Guest Woodie Posted February 17, 2011 at 01:46 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 01:46 PM Can a request be made to turn the recorder off while certain conversations are discussed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:04 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:04 PM Sure. Although the "request" can be rejected. Are we to assume it's the secretary using it?RONR suggests the use of one may be beneficial to the secretary in preparation of the minutes, but a transcription of the recording should not be used as the minutes. Additionally, no rule in RONR prevents the use of a recorder, nor authorizes it explicitly. It would likely be used with the permission of the assembly through "unanimous consent", meaning no one objects. So, if one were to make a motion to turn off the recorder (even perhaps for a specific section of a meeting), it could be adopted by a majority vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:07 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:07 PM Can a request be made to turn the recorder off while certain conversations are discussed?RONR p. 625:A society has the right to determine who may be present at its meetings and to control its hall while meetings are in progressSo a member can request the meeting be recorded (or the recorder be turned off) and the body which is meeting will decide whether to grant that request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:14 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:14 PM Additionally, no rule in RONR prevents the use of a recorder, nor authorizes it explicitly. It would likely be used with the permission of the assembly through "unanimous consent", meaning no one objects. So, if one were to make a motion to turn off the recorder (even perhaps for a specific section of a meeting), it could be adopted by a majority vote.Which raises a question for me. If unanimous consent is granted (or a majority orders) that a recorder be used wouldn't a motion to then turn off the recorder for any period of time be in effect a motion to Rescind/Amend Something Previously Adopted with the increased voting requirements? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:33 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 02:33 PM Which raises a question for me. If unanimous consent is granted (or a majority orders) that a recorder be used wouldn't a motion to then turn off the recorder for any period of time be in effect a motion to Rescind/Amend Something Previously Adopted with the increased voting requirements?Had the use of the recorder been granted previously (by motion, standing rule, etc), then I'd tend to agree a higher threshold would be required. However, I'm not sure about other circumstances. I struggle with "unanimous consent" as applied when something happens, or someone does something, and no one objects, thereby being interpreted as unanimous consent. I personally much prefer a more explicit form, such as the chair asking "if there are no objections?" Still, in the absence of any previous action by the assembly to authorize the use, I would be inclined to accept a majority vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Woodie Posted February 17, 2011 at 03:01 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 03:01 PM Can a request be made to turn the recorder off while certain conversations are discussed?No motion was made to turn off the recording--it was a directive. The committee was not meeting in executive session and the recorder has always been the method of capturing minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted February 17, 2011 at 03:09 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 03:09 PM No motion was made to turn off the recording--it was a directive. The committee was not meeting in executive session and the recorder has always been the method of capturing minutes.Nothing in RONR gives anyone the authority to issue such a "directive". The next time someone tries to do that ask them under what authority does he or she think exists to make such a directive. If some rule cannot be supplied just ignore this person and keep on doing what you were doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 17, 2011 at 09:55 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 09:55 PM Which raises a question for me. If unanimous consent is granted (or a majority orders) that a recorder be used wouldn't a motion to then turn off the recorder for any period of time be in effect a motion to Rescind/Amend Something Previously Adopted with the increased voting requirements?No, a motion to turn off the recorder temporarily would be a motion to suspend a standing rule which has application in a meeting, so a majority vote is sufficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted February 17, 2011 at 10:04 PM Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 at 10:04 PM Can a request be made to turn the recorder off while certain conversations are discussed?You could always adopt a policy of turning on the recorder only when a motion is being made and/or when it is put to a vote. Most of the other stuff doesn't belong in the minutes anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest willie Posted February 22, 2011 at 05:30 PM Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 at 05:30 PM Our official board secretary was recording our meetings without the consent or knowledge of anyone in the room. No one was ever made aware of this situation, no one ever motioned to allow it, our board never voted or otherwise consented to it. Issues were raised as to the legality of tape recording people without their consent or knowledge. The secretary pointed to RONR as his authoritive guide to record meetings. When the issue was discovered, he was asked to stop recording since there were people present that would not consent. He refused to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted February 22, 2011 at 05:41 PM Report Share Posted February 22, 2011 at 05:41 PM Our official board secretary was recording our meetings without the consent or knowledge of anyone in the room. No one was ever made aware of this situation, no one ever motioned to allow it, our board never voted or otherwise consented to it. Issues were raised as to the legality of tape recording people without their consent or knowledge. The secretary pointed to RONR as his authoritive guide to record meetings. When the issue was discovered, he was asked to stop recording since there were people present that would not consent. He refused to stop.Please post new questions as a new topic.But your question seems to be largely covered by other messages in this topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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