Under the Michigan retention schedules, the audio or video recording of a meeting may be destroyed one day after the minutes are approved. The minutes, not the recording, are the permanent record. Here are the rules as printed.
This is the retention rule that surprises the most clerks. The recording of a meeting, the file everyone assumes must live forever, has one of the shortest clocks in the schedules:
DTMB General Schedule #35 (Administrative Records), item 35.112; approved 6/6/2023. Applies to all Michigan public bodies.
DTMB General Schedule #25 (Township Clerks), item 25.201; approved 6/17/2008.
The logic: Michigan law treats the approved minutes as the official, permanent record of the meeting (see how long minutes are kept: forever). The recording and the clerk’s notes are raw material for producing that record. Once the minutes are approved, the schedule releases the raw material.
Retention periods are minimums. Nothing stops a public body from keeping its recordings for years, publishing them on its website, or maintaining a YouTube channel going back a decade; plenty do, and residents appreciate it. The schedule means something narrower: one day after minutes approval, the recording is eligible for disposal, and destroying it then is routine, defensible records management rather than a violation.
Two cautions. First, the clock runs from approval of the minutes, not from the meeting date, so a recording must survive at least until the minutes clear the next meeting. Second, the standard holds override the schedule: a recording that is responsive to a pending FOIA request, litigation, or an investigation must be kept until the matter concludes, whatever the schedule says.
Dekree takes the recording you already make, transcribes it, drafts the minutes for your review, and links chapters of the video to agenda items for residents. The recording, the transcript, and the approved minutes each carry their own retention rule from the official schedule, so what must be permanent is, and what may be released can be.
Both quotes link to the exact page of the official schedule on michigan.gov, and every series is searchable in our free database of all 2,149 Michigan retention rules. Confirm specifics with your municipal attorney before disposing of anything.
Until the meeting minutes are approved, plus one day. General Schedule #35 item 35.112 (Meeting Records, Audio and Video Recordings), which applies to every Michigan public body, reads: RETAIN UNTIL: Meeting minutes are approved PLUS: 1 day THEN: Destroy. The township clerk schedule (GS #25 item 25.201) says the same. The approved minutes are the permanent official record; the recording is a working tool for producing them.
Yes. Retention periods are minimums that authorize disposal, not commands to destroy. Many public bodies choose to keep recordings on their website or YouTube channel indefinitely as a service to residents. The schedule simply means you are not obligated to, once the minutes are approved.
If the recording still exists when a request that covers it arrives, it must be preserved until the request concludes; a pending FOIA request suspends disposal. If it was lawfully destroyed under the schedule before the request came in, "no records exist" is a complete and defensible response.
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.