Recording of reports

[Guest Lee]

How are reports to be recorded in the minutes in both monthly and at AGMs? 

AGM reports:

Are they to be submitted in writing or can they be given orally.  If they are given orally, are they to be reported in the minutes in any manner (given that there are no motions within them).  This question is for both executive and committee reports. 

Regular meeting reports:

What happens to written reports?  Do they become a part of the minutes? 

What if a report is given verbally?  Is anything other than specific motions coming out of the report recorded?

Thanks,

Lee

[Josh Martin]

6 hours ago, Guest Lee said:

How are reports to be recorded in the minutes in both monthly and at AGMs? 

AGM reports:

Are they to be submitted in writing or can they be given orally.  If they are given orally, are they to be reported in the minutes in any manner (given that there are no motions within them).  This question is for both executive and committee reports. 

Regular meeting reports:

What happens to written reports?  Do they become a part of the minutes? 

What if a report is given verbally?  Is anything other than specific motions coming out of the report recorded?

All reports should be made in writing, except in very limited circumstances (and none of those circumstances involve reports given for information only). In either case, only the motions should be recorded. Written reports are filed with the Secretary's records, but they are not part of the minutes. The same rules apply for the annual meeting.

[Alexis Hunt]

See p. 525-527 for information about when reports can be given orally, and how they should be handled. This section applies to officers' reports as well as committee reports.

[Guest Les]

So, Josh, then from what you indicated, my understanding is that reports are only to contain motions.  What about the information shared?  Should this be reported but not recorded?  How does a transfer of information occur when no motions are being proposed as a result of the information gathering process?

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Guest Les said:

So, Josh, then from what you indicated, my understanding is that reports are only to contain motions.  What about the information shared?  Should this be reported but not recorded?  How does a transfer of information occur when no motions are being proposed as a result of the information gathering process?

Reports which are in writing are filed, but they are separate from the minutes. Any member has a right to view the Secretary's records, including reports. Verbal reports, aside from the motions, will not be recorded. If the committees want the information in their reports to be distributed, they should put their reports in writing.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

However, note that certain types of brief oral reports delivered in a small meeting must be recorded in the minutes.

RONR (11th ed.), p. 511, ll. 15–19

[Josh Martin]

12 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

However, note that certain types of brief oral reports delivered in a small meeting must be recorded in the minutes.

RONR (11th ed.), p. 511, ll. 15–19

Yes, and these types are detailed on pgs. 525-527. Specifically, they are the following:

• When the report consists solely of a recommendation regarding a motion referred to the committee, and this recommendation involves no further motions (such as a recommendation that the motion be adopted or defeated) or a subsidiary motion that may be made orally, such as a motion to postpone (definitely or indefinitely) or a motion to amend a few words.
• When the report consists solely of a recommendation to adopt or reject a motion referred to the committee, and recommendations to adopt or reject any amendments referred with the motion.
• If the parliamentary situation is not too complex, a recommendation regarding the adoption of new amendments may be oral, but the amendments themselves should be written.
• If the committee is reporting on a subject referred to it and its report consists solely of resolutions recommended for adoption, the recommendation for adoption may be made orally, but the resolutions themselves should be in writing.

The OP's references to a "transfer of information" suggests to me that the reports he has in mind contain information only, or contain information in addition to recommendations and motions. Reports of that nature should always be in writing, and even assuming the assembly permits laxity on this point and permits such reports to be made orally, the Secretary is under no obligation to record such reports in the minutes.

[Richard Brown]

 

15 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

Reports which are in writing are filed, but they are separate from the minutes. Any member has a right to view the Secretary's records, including reports. Verbal reports, aside from the motions, will not be recorded. If the committees want the information in their reports to be distributed, they should put their reports in writing.

12 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

However, note that certain types of brief oral reports delivered in a small meeting must be recorded in the minutes.

RONR (11th ed.), p. 511, ll. 15–19

Thank you, Dinner Guest,  for pointing this out.  I've been wanting to do that since yesterday, but was on my cell phone and did not have an RONR with me to provide a citation. I knew from past discussions that I had better get it right.   If anyone wants to check, there was another thread from a few days ago about oral reports and there was another one in September of 2016, I believe.