Quorum of committee members meet outside of regularly scheduled meetings-need minutes?

[Guest Heather D]

On a non-profit board, if a quorum of committee members meets outside of regularly scheduled meetings to work together in general on a project so that it can later be reviewed and discussed at a regularly scheduled committee meeting, is their non-scheduled working meeting considered an official meeting of the committee (e.g., requires standard meeting practices such as minutes be taken) because a quorum is present? It may be of value to note that the full committee suggested/requested during a regularly scheduled meeting that they should hold the working meeting in the interim between full committee meetings to help advance the project.

[Josh Martin]

On a non-profit board, if a quorum of committee members meets outside of regularly scheduled meetings to work together in general on a project so that it can later be reviewed and discussed at a regularly scheduled committee meeting, is their non-scheduled working meeting considered an official meeting of the committee (e.g., requires standard meeting practices such as minutes be taken) because a quorum is present?

No. A gathering of members of the committee is an official meeting if and only if it is a properly called meeting of the committee. The fact that a quorum of members, or even all members, gathers at another time does not make it a meeting of the committee, even if this was requested by the full committee.

Additionally, committees generally do not take minutes even at official meetings, since the committee's reports serve as its records.

[George Mervosh]

On a non-profit board, if a quorum of committee members meets outside of regularly scheduled meetings to work together in general on a project so that it can later be reviewed and discussed at a regularly scheduled committee meeting, is their non-scheduled working meeting considered an official meeting of the committee (e.g., requires standard meeting practices such as minutes be taken) because a quorum is present? It may be of value to note that the full committee suggested/requested during a regularly scheduled meeting that they should hold the working meeting in the interim between full committee meetings to help advance the project.

 

No.  If the committee wishes to form a sub-committee that officially meets and reports back to it, that's fine.

[Richard Brown]

On a non-profit board, if a quorum of committee members meets outside of regularly scheduled meetings to work together in general on a project so that it can later be reviewed and discussed at a regularly scheduled committee meeting, is their non-scheduled working meeting considered an official meeting of the committee (e.g., requires standard meeting practices such as minutes be taken) because a quorum is present?

I agree with Josh and George.  You might be thinking of public "open meetings" or "sunshine" laws which often prohibit a quorum of a public body, such as a city council or school board, from getting together to discuss public business without complying with the public notice requirement.  However, those laws apply only to public bodies, not to private organizations.