Civic Lesson 101 #3: Sealing of Nonpublic Session Meeting Minutes

Kimberly A. Hallquist, is a staff attorney with the New Hampshire Local Government Center's Legal Services and Government Affairs Department and wrote an excellent article in New Hampshire Town and City, September 2010

“A great deal of confusion exists over "sealed" meeting minutes, probably because the term "sealed" suggests that the meeting minutes are somehow literally sealed and unavailable for viewing-by anyone, forever. This is not the case.

Q. What does it mean "to seal" meeting minutes?

A. Sealing meeting minutes is the phrase used to describe the action of a board to withhold meeting minutes of a nonpublic session from public inspection. RSA 91-A:3, III allows a board to vote to withhold minutes when any of three circumstances exist: (1) when divulgence of the information would likely adversely affect the reputation of any person, other than a member of the board itself; (2) when release of the minutes would render the proposed action ineffective; or (3) the information relates to terrorism planning functions. The nonpublic session minutes may be withheld until, in the opinion of a majority of members, the circumstances described above no longer apply.

Q. Are all nonpublic session meeting minutes sealed?


A. Not automatically. In order to withhold nonpublic session meeting minutes from public inspection, the board must first take a vote to withhold them, or to seal them. The recorded vote of 2/3 of the members present is needed in order to seal the minutes. If the 2/3 vote is not obtained, or no vote is taken, then the minutes must be available within 72 hours, much sooner than the five business days for regular meeting minutes. RSA 91-A:2, II; RSA 91-A:3, III.

Q. Can the board vote to seal the minutes forever?

A. While some boards routinely do this, it is not a good practice since the law does not provide for this. Instead, nonpublic meeting minutes may be withheld only until such time as the conditions which lead to the sealing continue to exist. As discussed above, the law provides specific reasons why nonpublic session minutes may be withheld from public inspection. Arguably, the subject of the nonpublic session might be one that continues to be deserving of the protection that nondisclosure to the public affords it, and thus will be withheld for many years. However, the better practice is to vote to seal the minutes with no set time period and, instead, periodically review the sealed minutes to determine if they continue to meet the requirement for withholding from the public."

To learn more or to read more of Kim’s article – go to:

http://www.nhlgc.org/publications/item_detail.asp?TCArticleID=341