Minutes are a legal record with a statutory contents list, not meeting notes. Here is what belongs, what to leave out, how to format motions and roll calls, and a template that has all of it pre-built.
The most useful mental model for minutes: a stranger, five years from now, needs to know exactly what the body decided, who was there, and how each member voted on the things that required a roll call. That stranger might be a new clerk, an auditor, a title company, or a judge. They do not need to know who interrupted whom.
Michigan writes that model into law. MCL 15.269(1) lists what minutes must show, and the list is short: date, time, place; members present and absent; all decisions; the purpose of any closed session; and all roll-call votes. Everything past that list is editorial judgment, and less is usually more, because every extra characterization is something a member can object to when the minutes come up for approval.
The opening block generates four required facts in two lines:
“The regular meeting was called to order by Supervisor Holt at 7:00 p.m. at Maplewood Township Hall, 100 Main St. Present: Holt, Park, Whitman, Lee, Alvarez. Absent: Chen (excused).”
Motions carry the decision, so they get the most precise language in the document:
Roll-call votes record every member by name: Ayes: Park, Whitman, Lee. Nays: Alvarez. Absent: Chen. Roll calls are required in the minutes whenever taken, and certain actions (like entering most closed sessions, MCL 15.267(1)) require them.
Closed sessions appear in the open minutes as the authorizing motion, the roll-call vote, the statutory purpose cited (MCL 15.268(1) subsection), and the times the body entered and returned. What was said inside goes only in the separate closed-session minutes the clerk retains (MCL 15.267(2)).
Leave out verbatim exchanges, adjectives about mood, and paraphrases attributed to named members beyond formal motions and reports. There are two reasons. Approval: minutes that editorialize get relitigated line by line at the next meeting, which is how a ten-minute agenda item becomes forty. Liability: the minutes are the record a court reads (challenges to decisions run from when approved minutes are made public, MCL 15.270), and a clean record of decisions is easier to defend than a colorful record of discussion. Public comment is handled the same way: the speaker’s name and topic, not a transcript of the comment.
The clerks who never miss the 8-business-day proposed-minutes deadline (MCL 15.269(3); the full timing rules are in the minutes checklist) all do the same thing: they draft against the agenda, not from memory. The agenda already contains every item in order (see the agenda template); during the meeting the clerk marks dispositions and vote counts; the day after, drafting is filling in outcomes rather than reconstructing a meeting. Recording the meeting makes the remaining gaps checkable instead of arguable.
Dekree closes the loop end to end: record the meeting on a phone, upload the audio, and the drafted minutes come back structured exactly like this template, with motions, votes, and attendance in place and each agenda item carried through. The clerk edits and approves in a full-screen editor, the 8-day and 5-day clocks are tracked, and publishing to the portal is one click after approval.
MCL 15.269(1) requires the date, time, and place of the meeting; members present and absent; all decisions made at the open meeting; the purpose or purposes of any closed session; and all roll-call votes. Everything else is local practice.
Mover, seconder, the exact action, and the outcome: "MOTION by Trustee Park, second by Trustee Holt, to award the mowing contract to [vendor] for $8,400. Motion carried 5 to 0." For roll-call votes, record each member by name under Ayes, Nays, and Absent.
A sentence or two of substantive summary per item is good practice and helps future readers understand why a decision was made. Verbatim debate, speaker-by-speaker accounts, and characterizations ("heated exchange") do not belong; they create disputes at approval time and add nothing to the legal record.
Proposed minutes within 8 business days after the meeting; approved minutes within 5 business days after the meeting at which they are approved (MCL 15.269(3)).
This article is educational information for Michigan public bodies, current as of the publication date. It is not legal advice, and statutes and court decisions change. Confirm specifics with your municipal attorney. Statute text: legislature.mi.gov.