Alister Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:07 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:07 PM I am currently a minority on a board due to recent events which I won’t go into. This has caused many problems the biggest in my mind is that the Minutes are Biased and often omit or over indulge debates/questions in there favor. I have reminded them that it states in our P&P that we follow Roberts Rules of Order and that the minutes should not be written in the way that they are. They are arguing that because the wording "should" is used that it is not mandatory to follow the rules. Yet its in our P&P that we do. For example. Unless the minutes are to be published, they should contain mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said. Any thoughts? Thanks, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:22 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:22 PM I am currently a minority on a board due to recent events which I won’t go into. This has caused many problems the biggest in my mind is that the Minutes are Biased and often omit or over indulge debates/questions in there favor. I have reminded them that it states in our P&P that we follow Roberts Rules of Order and that the minutes should not be written in the way that they are. They are arguing that because the wording "should" is used that it is not mandatory to follow the rules. Yet its in our P&P that we do. For example. Unless the minutes are to be published, they should contain mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said. Any thoughts? Thanks,By providing a detailed list for the proper contents of the minutes, and by providing sample minutes based on those guidelines, RONR has led the horse to the water. If it won't drink, just because RONR says it "should" drink, well... good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alister Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:31 PM Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:31 PM By providing a detailed list for the proper contents of the minutes, and by providing sample minutes based on those guidelines, RONR has led the horse to the water. If it won't drink, just because RONR says it "should" drink, well... good luck. I like that; I just want people to understand that what’s written in the minutes and what actually happened are completely different things. Even though they "shouldn’t" be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:51 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 04:51 PM I just want people to understand that what’s written in the minutes and what actually happened are completely different things. Even though they "shouldn’t" be.Well, it's one thing for the minutes to contain extraneous material (list of attendees? summary of debate?). That's certainly up to the assembly to decide. It's quite another if the minutes contain inaccurate material. Here be dragons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted October 25, 2011 at 06:29 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 06:29 PM Basically RONR is stating that while only deisions need to be entered into the Minutes, it is up to the group to decide the contents of the Minutes.If you have issues with the Minutes, then offer corrections when the Minutes come up for approval.By the way, within reason, sometimes a few details can help. For example, if the roof of the clubhouse is thirty years old and needs to be replaced it can help future Board members to know that, and the Minutes could read like this: "Mr. John moved that "The contract for the roof replacement be awarded to the XYZ Roofing Company. The motion was approved. The Board decided that the roof was 30 years old and so would need to be replaced sooner rather than later." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 25, 2011 at 06:39 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 06:39 PM Basically RONR is stating that while only deisions need to be entered into the Minutes, it is up to the group to decide the contents of the Minutes.If you have issues with the Minutes, then offer corrections when the Minutes come up for approval.By the way, within reason, sometimes a few details can help. For example, if the roof of the clubhouse is thirty years old and needs to be replaced it can help future Board members to know that, and the Minutes could read like this: "Mr. John moved that "The contract for the roof replacement be awarded to the XYZ Roofing Company. The motion was approved. The Board decided that the roof was 30 years old and so would need to be replaced sooner rather than later."No, the text of the motion is what the board decided. The minutes are not a memo of thoughts sent to future board members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted October 25, 2011 at 07:20 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 07:20 PM It is up to the organization to decide - but there can be some detail if people want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 25, 2011 at 07:23 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 07:23 PM No, the text of the motion is what the board decided. The minutes are not a memo of thoughts sent to future board members.A preamble to a resolution could be adopted in such a case, if the assembly so desires. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alister Posted October 25, 2011 at 09:44 PM Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 09:44 PM Here is an example of what they do.When I first joined the board I had access to the staff email accounts, this was for monitoring purposes and such. As soon as I ran in to some disagreements with the board the passwords were changed and I was never offered the new ones. I recently requested the password again because some things didn’t add up, to cut a long story short I got it and found lots of fishy goings on. At this point they put on the next agenda "email protocol" clearly to make it so I couldn’t have access. They said I was monitoring the email account so heavily that it was causing emails to not come in right away, that I was slowing the system down (this is not true and was not proven) this part was recorded in the minutes. However I then stated that I had found an email from when they revoked my access which showed how all the other directors were offered the new password and that one of them was concerned I still had access (I wonder why). This was of course not mentioned.This has happened over several issues and of course being the minority they don’t allow my changes. All I want is if a debate is to be entered that it be entered in full. I was hoping Roberts Rules Of Order would help with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted October 25, 2011 at 09:56 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 09:56 PM Sorry, but full debate should not be entered into the Minutes or they become a transcript. It is far better to keep the Minutes to only what is decided unless the Secretary (or whoever is preparing the Minutes) can provide the Board with only a brief summary about the decision (as I illustrated earlier.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alister Posted October 25, 2011 at 10:03 PM Author Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 10:03 PM Sorry, but full debate should not be entered into the Minutes or they become a transcript. It is far better to keep the Minutes to only what is decided unless the Secretary (or whoever is preparing the Minutes) can provide the Board with only a brief summary about the decision (as I illustrated earlier.)I agree however they wont do that either. I think you see my problem. Everything they say that they want recorded is in the Minutes. I was just hoping to find something that would stop this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weldon Merritt Posted October 25, 2011 at 11:23 PM Report Share Posted October 25, 2011 at 11:23 PM I was just hoping to find something that would stop this.If the majority is not willing to follow the rules that you have already shown them, why do you think they would be willing to follow any other rule that you might show them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alister Posted October 26, 2011 at 12:14 AM Author Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 at 12:14 AM Because breaking one rule knowingly is one thing breaking several rules is another and eventually people will take notice and they won’t be the majority any longer. At this point its all I can do apparently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
g40 Posted October 26, 2011 at 10:13 PM Report Share Posted October 26, 2011 at 10:13 PM A more basic question is why folks who, according to you, blatantly disregard doing this properly are elected.BUT - that is probably for your organization (and its members) to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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