Correspondence

[Guest Deborah Zinner]

A Board member submits a letter to the Secretary of the Board requesting personal out-of-pocket reimbursement for an accident that occurred at a Board meeting months earlier.

The secretary reads the letter at the Board meeting and a motion is made to make the reimbursement.

When the letter is read as correspondence at the General meeting should his name be read or should he be referred to as 'a member'?

[Josh Martin]

When the letter is read as correspondence at the General meeting should his name be read or should he be referred to as 'a member'?

I'm not entirely clear why a letter addressed to the board which has already been acted on by the board is being read at a meeting of the general membership, but the rules of decorum suggest that it is best to avoid referring to members by name if there is another method to refer to the individual. So "the member" or "a member" is fine if everyone is clear who that refers to. Otherwise, use his name. Certainly avoid referring to the member by his first name.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

When the letter is read as correspondence at the General meeting ...

Hold on, there!

There is no rule in Robert's Rules which would demand that a letter from a member be read in a meeting.

Are you implying that you have a customized rule which says otherwise?

I would have finessed the problem by just NOT reading the letter aloud.

Why create a problem where one does not exist?

There is no reason (within Robert's Rules) to read 100% of the letter.

So, why not just read the key sentence, or just paraphrase it, and be done with it?

... should his name be read,

or should he be referred to as 'a member'?

• No rule in Robert's Rules says that you cannot read aloud the name.

• No rule in Robert's Rules says that you must read aloud the name.