I am not a lawyer. This is not legal advice.
NH RSA Chapter 91-A: Access to Public Records and Meetings
Anyone can record a public meeting. The law does not speak to closed meetings.
The minutes must include: the names of the members present, the names of persons appearing before the body, a brief description of each subject discussed and all final decisions made. For public meetings, the minutes must be available to the public within 144 hours of the public meeting and kept as permanent records.
The same rules apply to the minutes of closed sessions. If by a recorded vote of 2/3rds, the members seal the minutes, then they are not published. If the members do not vote to seal the minutes, they must be made available to the public within 72 hours.
Per legal opinion: sealed minutes should be kept locked in the place of business, or, if that is not possible, in the jurisdiction in which the place of business is located.
Minutes can be unsealed by a majority of the board, when the reason for sealing them is no longer the case.
Per legal opinion, members of the board who were not present at the closed session (or were not yet on the board) should have access to the sealed minutes.
The statute does not say anything about reviewing or approving the minutes. Per legal opinion, however, board should review and approve minutes to ensure their accuracy (which is regquired by law).
DOJ Cover memo for NH Right-to-Know
The DOJ's cover memo about the right-to-know law and many summaries go beyond these requirements, stating: actions on all motions made, even if the motion fails. A clear description of the motion, the person making the motion and the person seconding the motion should also be included. This does not have the force of law, as near as I can tell, and reveals a typical misunderstanding of parliamentary procedure and minute taking under parliamentary procedure. Under Roberts and the Standard Code, the second is not to be recorded, and the exact language of the final motion is to be recorded, not a "description". Further, final decisions can be made in the absence of a motion, in which case a description of the final decision would make sense, but in which case there might not be a person making the motion, much less a second. See RONR (10th ed) p. 470:
Sometimes, when a proposal is perfectly clear to all present, a vote can be taken without a motion's having been introduced. Unless agreed to by unanimous consent, all proposed actions of a board must be approved by vote under the same rules as in other assemblies, except that a vote can be taken initially by a show of hands, which is often a better method in such meetings.
RONR specifically states that the second should not be listed in the minutes, either when the minutes are to be published or when they are not to be published. When the minutes are not to be published, RONR describes what is often called a "minimalist" approach to minutes: open, motions and how they are disposed of including results of votes; close. What is often overlooked is what RONR describes in the case of minutes which are to be published. RONR (10th ed) p 458:
When minutes are to be published, they should contain, in addition to the information described above, a list of the speakers on each side of every question, with an abstract or the text of each address, in which case they may be called "proceedings," "transactions," or the like. In such cases, the secretary should have an assistant. When it is desired, as in some conventions, to publish the proceedings in full, the secretary's assistant should be a stenographic reporter or recording technician. The presiding officer should then take particular care that everyone to whom he assigns the floor is fully identified.
RONR gives quite detailed rules on what should go in the minutes. See RONR (10th ed.) pp. 451-4.
RONR also supplies detailed procedures for reviewing and approving the minutes. See RONR (10th ed.) pp. 456-8.
Conducting Meetings Table of Contents
Created July 22, 2007 Updated July 23, 2007