Minutes - Order of Items

[Guest Betty]

When preparing minutes, do the events have to be reported in the strict order in which they occurred? For instance, we usually have officer reports and then committee reports. If the treasurer's report is interrupted so that the membership chair can make her report and leave, can the minutes still reflect the treasurer's report and then the rest of the officer reports, with the membership committee's report at the end with the other committee reports?

[jstackpo]

Seems to me it is a matter of taste and the convenience of future readers (if any!) of the minutes. Just put them together in the least confusing way.

Or make a motion that the assembly can adopt outlining their preference of the order of "irregular" events such as you describe. Then follow their instructions. (Don't pay attention to us, but pay attention to RONR)

[Rev Ed]

As the Membership report was not at the end of the Committee reports, it should not be placed their in the Minutes. The Minutes should either reflect that the Membership Report was hanlded prior to the Treasurer's Report or immediately following it. I would recommend the following as the Treasurer had already started his/her presentation.

[Tim Wynn]

When preparing minutes, do the events have to be reported in the strict order in which they occurred?

No.

[Trina]

As the Membership report was not at the end of the Committee reports, it should not be placed their in the Minutes. The Minutes should either reflect that the Membership Report was hanlded prior to the Treasurer's Report or immediately following it. I would recommend the following as the Treasurer had already started his/her presentation.

Why should the minutes memorialize trivia of this sort?

As a secretary, I'm relieved to read the other responses to this topic. I've always felt free to rearrange the order of information a bit. For example, when our vice president speaks up with additional information or clarification pertaining to her report (a report of her outside-of-meeting responsibilities), an hour after that report was given, and 3 pages further along in my notes, I don't mention or replicate that time gap in the minutes -- the later information appears right along with the description of the VP's report. Under normal circumstances, there would seem to be no parliamentary significance to the fact that a fragment of the report was actually given later in the meeting.

I suppose, in a more formal assembly, people might be making motions to depart from the standard order of business if someone has to leave early (as with the membership chair in the original post), which would be recorded.

[George Mervosh]

It's not even required to note officers or committees that report if the report includes no recommendations, is it?

[Trina]

It's not even required to note officers or committees that report if the report includes no recommendations, is it?

I don't know about the original poster's organization, of course, but the groups I belong to want to have some information from verbal reports included in the minutes.

Also, the sample minutes in RONR (p. 472) do include mention of a written report that apparently doesn't contain a recommendation that the assembly needs to take up -- see ll. 19-20. Is the requirement for inclusion in the minutes different than for a verbal report with no recommendations, simply because of the reported action of placing the written report on file?

[Tim Wynn]

I don't know about the original poster's organization, of course, but the groups I belong to want to have some information from verbal reports included in the minutes.

Other than as mentioned on pp. 525-527, such reports should not exist. Except in those cases, a reporting member who does not have a written report, does not have a report.

[Trina]

Other than as mentioned on pp. 525-527, such reports should not exist. Except in those cases, a reporting member who does not have a written report, does not have a report.

The cited pages deal with the reports of boards and committees. I am thinking mainly of officers' reports (as well as the reports of standing committee chairs, who are members of the board in this particular organization). All of these people do indeed report on their outside-of-meeting actions and responsibilities, and the reports are given verbally. Sometimes motions grow out of these reports.

I guess you (and Mr. Mervosh) are making the point that the reports themselves, and even the fact that the reports were given, do not belong in the minutes, according to the guidelines about minutes in RONR.

[Tim Wynn]

The cited pages deal with the reports of boards and committees. I am thinking mainly of officers' reports (as well as the reports of standing committee chairs, who are members of the board in this particular organization). All of these people do indeed report on their outside-of-meeting actions and responsibilities, and the reports are given verbally. Sometimes motions grow out of these reports.

I guess you (and Mr. Mervosh) are making the point that the reports themselves, and even the fact that the reports were given, do not belong in the minutes, according to the guidelines about minutes in RONR.

See p. 476. l. 34 - p. 477, l. 2.

I believe the fact that the sample minutes in RONR include the reception and disposition of a report is enough guideline to include such info (as you cited).

[Trina]

I feel I've intruded enough already on Guest_Betty's thread, so I apologize to her for doing so one last time...

The references to pp. 476-477, and pp. 525-527 do leave me with questions about how business is conducted and recorded in the small organizations I'm involved with. These are organizations most of whose work takes place outside of meetings, and where there is a need to share information about those outside actions during meetings (so that all members of the assembly are informed, and so that the assembly can take action when necessary). The idea that none of this sharing of information constitutes a real report (since it isn't written down) would surprise the members. And certainly most of them don't have the time or inclination to produce written reports in addition to performing their other duties.

[Guest Edgar]

I feel I've intruded enough already on Guest_Betty's thread, so I apologize to her for doing so one last time...

Think of it as a motion that no longer belongs to the maker.