The first duty imposed on the city clerk under the Government Code is keeping an accurate record of the proceedings of the legislative body. See Section 40801 below:
“The city clerk shall keep an accurate record of the proceeding of the legislative body and the board of equalization in books bearing appropriate titles and devoted exclusively to such purposes, respectively. The books shall have a comprehensive general index.”
The question becomes what is the definition of “accurate record?” Prior to computers, clerks would handwrite the Minutes directly into the Minute Book. The Minutes were merely a handwritten document noting the motions and votes on all items the city council acted upon. With the advent of computers, Minutes became more formalized with titles of the agenda item, discussion, and the motion and vote. Some city clerks even prepared verbatim minutes, including dialogue between the council members.
Mostly, minutes are action minutes in which the city clerk records the title of the agenda item and the action taken by the city council. Regardless of the type of minutes prepared by the city clerk, the most important aspect of preparing minutes is to make sure they are accurate and to have them completed before the following meeting so they can be approved by the legislative body and recorded in the Minute Book.
I can’t tell you how many cities I have worked for where minutes were months to years behind. In my opinion, this is a derelict of duties on behalf of the city clerk. If a clerk has too much work and completing minutes becomes a problem, he/she should request assistance. If assistance is not an option, then it is the clerk’s responsibility to prioritize completing the minutes.