meeting minutes once amended

[Guest Sally]

We upload Draft minutes of the meeting on our union website.  This time there was an amendment to the Draft meeting minutes of the last meeting. The current minutes stated meeting minutes approved as amended. What is the procedure for the amended minutes – once the secretary makes the necessary changes and signs and initials them – are we required to upload the amended/approved pervious minutes or can it just be housed in our minute book at the office. If members request them, do hard copies go out?

 

Also, a police officer was in attendance because of some unruly suspended members, some of the members were asked to leave by the chair when they were disruptive, others were shown the door by the police officer – that was one of the amendments the members wanted and was passed.

 

The president at this meeting also had a parliamentarian chair the meeting as she was nervous with all the hostility – would the entire meeting be out of order because the president was not the chair? Our constitution states the duties and powers of the president shall be: to call annual, general, special and executive committee meetings, preside thereat and plan the program thereof

 

thanks for your help

[Josh Martin]

We upload Draft minutes of the meeting on our union website.  This time there was an amendment to the Draft meeting minutes of the last meeting. The current minutes stated meeting minutes approved as amended. What is the procedure for the amended minutes – once the secretary makes the necessary changes and signs and initials them – are we required to upload the amended/approved pervious minutes or can it just be housed in our minute book at the office. If members request them, do hard copies go out?

 

So far as RONR is concerned, it is sufficient to keep the minutes in the minutes book - although if it is the organization's practice to upload the minutes to its website, I'm not sure why you wouldn't want to upload the corrected version. Members have a right to view the minutes, but they do not have a right to copies.

 

The president at this meeting also had a parliamentarian chair the meeting as she was nervous with all the hostility – would the entire meeting be out of order because the president was not the chair?

 

No.

[Guest sally]

thank you - new to this and so is the website so wanted to make sure the proper protocol was taken. Thanks

[Guest Sally]

How should the amended minutes read if the President had a parliamentarian chair?

[Guest Sally]

You also stated, they have a right to view the minutes, but do not have a right to copies. How then is uploading to a website containing that, they can just print if off...also where in RONR does it say this. thanks

[g40]

We upload Draft minutes of the meeting on our union website.  This time there was an amendment to the Draft meeting minutes of the last meeting. The current minutes stated meeting minutes approved as amended. What is the procedure for the amended minutes – once the secretary makes the necessary changes and signs and initials them – are we required to upload the amended/approved pervious minutes or can it just be housed in our minute book at the office. If members request them, do hard copies go out?

 

Also, a police officer was in attendance because of some unruly suspended members, some of the members were asked to leave by the chair when they were disruptive, others were shown the door by the police officer – that was one of the amendments the members wanted and was passed.

 

The president at this meeting also had a parliamentarian chair the meeting as she was nervous with all the hostility – would the entire meeting be out of order because the president was not the chair? Our constitution states the duties and powers of the president shall be: to call annual, general, special and executive committee meetings, preside thereat and plan the program thereof

 

thanks for your help

I may not have the sequence completely clear, but I think you have "corrected" minutes - not amended minutes. So, for example, if the July meeting was held, say, on July 15 and the "draft minutes" of the July meeting were posted on August 1 then those "draft minutes" would be reviewed at the August meeting. If, at the August meeting a member notes a mistake in the draft July minutes, that member offers a "correction". Barring objection(s), the August minutes should say that the July minutes were approved with correction(s). [not amendments]

 

The "corrected minutes" (as approved at the August meeting) are the July minutes of the organization. Those minutes (July as corrected) would be "clean" and not make any distinction of the correction(s) from the draft.

[Josh Martin]

How should the amended minutes read if the President had a parliamentarian chair?

 

The very first sentence of the minutes normally reads something like this: "The regular monthly meeting of the L.M. Society was held on Thursday, January 4, 20__, at 8:30 P.M., at the Society's building, the President being in the chair and the Secretary being present." Just replace "the President being in the chair" with "Mr. X being in the chair."

 

You also stated, they have a right to view the minutes, but do not have a right to copies. How then is uploading to a website containing that, they can just print if off...also where in RONR does it say this. thanks

 

All RONR requires is that the minutes be kept by the Secretary in the minutes book and that the Secretary permits members to view the minutes at the Secretary's convenience (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 460). So far as RONR is concerned, that is all that members have a right to.

 

The society is certainly free to go above and beyond that if it wishes, such as giving members copies or placing them on a website (which, as you note, effectively gives members the ability to print out their own copies). But RONR does not require it. The fact that members don't have a right to copies doesn't mean they can't have copies if the organization permits it.