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Can board members going into executive session vote to exclude one of their own members if that person is perceived to be a potential confidentiality risk?

I lodged an ethics grievance with our national organization against our local officers. It was accepted for adjudication and the National ethics committee found completely in my favor. The accused requested a hearing, then proceeded to obstruct the hearing, threatening a lawsuit because they objected to the venue and hearing officer. National postponed for over a year. Two of the three recently resigned. The third was a minor, though culpable player. The Nation Executive Committee recently closed the case without rendering a verdict, on the grounds that they have no jurisdiction over the two resignees (I say they have jurisdiction over their conditions for re-admission) and that it would be an "exercise in futility" to rule on the case against the remaining member, since he is no longer an officer and has promised not to run for office for at least five years (in connection with another settlement). Even though the Executive Committee has not followed its own bylaws and RONR, I realize that as a practical matter there is little I can do but talk about the case. However, in its ruling to close the case, the Executive Committee says that RONR says that all aspects of the case are confidential. The only thing I can find that is relevant is the paragraph in the middle of p 655, but that seems to apply to the verdict of a trial. Since there was no trial, can I state the facts of the case and the events that happened (such as the interim ethics committee ruling)? Are there any restrictions on my speech, ether than the obvious caveats to avoid libel and slander? George Silverman

I serve on a committee of another nonprofit organization (not the one that employs me) and this group wishes to develop a confidentiality policy that allows committee members to disclose the decisions made in our meetings, but does not allow members to discuss the meeting content/discussion. We thought we might apply the idea of Executive Sessions to our meetings, but don't know if the term is applicable to committee meetings, especially if they are typically closed meetings anyway. What the group is trying to avoid is members sharing: 1) key business information outside of the group that would allow competitors inside information, and 2) specifics about who said what, who agreed or disagreed, what those disagreements were about, etc. What would you recommend? Lori A. Ropa, CAE Executive Director The Arc - Jefferson, Clear Creek & Gilpin Counties lori@arcjc.org

We are a lodge system. The board of directors took disciplinary action against a full-time employee. The action was discussed and voted on in executive session. Now some of the membership are demanding to know the action taken. The board is holding firm to the fact that employee-employer actions are confidential and releasing the information to the general membership, even in an executive session with the members present, would subject the club to potential lawsuit for disclosing confidential employee information. Is the board correct to withhold the information or should it disclose the actions taken? Thank you

I have a two part question: If the Board decides that they would like to have an executive or "in camera" session does this automatically exclude anyone but Board members from attending i.e. staff or Corporate Secretary? Also, the minutes of the meeting, if they are recorded by a person that is not the official Corporate Secretary, are they still to be kept by the to the official CS? There seems to be some confusion as to what an executive session is and how it should be handled when the secretary is a staff member but also the CS. It is my understanding that the CS records and keeps all minutes of the Board, whether in camera or not, unless of course the content of the meeting would be in relation to him/her directly i.e. disciplinary action. Thank you for your replies!

A member has questioned the confidentiality of Executive Board Meetings. Meeting Minutes are posted for all meeting which give the result of approved or disapproved motions, decisions, etc. At what point does Roberts cover the discussion in an executive meeting? Would this not hamper an open discussion of a topic during a board meeting?

We had a meeting recently that was to be an informal meeting between the old and new boards of directors. At the last minute the president sent an e-mail to everyone that he had been requested to invite certain members to express views on another member. The by-laws clearly state the time requirements, timeliness of notification ( varies for different types of meetings) and that an agenda had to be prepared. if this were to be a "meeting" by definition. The bylaws also state that guests may be invited by the board of directors; which I assume is a majority. After being polled 4 hours before the meeting a majority did approve the guests. ( the minium requirement is 24 hours). Minutes were kept. If it did not meet the standards of a meeting as stated in our bylaws Was it an improper meeting? Does any real or perceived confidentality exist; it was not explicityly brought up in any way.