Executive session

[Dfredc]

Last night I had a very surprising occurrence happen. I walked in to observe the board meeting of our local County political party (as I have frequently done this year) and as I was about to sit down when the chairman approached me and informed me that I had been trespassed from the office and he asked me to leave. This was a complete blindside to me. I asked why, and he said that because I had been involved in a disturbance that happened at a previous board meeting. He stated that the board had voted on it. I asked the board members present if that were true and one responded in the affirmative, the others remained silent. Now, in explanation of the "disturbance", unknown to me a local party member and the former Treasurer of the board had called the Sheriff's office to file a formal complaint against the Chairman for electronic forgery. The police had gathered outside and were talking to these two. A board member asked to go into executive session and thus cleared the room of all observers (there were about 10 of us). We waited outside while the police did their thing and no arrest was made, only a complaint filed. We (the observers) had waited around expecting to be let back in when they ended executive session. We were informed that they were going to stay in session for the rest of the meeting so we all went home - no big deal. I thought. I missed the next two monthly board meeting because of illness and when I showed up last night the above happened.

I left and went home. Caused no disturbance other than my bewildered questions. Later that evening a board member called me and told me some of what happened. Evidently, during an executive board meeting (the board member was not clear whether it was the night in question or at one of the other meetings) the chairman asked that I and 5 other people be trespassed from the office. Of the members present 3 voted against the measure but the majority were in favor. I was then told that the chairman took it upon himself to send a letter to each of us informing us of the action. That never happened (I was made aware of 3 of the people and KNOW they were not notified like I was not). I have been a vocal opponent of this chairman in public forums, but that is where it has remained. In person, there have been no verbal or physical altercations whatsoever. I just happened to be at a meeting where something happened that the chairman did not like.

My question (setting aside that I now know information that happened in an x-session, that I really shouldn't know, because well, it happened in x-session)

1) Do the minutes of the board need to show what action was taken and voted on in executive session?

2) When an action is taken against particular people (as in this case) is there a requirement that they are notified of such action? I mean other than it is a common courtesy?

I suppose I am most upset because I feel like I was blindsided and am being "punished" for something I had no involvement with and was given no opportunity before the board to defend myself. At the very least I think I am entitled to see the exact motion, and all that it says so that I am aware of my "boundaries".

 

[J. J.]

28 minutes ago, Dfredc said:

1) Do the minutes of the board need to show what action was taken and voted on in executive session?

2) When an action is taken against particular people (as in this case) is there a requirement that they are notified of such action? I mean other than it is a common courtesy?

 

1.  Yes, but those minutes, unless released, are only opened to members board. 

2.  No. 

[Joshua Katz]

It's not a parliamentary matter, but if I were given a criminal trespass notice by a political party, especially if I were politically involved (running for board or for office, for instance) I would contact an attorney.

[Dfredc]

J.J. thanks. As a note of information, board minutes are released to the members of the voting body after they have been adopted by the board in accordance with the organization's by-laws. At that time they are considered public.

 

Joshua Katz, at this point in time I am just a concerned politically involved citizen. I have in the past been a voting member of the local body and have represented my precinct in both County and State conventions. I intend to shed light on what has happened in several local public forums first (hoping that will alarm enough people into action) before I seek legal options. Although I certainly see the value of it.

[J. J.]

3 minutes ago, Dfredc said:

J.J. thanks. As a note of information, board minutes are released to the members of the voting body after they have been adopted by the board in accordance with the organization's by-laws. At that time they are considered public.

 

 

The "voting body" is the board; unless there is some other rule, they would not be released. 

[Gary Novosielski]

5 hours ago, Dfredc said:

As a note of information, board minutes are released to the members of the voting body after they have been adopted by the board in accordance with the organization's by-laws. At that time they are considered public.

 

I'm pretty sure that the minutes of the executive session will not be considered public.

[Josh Martin]

15 hours ago, Dfredc said:

1) Do the minutes of the board need to show what action was taken and voted on in executive session?

2) When an action is taken against particular people (as in this case) is there a requirement that they are notified of such action? I mean other than it is a common courtesy?

1.) Yes, but only board members may view minutes of a meeting in executive session.

2.) There is no parliamentary rule that, in general, people must be informed of actions taken against them. Formal disciplinary procedures would require such notification, but I’m not sure this action falls into that category.

14 hours ago, Dfredc said:

J.J. thanks. As a note of information, board minutes are released to the members of the voting body after they have been adopted by the board in accordance with the organization's by-laws. At that time they are considered public.

What exactly do your bylaws say on this subject?

14 hours ago, Dfredc said:

I intend to shed light on what has happened in several local public forums first (hoping that will alarm enough people into action) before I seek legal options.

Well, you will need to be very careful in how you go about that, since this involves actions taken in executive session.

9 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I'm pretty sure that the minutes of the executive session will not be considered public.

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t find it that hard to believe that an organization wrote a rule saying that all approved minutes would be public, and didn’t consider the consequences.

[Gary Novosielski]

16 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t find it that hard to believe that an organization wrote a rule saying that all approved minutes would be public, and didn’t consider the consequences.

Yeah, that's why I was only "pretty sure".

[Dfredc]

On 2/9/2018 at 6:52 AM, Josh Martin said:

1.) Yes, but only board members may view minutes of a meeting in executive session.

2.) There is no parliamentary rule that, in general, people must be informed of actions taken against them. Formal disciplinary procedures would require such notification, but I’m not sure this action falls into that category.

What exactly do your bylaws say on this subject?

Well, you will need to be very careful in how you go about that, since this involves actions taken in executive session.

Oh, I don’t know. I don’t find it that hard to believe that an organization wrote a rule saying that all approved minutes would be public, and didn’t consider the consequences.

Thank you for your response!

The bylaws of the organization state that the minutes of the board will be released to the members of the body (the ones that elected the board) after the minutes have been approved by the board. Which generally is the next month. I am pretty sure this does not include executive session minutes but does include actions taken in it.

I haven't addressed this publicly yet as my life got busy in other areas that mattered more to me. I think I'll just state things as they happened and mention that the board took this action without even bringing me in to ask me for my side of things. As they really have a right to do, being a private organization (even though an official political party) I'll just address the apparent injustice of an action taken without fully understanding all the circumstances. I'd be more than happy to meet with the board to address it and will make that known. Due to a lot of other things going on with this chairman, I really would be surprised if he lasted to the end of his term without being removed.

[Josh Martin]

2 hours ago, Dfredc said:

The bylaws of the organization state that the minutes of the board will be released to the members of the body (the ones that elected the board) after the minutes have been approved by the board. Which generally is the next month.

Then that rule must be followed.

2 hours ago, Dfredc said:

I am pretty sure this does not include executive session minutes but does include actions taken in it.

It would seem to me that it includes executive session minutes unless the rule provides otherwise.

Additionally, if your society is keeping its minutes in accordance with the rules in RONR, there should not be anything in the minutes other than actions. The minutes are a record of what was done, not what was said.