Meeting Minutes - Correct Procedure

Started by DonaldN • 10 replies • 2823 views

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DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

minutes are taken one month and then changed and approved the next - should the approved minutes replace those that were taken and become part of the associations archive or should they only be a notation in the current month's minutes leaving the unapproved minutes as part of the archive.

the answer seems obvious to me, i.e. the approved version only goes into the archive but does anyone have a cite such as parliamentary procedure or robert's rules or something else ??? our bylaws are silent .

RogerB (Colorado)
Posts: 5,067

Posted:

Donald,
If the minutes are amended prior to being approved then the amended minutes only are kept.

AnnJ1 (Florida)
Posts: 122

Posted:

Hi Donald,

You are correct in your assumption....

According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (latest edition) "The minutes do not become THE minutes and assume their essential status as the official record of the proceedings of the society until they have been approved and before this happens, the secretary's draft may be materially modified in the correction process." page 344

HTH,
Ann

DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By AnnJ1 on 09/08/2010 6:11 PM
Hi Donald,

You are correct in your assumption....

According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (latest edition) "The minutes do not become THE minutes and assume their essential status as the official record of the proceedings of the society until they have been approved and before this happens, the secretary's draft may be materially modified in the correction process." page 344

HTH,
Ann

thanks Ann - the Robert's Rules cite is the kind of thing I was looking for !!

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Donald - and the minutes of that older previous meeting must be approved before the minutes of the immediate past meeting.

DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SusanW1 on 09/09/2010 4:53 AM
Donald - and the minutes of that older previous meeting must be approved before the minutes of the immediate past meeting.

just got a copy of Robert's Rules - would I find that in there also ?

DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

another question - Robert's Rules talks about "unanimous consent" in the context of minutes and motions - we have a 5 member BOD - if 3 members want unapproved minutes to be changed in a particular way before approval and 2 members want a different change, does the version of the majority win ?

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

Donald - if your board is arguing about the minutes, then something is wrong.

Minutes should NOT contain opinions, discussions, gonna-do's, perceptions, thoughts, etc. They should be short and factual. In fact, you can glean them to include motions passed or rejected only.

If there is discussion, that is noted:
Discussion was held on drainage problem at 123 Sundhine Road. Not action taken.

Can you share with us what is causing the inablity of the board to approve (witness as true) the on-goings of your meeting?

Your president needs to get a firm hand on the secretary's minute taking.

DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SusanW1 on 09/09/2010 9:51 AM
Donald - if your board is arguing about the minutes, then something is wrong.

Minutes should NOT contain opinions, discussions, gonna-do's, perceptions, thoughts, etc. They should be short and factual. In fact, you can glean them to include motions passed or rejected only.

If there is discussion, that is noted:
Discussion was held on drainage problem at 123 Sundhine Road. Not action taken.

Can you share with us what is causing the inablity of the board to approve (witness as true) the on-goings of your meeting?

Your president needs to get a firm hand on the secretary's minute taking.

you're perceptive - there is something wrong - currently we are not a cohesive/united Board - two camps - 2 members in one (camp A) , 3 in the other (camp B) - the Secretary (in camp A) for our July meeting opined that the election a year ago that brought in 2 members of camp B was "questionable" since there were a total of 73 votes but only 67 unit owners - I, one of the 2 that came in opined that this was possible since there were 2 openings on the Board and so a unit owner could vote for 2 of the 4 candidates - an opinion and a rebuttal.

the Secretary wrote the minutes to only show her opinion - I objected and rewrote the minutes showing both sides since that's what transpired - we had a special Board meeting a week ago and it was unanamously approved .

but the Secretary who is now the President submitted her version ( although she voted for mine) to the management company for inclusion on the community website.

we have a meeting tonight to continue the discussion and hopefully have closure but there is still the possibility that our President will claim that she doesn't recall my rebuttal.

I just want to approve minutes that is win-win for both sides - maybe everyone will be rational tonight

PS - the 2 camps - camp A members were from a prior Board - myself & another member were voted in last year - and the fifth member came in this year - sad to say we're not working as a team .

SusanW1 (Michigan)
Posts: 5,202

Posted:

After the election, the president announces the results. The results are printed in the minutes. NO opinion or rebuttals. Just the numbers.

The time to object to the election results was at the time of the count, NOT this late. The board could have declared the election null and void due to mis-count of results or mis-handling of ballots.

There should have been a "teller" (a non involved person(s)) to run the election from the creation of the ballots to the count to the delivery of the results to the president, who announces the results to the Members.

The results should be in the minutes with an explanation of how there were more votes than members voting.

DonaldN (Connecticut)
Posts: 183

Posted:

Quote:

Posted By SusanW1 on 09/09/2010 11:24 AM
After the election, the president announces the results. The results are printed in the minutes. NO opinion or rebuttals. Just the numbers.

The time to object to the election results was at the time of the count, NOT this late. The board could have declared the election null and void due to mis-count of results or mis-handling of ballots.

There should have been a "teller" (a non involved person(s)) to run the election from the creation of the ballots to the count to the delivery of the results to the president, who announces the results to the Members.

The results should be in the minutes with an explanation of how there were more votes than members voting.

yes all of that should have been addressed a year ago - but now we are charged with approving this past July's minutes in some form - on page 53 of Robert's Rules it seems to say that the wording of the minutes can be put to vote if there are differing positions .

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