From the Legal Hotline

By Teri Henning, General Counsel; Melissa Melewsky, Media Law Counsel
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: The school board secretary makes a tape recording of all school board meetings and uses the recording to draft meeting minutes. Occasionally, it takes the school board months to complete and adopt meeting minutes based on this recording and they refuse to release the tape recording or draft minutes. Is the tape recording a public record? How long can the school board take to adopt official minutes? Can I get a copy of the draft minutes?

A: The tape recording is not a public record under the Right to Know law although some agencies do make tape recordings available. In Tapco, Inc. v. Township of Neville, 695 A.2d 460 (Pa.Cmwlth.1997) the Commonwealth Court ruled that audio recordings taken by a secretary during a public meeting and used to produce written minutes are not public records subject to disclosure under the Right to Know law. However, you are permitted to make your own tape recording. Section 711 of the Sunshine Act expressly permits the public to use recording devices during public meetings. The agency can create reasonable rules regarding the use of recording devices but only to the extent that the regulations do not interfere with the ability to record the entire meeting.

The Sunshine Act requires agencies to keep written minutes of all public meetings and the Right to Know law makes meeting minutes a public record. While there is no time requirement expressly stated in the Sunshine Act, minutes should be produced and made available as quickly as possible. The Governor’s Center for Local Government Services, Manual for Municipal Secretaries, available online at http://www.newpa.com/default.aspx?id=132, further emphasizes the need for minutes to be made available to the public and news media as promptly as possible. Many citizens are unable to attend public meetings making media reports and meeting minutes their only method of tracking elected officials and official action.

Clearly, meeting minutes are public records under the Right to Know law and because of the emphasis on providing meeting minutes as promptly as possible, draft minutes should be made available prior to the adoption of “official” meeting minutes. There is no harm in providing draft minutes to the public and in fact, the public can be very helpful in offering corrections. Even when the minutes must be corrected in the future, that can easily be accomplished, and does not require the preparation of ‘new’ minutes. Any corrections must be noted directly on the original version. As a result, the public would still have the opportunity, although much-delayed, to see the content of the draft minutes.

If you have specific legal questions, please contact the Legal Hotline at (717) 703-3080.

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