Releasing Minutes to members

[Guest Linda]

I was reading through some old posts and found something interesting.  This was posted by Richard Brown:

Here is the text of the line referenced by mjh about the duties of the secretary:  "To make the minutes and records available to members upon request (see p. 460, ll. 13–17). "

To elaborate on Mr. Goldsworthy's answers, only the members of a particular body are entitled to see the minutes of that body as a right.  For example, only executive committee members are entitled to see the minutes of the executive committee and only board members are entitled to see the minutes of the board.  All members of the society are entitled to see the minutes of general membership meetings. 

As Mr. Goldsworthy pointed out, there are procedures that can be utilized to obtain access to minutes one might not normally be entitled to see.

And, of course, a body can always create a rule or adopt a motion to grant access to its minutes and/or  to distribute them to anyone and everyone it so desires.

 

Our Secretary has been posting the BOD minutes to the general membership.  In one case this has been done prior to BOD approval of the content of the minutes.  (They included editorializing and "conversations" favorable to one side.)  The President has removed these minutes from the general membership view.  We have no rule or motion that allows for the distribution of the minutes.  How do I find the spot that specifies that only a particular body can see those minutes?    Customarily the Secretary presents the minutes to the BOD for approval and then posts them to the general membership as a "draft".  The minutes are made official when they are accepted at the next meeting.

 

[Richard Brown]

The following language on page 487 is about the only other statement in RONR that is on point:

"A record of the board's proceedings should be kept by the secretary, just as in any other assembly; these minutes are accessible only to the members of the board unless the board grants permission to a member of the society to inspect them, or unless the society by a two-thirds vote (or the vote of a majority of the total membership, or a majority vote if previous notice is given) orders the board's minutes to be produced and read to the society's assembly."

Edited to add:  The board (or the general membership) can, of course, adopt a rule of its own regarding who may see the minutes, posting to the website, etc.

Edited April 16, 2017 at 12:08 AM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph