AGO 97008.

• Court: Nebraska

Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1997. AGO 97008. DATE: January 13, 1997SUBJECT: Commission and approval of Commission minutesREQUESTED BY: Mr. Alfonza Whitaker, Executive Director Nebraska Equal Opportunity CommissionWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General Suzanna Glover-Ettrich, Assistant Attorney General You have requested an Attorney General's Opinion regarding the proper procedure for an individual Commissioner of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission who wishes to challenge, amend, or correct the minutes from a previous Commission meeting. Particularly, the Commissioners wanted to know if it is permissible for a Commissioner to prepare his/her own version of the minutes and submit same to the Commissioners, thus becoming part of the Commission meeting documents and a public record. We conclude that an individual Commissioner may offer his/her own version of the minutes as a motion to amend the minutes from a previous Commission meeting. The Nebraska public meetings law, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-1408- 1414 (1994), which applies to meetings of the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, is intended to ensure that public policy is formulated at open meetings. Marks v. Judicial Nominating Committee, 236 Neb. 429, 461 N.W.2d 551 (1990). Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-1413 (1994) requires that each public body keep minutes of all meetings showing the time, place, members present and absent, and the substance of all matters discussed. The minutes of all meetings and evidence and documentation received or disclosed in open session are public records and open to the public inspection during normal business hours. § 84-1413(4). Minutes shall be written and available for inspection within ten working days or prior to the next convened meeting, whichever occurs earlier. § 84-1413(5). As a general rule, a public body may, at a subsequent meeting, if no intervening rights of third persons have arisen, order the minutes or record of its own proceedings at a previous meeting to be corrected according to the facts, so as to make them speak the truth, although the record has once been approved. State ex. rel. Schuler v. Dunbar, 214 Neb. 85, 333 N.W.2d 652 (1983) (citing 56 Am. Jur. 2d Municipal Corporations, etc. § 179 (1971)). The purpose of a nunc pro tunc correction is to make the record speak the truth and not to correct oversights or...