approving minutes

[zanacakes]

Mentioned this before but need more information.  We meet monthly.  Minutes have been recorded at the last 3 mtgs but have not been approved.  We will meet next week before breaking for the summer and will return in Sept.  Hence we will have 3 sets of minutes to read before the summer break.  Is this appropriate for an association following Robert's Rules of Order?  The minutes have been sent to the Chair earlier in the day of the meeting or a couple of days before the next meeting for printing by the church admin. and then distributed to the assembly/body for approval. The Chair is requesting to have the minutes sent to him at least 2 wks before the next meeting.  Our Constitution doesn't state a time to give the minutes to the Chair prior to the next meeting.  Previous secretaries have sent the minutes to the church adm. the day of the meeting and distributed them at the beginning of the meeting. 

 

Is the secretary required to review the minutes after printing to verify their content?  

 

Thank you. 

 

 

[Edgar Guest]

The minutes from the previous monthly meeting should be approved at the next monthly meeting. Now you need to approve three sets of minutes (separately and in chronological order) at the next monthly meeting. Better late than never.

 

As far as RONR is concerned, the secretary doesn't have to send her draft of the minutes to anyone. However it's common to send the draft to all members so they can read them prior to the meeting where they'll be approved. Saves time. 

 

Clearly the secretary should assure that the draft that's sent to the members should be the one she prepared (which would be the case if she sent them herself without passing them through an intermediary).

[George Mervosh]

Mentioned this before but need more information.  We meet monthly.  Minutes have been recorded at the last 3 mtgs but have not been approved.  We will meet next week before breaking for the summer and will return in Sept.  Hence we will have 3 sets of minutes to read before the summer break.  Is this appropriate for an association following Robert's Rules of Order?  The minutes have been sent to the Chair earlier in the day of the meeting or a couple of days before the next meeting for printing by the church admin. and then distributed to the assembly/body for approval. The Chair is requesting to have the minutes sent to him at least 2 wks before the next meeting.  Our Constitution doesn't state a time to give the minutes to the Chair prior to the next meeting.  Previous secretaries have sent the minutes to the church adm. the day of the meeting and distributed them at the beginning of the meeting. 

 

Is the secretary required to review the minutes after printing to verify their content?  

 

Thank you. 

 

If you really want to save some time, at your next meeting, the members can appoint a committee to approve the 3 sets you're already behind on, and the set for this last meeting prior to your break.  When you return in September you'll have 4 sets of approved minutes, and won't need to worry about it.  If your members find errors later they can always be corrected.  Your members really need to approve them promptly from now on.

[Guest Ann Hatcher]

Motions can be made to waive the reading of the minutes, but can they be approved without reading or waiving if Board members have received them in advance?  IOW, can a motion just be made to approve the minutes?

[Thomas Ralph]

Yes. It probably requires unanimous consent.

[Gary Novosielski]

Reading can be waived if all members have received an advance copy of the draft. Otherwise no.

 

Whether waived or read aloud (those are the only two choices) no motion is required to approve them.  The chair asks "Are there any corrections to the minutes?" and if there are none, or when all are handled (which may or may not require votes on the corrections), the chair states, "There being no (further) corrections to the minutes, the minutes stand approved as (read/recorded/corrected)".

 

No motion or vote is required, since the only way to object to approval of the secretary's draft is to propose a correction.  In case of a disagreement on any correction, a majority vote decides.  I.e., corrections are handled like amendments to a main motion.