What officially goes in the minutes

[cbear614f]

I'm am fairly new to Robert's Rules of Order.  I've only taken minutes for small local meetings.  My job now is secretary for a larger board and the minutes of the board meetings are recorded.  They do have Robert's Rules as their official way of conducting meetings, but it is still somewhat informal.  I am trying to decide what actually goes in the minutes.  The last meeting had several community members present but not on the agenda.  The meeting was never officially opened for public comment but people started asking questions and the president was answering.  Eventually it turned into heated discussion and blame about events that happened a few weeks prior.  Am I suppose to record everything that was said or just state discussion was made on the subjects brought up.  These minutes go in the newspaper and I know the organization this board answers to knows how a meeting is suppose to be conducted.  It has taken me several hours to listen and try to type these minutes and I'm not even half way through the meeting.

 

Thanks for any help you can give.

[Edgar Guest]

Am I suppose to record everything that was said or just state discussion was made on the subjects brought up. 

 

Per RONR, the minutes are the official record of what was done (e.g. motions), not what was said, (e.g. discussion, debate). That said, some organizations, especially municipal bodies, have a custom (maybe it's even a law?) of including summaries of debate and public comments (even though such summaries are fertile ground for inaccuracy).

 

Sample minutes can be found in RONR. 

 

You might want to follow your body's established custom, at least for awhile, before introducing radical changes.

[cbear614f]

Okay.  There are very few decisions made.  I've been only to two meetings so far.  They talk a lot and make very few decisions.  Their agenda is small and their meetings could take an hour instead of 4 if they didn't discuss so much.  I have read through some passed minutes and it's a mix of what was said and just statements of what has been done.  They are shorter than what I have been typing in.

[Edgar Guest]

In the end, the minutes will contain what the assembly wants them to contain (or what, by law, they're required to contain). If your submitted draft is "too short" the assembly may choose to add to it. If too long, the assembly may choose to trim it.

 

But you mention that the minutes will be published in a newspaper. As such, they may be more akin to what RONR describes as "proceedings" (p. 475)

[Gary c Tesser]

Okay.  There are very few decisions made.  I've been only to two meetings so far.  They talk a lot and make very few decisions.  Their agenda is small and their meetings could take an hour instead of 4 if they didn't discuss so much.  I have read through some passed minutes and it's a mix of what was said and just statements of what has been done.  They are shorter than what I have been typing in.

 

cbear614f, you could do a lot worse for yourself than to find (or buy) a copy of RONR and take the ten minutes or so to find out what you actually should be writing. (The book actually has a sample minutes of a meeting.)  Especially since previous secretaries wrote a lot less than you have been.

 

Of course Edgar Guest says that your minutes, published in a newspaper, "may" be like what RONR calls "proceedings," which are substantially different from ordinary minutes.  I would bet no, especially since you don't mention there being any squawk from the citizenry about the briefer minutes that have been published before you became the secretary.  If you're leaning to find out, do look at that page Mr Guest cited.

 

And lastly, you, as an officer, should get yourself a copy of RONR-In Brief, at once, and read it, soonest.  I usually insist that people read it their first time standing right there in the bookstore, considerately stepping away from in front of the cashier so that all the other bookstore customers aren't impeded from buying their copies of RONR - In Brief, you'll have quite a busy crowd frenetically flipping pages there, occasionally consulting with each other about what to do with no agenda prepared, and when the president can vote or shouldn't, and, um, what you're supposed to put in minutes and what you're supposed to leave out.  But cbear614f, I can see you're busy, so tell you what, you please get it and read it within the week, and come back here and ask some questions about it, then maybe you can come back to this, the world's premier Internet parliamentary forum, and answer some questions yourself, giving citations frequently as Mr Guest did, then maybe he and some of us other non-wage slaves around here can take a couple days off and go fishing in West Virginia or something. 

[cbear614f]

Thanks for the info.  I am not an officer on the board.  I am the office secretary who answers to the board.  I have to be at the meetings and they are recorded so I can type them up afterwards.  The actual secretary who is a board member, doesn't take the minutes.  If I were not able to be at the meeting, she probably would.  Not sure that really makes sense.

 

It wouldn't hurt to have a copy of Robert's Rules here.  I don't know if they'd use it though.  Small town politics.

 

Thanks again.

[Gary c Tesser]

T... It wouldn't hurt to have a copy of Robert's Rules here. I don't know if they'd use it though. Small town politics.

Thanks again.

cbear, I meant get it for yourself.