Local government

Council minutes, from the first item to the signature

What the law requires, how to structure the session, and a template ready to adapt for your council.

Municipal council minutes are the official record of a meeting: attendance and proxies, agenda, debates, the outcome of each vote and the decisions taken. Written by the session secretary, they are approved and signed at the start of the next session, then published within the following week on the council’s website where one exists.

Minutes, list of resolutions and resolution: telling them apart

  • The minutes retrace the full course of the session: who attended, what was debated, how each item was voted. This is the reference document, signed and archived.

  • The list of resolutions is posted at the town hall and published online within the week following the session. It gives only the titles of the resolutions examined and replaced the former "summary" (article L2121-25 of the CGCT).

  • The resolution is the act taken on a specific agenda item. It carries a decision, a number and its own legal effect.

A single council therefore produces one set of minutes, as many resolutions as items voted, and one list of resolutions.

What a set of minutes must contain

  • Date, time and place of the session
  • Councillors present, absent and the proxies given
  • Name of the session secretary
  • The agenda, item by item
  • The record of the debate on each item
  • The outcome of each vote: for, against, abstentions
  • The decisions and resolutions adopted
  • The signature of the mayor and the session secretary

A template ready to adapt

Copy this template and replace the items in brackets. It follows the structure the CGCT expects; adapt it to the format of your own body.

FRENCH REPUBLIC
Department of [department]. Municipality of [name].

MINUTES OF THE MUNICIPAL COUNCIL MEETING
Session of [date]

In the year [year], on [day] [month] at [time], the municipal council, lawfully convened on [convocation date], met at [location] under the chairmanship of [name], mayor.

Councillors in office: [n]. Present: [n]. Voting: [n], including [n] proxies.
Present: [list].
Excused: [list].
Proxies: [X gave proxy to Y].
Session secretary: [name], appointed by the council.

Approval of the minutes of the session of [previous date]: [approved / approved with comments].

AGENDA
1. [Item title]
2. [Item title]

Resolution no. [year]-[number], subject: [title]
Rapporteur: [name].
Discussion: [summary of the presentation and debate].
Vote: present and represented [n], for [n], against [n], abstentions [n].
Decision: [adopted / rejected].

[Repeat for each agenda item.]

Any other business: [if applicable].

The agenda being exhausted, the session is closed at [time].
Done at [name], on [date].
The mayor, [name].                The session secretary, [name].

With Recapro, the template fills in automatically from the recording of the session (attendance, agenda, votes, decisions), and all that is left is to review and approve.

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From the recorded session to the draft minutes

Writing accurate minutes takes time: replaying the session, tracing who said what, recounting votes. From the recording, Recapro transcribes the exchanges and prepares a structured draft (agenda, items, votes, decisions) that the session secretary reviews, corrects and approves. The software saves the first draft, responsibility for the act stays human. It is the signature of the mayor and the secretary that gives the minutes their legal value. For closed sessions, where individual situations or residents’ personal data are discussed (article L2121-18 of the CGCT), Recapro processes the audio on the council’s own network, without going through a third-party cloud.

Frequently asked questions

01

Who writes the municipal council minutes?
The session secretary, chosen among the councillors at the start of the meeting. They prepare the minutes, which the mayor and the secretary sign once the council has approved them.
02

When are the minutes signed and published?
They are approved and signed by the mayor and the session secretary at the start of the next session, then published within the week following that approval on the council’s website where one exists.
03

What is the difference between the minutes and the list of resolutions?
The minutes record the session in full and are authoritative. The list of resolutions, published within the week, gives only the titles of the resolutions examined.
04

Can AI be used to write council minutes?
Yes, as a drafting aid. The AI prepares a draft from the recording. Once the session secretary reviews and corrects it, and the mayor and the secretary approve it by their signature, that human review covers the transparency requirement of Article 50 of the EU AI Act. The human signature remains mandatory for the legal value of the act.
05

How should a closed session be handled?
The discussion may involve personal data, and sometimes special-category data under Article 9 of the GDPR depending on the situation. Local processing, with no transfer to a third-party cloud, keeps that data on the council’s own network.

A meeting record that stays with you

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Dig deeper

The minutes are about substance. These pages are about where the session audio is actually processed, and under which law.