Guest Bonnie Bailey Posted July 1, 2014 at 08:18 PM Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 at 08:18 PM Can motions be made, voted on, and the result declared in closed, secret, Executive Sessions of a Nonprofit Board? If so, how is it reported to the membership? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 1, 2014 at 08:39 PM Report Share Posted July 1, 2014 at 08:39 PM Can motions be made, voted on, and the result declared in closed, secret, Executive Sessions of a Nonprofit Board?Yes (as far as RONR is concerned) If so, how is it reported to the membership?It could be reported at a meeting of the (general) membership that was also held in executive session. More often, I suspect the results of the adopted motion (e.g. the termination of an employee) will become known in the normal course of events (e.g. someone new is in Joe's office). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted July 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 12:00 AM It could be reported at a meeting of the (general) membership that was also held in executive session. More often, I suspect the results of the adopted motion (e.g. the termination of an employee) will become known in the normal course of events (e.g. someone new is in Joe's office).It would not be necessary to enter executive session if the board has lifted secrecy regarding the results. The purpose of executive session is often to ensure that the deliberations are secret, not the end result - hiring a new employee is an excellent example.If secrecy has not been lifted, I concur that it would be necessary for the membership to enter executive session if the results were to be reported. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timothy Posted July 2, 2014 at 11:36 AM Report Share Posted July 2, 2014 at 11:36 AM It would not be necessary to enter executive session if the board has lifted secrecy regarding the results. The purpose of executive session is often to ensure that the deliberations are secret, not the end result - hiring a new employee is an excellent example.If secrecy has not been lifted, I concur that it would be necessary for the membership to enter executive session if the results were to be reported. It seems like it might address the original question to say how a board might go about "lifting secrecy regarding the results." I have been involved in some committees/boards that always meet in executive session, primarily because some of our discussions involve the financial situation of the members of the parent organization and other things that must be kept confidential. We frequently have to make recommendations to the organization because we have authorization to do only so much without their approval. Only once have I seen us take action to lift the secrecy on a particular topic, but when we make a recommendation, the lifting of secrecy is assumed, to the extent that we are able to make the recommendation without the organization going into executive session. If that is not the case, we would take specific action to request the organization go into executive session prior to our presenting the recommendation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted July 3, 2014 at 08:06 PM Report Share Posted July 3, 2014 at 08:06 PM It is not unusual for a group to go into executive session for the purposes of more freely discussing a question, and then come out of executive session just prior to taking a vote on the measure. The contents of the discussion would be confidential, but the final wording of the motion and the results of the vote would not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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