Board Duties

[Guest Brian]

We are a Board appointed by our Provincial Government to oversee and manage one of their social programs. The board consists of 7 members, the program manager also sits at the board table.

Our secretary resigned 6 months ago as she was moving out of province. Since her resignation no other board member is volunteering to take on the secretary's role. At each monthly meeting we again ask if anyone was willing to take on the position, once everyone refuses we have been forced to select a secretary on a rotating basis.

However after doing this for several months the remaining board members are now refusing to take their turn and are threating to resign if they are made to take their turn. This whole thing is silly as all they have to do is take the meeting minutes and pass them to the manager at the end of the meeting so he can type them up before the next meeting. It is not a difficult task at all.

My question is......How as a board do we deal with this? Out of the 10 years I served on this board this is the first time that absolutely nobody will take on the secretarial duty.

Thanks

[Rob Elsman]

We are a Board appointed by our Provincial Government to oversee and manage one of their social programs. The board consists of 7 members, the program manager also sits at the board table.

Our secretary resigned 6 months ago as she was moving out of province. Since her resignation no other board member is volunteering to take on the secretary's role. At each monthly meeting we again ask if anyone was willing to take on the position, once everyone refuses we have been forced to select a secretary on a rotating basis.

However after doing this for several months the remaining board members are now refusing to take their turn and are threating to resign if they are made to take their turn. This whole thing is silly as all they have to do is take the meeting minutes and pass them to the manager at the end of the meeting so he can type them up before the next meeting. It is not a difficult task at all.

My question is......How as a board do we deal with this? Out of the 10 years I served on this board this is the first time that absolutely nobody will take on the secretarial duty.

Thanks

Presumably, the Provincial Government has the power to fix this problem by removing and replacing enough members of the board.

[Shmuel Gerber]

We are a Board appointed by our Provincial Government to oversee and manage one of their social programs. The board consists of 7 members, the program manager also sits at the board table.

Our secretary resigned 6 months ago as she was moving out of province. Since her resignation no other board member is volunteering to take on the secretary's role. At each monthly meeting we again ask if anyone was willing to take on the position, once everyone refuses we have been forced to select a secretary on a rotating basis.

However after doing this for several months the remaining board members are now refusing to take their turn and are threating to resign if they are made to take their turn. This whole thing is silly as all they have to do is take the meeting minutes and pass them to the manager at the end of the meeting so he can type them up before the next meeting. It is not a difficult task at all.

My question is......How as a board do we deal with this? Out of the 10 years I served on this board this is the first time that absolutely nobody will take on the secretarial duty.

Thanks

There's no rule in RONR that requires the secretary pro tem, or even the regular secretary, to be a member of the board. So you can ask the program director to take the minutes, since he seems to be preparing them anyway.

But if you think the whole thing is silly, why don't you volunteer to be the secretary? No doubt you'll be elected by acclamation.

[Tim Wynn]

What you describe seems to be more psychological than parliamentary. What is it about the secretary position (or the former secretary) that makes the board members feel the position is denigrating?

[g40]

1. If you are a Board Member, why don't you volunteer to be the Secretary?

2. Why will nobody agree to be secretary? Perhaps the presumed duties may not be necessary.

3. If the issue is the clerical nature of the duties, perhaps a staff/employee could perform those with the Secretary overseeing the work, final output (such as minutes).

4. When filling any vacancies, the willingness to take on necessary roles should be considered. I am on a Board of an organization (7 members) with offices elected from the board. When there is a vacancy in the office of secretary (and board vacancy), we fill the position with someone willing to be the Secretary.

[Guest Brian]

I am the Chair so I cannot also take on the secretaries duties.

The issue is the board members accept the appointment to collect their $100 for an hour and half meeting. They offer very little input and we never hear from them between meetings. We have never in my10 plus years on the board (everyone except myself are appointed for 2 year terms) not had someone volunteer to be secretary. Our manager does all the typing and prepares the meeting packages. All the secretary has to do is take the minutes of the meeting......nothing more.

We (the manager and I) cannot for the life of me understand why they aere reluctant to do such a simple task. Now to have threats of resigning if we rotate the secretary position is silly.

The Federal government appoints the chair, the provincial government appoints the vice chair and the remaining board positions. the board from within it's members elects a treasurer and secretary. Treasurer does attend a finance committee meeting 3 days prior to the regular board meeting.

[Sean Hunt]

You could appoint the manager to be secretary. It's not ideal, but there's no need for the secretary to be a member.

[Shmuel Gerber]

I am the Chair so I cannot also take on the secretaries duties.

Hmm, I should have realized this might be the case. Although, there's actually no rule in RONR that would prevent you from performing both duties -- not that I am recommending it.

Maybe the recalcitrant members should be allowed to resign and, as Mr. Elsman suggested, some other (perhaps more responsible) people can take their places.

[Rev Ed]

You could perform the Secretary's duties as well if need be, especially as you would only have to take the Minutes. The one argument against being Secretary, and I am speaking from personal experience, is that there are meetings where you feel that you lose the ability to provide input because you are two busy taking Minutes. Mind you, in those cases, it is usually because the group has been brainwashing and so I have to keep track of all the ideas mainly so we have a list to choose from at the end and because I was still inexperienced. Minutes are not too bad once you are used to them but can seem a daunting task to a newbie.

Another option would be to hire a professional to handle the Minutes - my condominium does this for the annual meeting so the Secretary does not have to worry about taking the Minutes and trying to understand the issues at the same time.

[g40]

I am the Chair so I cannot also take on the secretaries duties.

Is someone else willing to be the Chair?

[Shmuel Gerber]

... Mind you, in those cases, it is usually because the group has been brainwashing and so I have to keep track of all the ideas mainly so we have a list to choose from at the end ...

That's an interesting method of discussion.

[Guest Edgar Guest]

That's an interesting method of discussion.

At least they haven't resorted to waterboarding . . . yet.

[Josh Martin]

I am the Chair so I cannot also take on the secretaries duties.

Is someone else willing to be the Chair?

I don't see why the chair should resign from his position simply because the board members are too lazy to take minutes. Until the board can get some new members, the best short-term solution seems to be to have the Manager take the minutes.