Nogales housing authority clarifies minutes, recordings after staff and attorney discussion

The Housing Authority of the City of Nogales Board of Commissioners voted to approve the minutes from its previous meeting and discussed how the authority should document meetings going forward.

During discussion before the vote, Attorney Estes advised commissioners that "all meetings are required to either have written minutes or a recording," and that recordings must show time, date, location, presence of members and vote information. The attorney said the common and preferred practice across the state is to keep both written minutes and a recording so audits and HUD reviews can verify attendance and how each member voted.

Commissioner Blake noted that the draft minutes repeatedly used the heading "mayor and council" rather than the authority's terminology of "commissioners and chairperson," which prompted staff to confirm who prepares the minutes and to update the recordkeeping. Staff said minutes are prepared by Mr. Carriaga and that minutes are brought back at the next regular meeting for review and approval.

After the discussion, the chair called the vote and the minutes were approved by voice vote.

Board members said the practice of approving minutes at the next regular meeting should continue to help meet HUD and audit expectations.