Meeting Minutes

[Guest Cambridge Condo Owner]

Hello,

I am a member of a condo association. The secretary accurately records the minutes of quarterly meetings. The President of the assoc. requests that the secretary send her a copy of the minutes in a Word document prior to sending them out to everyone. The secretary sent a PDF of the minutes, but the President is not satisfied and wants a Word document. ( We suspect that she will edit them to her satisfaction )

The questions are:

- Does the secretary have to send a copy to the President before releasing them?

- Aren't the minutes considered a "draft" until read, discussed and voted on at the next meeting?

[tctheatc]

1) no. The minutes are to be presented and approved at a meeting of the assembly in question. No one member has any special rights to see them 1st .

2) yes, until they are approved at the appropriate meeting.

and even if you suspect the president wants to edit the word doc, it should be the draft prepared by the secretary that is presented for approval at the meeting.

[Guest charlie]

do you supect some type of conspiracy. give the president some slack. what if the secretary cannot even spell or he decides to put all the details of the balance sheet

[Tim Wynn]

Hello,

I am a member of a condo association. The secretary accurately records the minutes of quarterly meetings. The President of the assoc. requests that the secretary send her a copy of the minutes in a Word document prior to sending them out to everyone. The secretary sent a PDF of the minutes, but the President is not satisfied and wants a Word document. ( We suspect that she will edit them to her satisfaction )

The questions are:

- Does the secretary have to send a copy to the President before releasing them?

- Aren't the minutes considered a "draft" until read, discussed and voted on at the next meeting?

It should be noted that the approval of the minutes should not be put to a vote. After the minutes are read, the chair asks for corrections. Any member may offer a correction, and if any member objects to the correction, the correction is put to a vote, after debate. When no (further) correction is offered, the chair simply declares the minutes approved.

In other words, a member cannot vote against approving the minutes. A member can only offer a correction to the minutes.

[tctheatc]

do you supect some type of conspiracy. give the president some slack. what if the secretary cannot even spell or he decides to put all the details of the balance sheet

Then it is the job of the assembly to make those corrections when the draft minutes are up for approval.

[David A Foulkes]

do you supect some type of conspiracy. give the president some slack. what if the secretary cannot even spell or he decides to put all the details of the balance sheet

It's not about a conspiracy theory, it's about the rules. Unless Cambridge Condo Owner's organization's rules require it, per RONR the president has no authority to demand a copy of the minutes in advance, nor to insert any details that neither belong there nor are inaccurate or inappropriate. And I'd think if the secretary is illiterate to such a degree that the content and quality of the minutes are questionable, the members should elect a new secretary, not depend on another officer to polish them up. And the secretary's ability is not in question here. Yet.

[Josh Martin]

do you supect some type of conspiracy. give the president some slack. what if the secretary cannot even spell or he decides to put all the details of the balance sheet

If the secretary is incompetent in his duties, the society should get a new secretary. If the secretary is doing fine but the president nonetheless notices an error or two, he should simply e-mail them to the secretary. It is not appropriate in any case for the president to alter the draft minutes.