days after the meeting. New York requires minutes to be available within two weeks. Massachusetts regulations treat minutes as timely if they are created and approved within the next three meetings or 30 days, whichever is later. Many states set no specific deadline, so check your own law and local rules.
Is there training for people who write minutes?
For municipal clerks, yes. The International Institute of Municipal Clerks has run the Certified Municipal Clerk program since 1970; it requires 60 education points and 50 experience points. State clerks' associations also run institutes and workshops. Volunteers and board secretaries on smaller bodies usually receive no formal training, which is why a written template and a short handoff from the last person who did the job matter so much.
Sources: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, "Local Governments in the U.S.: A Breakdown by Number and Type" (Mar. 2024), citing the U.S. Census Bureau 2022 Census of Governments · Cal. Gov. Code § 40801 · Tex. Local Gov't Code § 22.073 and § 81.003 · Tex. Gov't Code § 551.021 · N.Y. Town Law § 30 · N.Y. Public Officers Law § 106 · MCL 15.269 · Mass. G.L. c. 30A, § 22 and 940 CMR 29.11 · 24 P.S. § 4-433 · 65 Pa.C.S. § 706 · IIMC, Certified Municipal Clerk Program. Statutes are cited as illustrations, not as a survey; who drafts and who is responsible varies by state, charter and bylaws, so check your own. This article is general information, not legal advice.
Ryan Wilson is the founder and CEO of Govably, the AI minutes platform for local government clerks: cities, towns, counties and school boards.