No Minutes

[Guest Gary S]

We lost our long time secretary at our small historical society last year. No one will stand for election to serve as secretary. In desperation, we came up with a system where each trustee - excluding the president who is conducting the meeting - takes the minutes. At our last meeting, one of our least engaged trustees took the minutes but failed to provide a copy and now can't be reached. If we have no minutes to approve at tonight's meetings, what do we do? Any help is much appreciated.

[David A Foulkes]

By a majority vote, you can "dispense with the reading of the minutes" (which means effectively to do it later, sort of like postponing, and in this case most likely until the next meeting), and get on with your order of business. Then, take whatever steps necessary to retrieve the wayward minutes from the disengaged trustee in time for the next meeting, at which time they should be read and approved. Your meeting tonight does not come to a screeching halt because you don't have the last minutes to read and approve. You'll just skip that step for now.

[Guest Gary S]

Very helpful. Thank you.

[Gerry4000]

One reason that organizations sometimes have difficulty finding a secretary that will take the minutes is that such minutes are too lengthy, detailed and record what was said, not just what was done. Check the sample minutes in RONR and see if your minutes include more than necessary.