Guest Steven V. Agraviador Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:50 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:50 PM Do the members of the board have to sign on all the pages of the minutes like the ratification of a memo of agreement? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:51 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:51 PM No. Only the secretary's signature is required. Anything more than that would be due to a customized rule of your own. Edited to add: From page 471 of RONR: "THE SIGNATURE. Minutes should be signed by the secretary and can also be signed, if the assembly wishes, by the president. The words Respectfully submitted—although occasionally used—represent an older practice that is not essential in signing the minutes." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:57 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 04:57 PM The sectary signs the draft being submitted for approval. RONR notes that the president can also sign it though the reason for this escapes me. Upon approval of the minutes, the secretary initials them and writes "Approved" and the date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:03 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:03 PM RONR notes that the president can also sign it though the reason for this escapes me. . Since it's been in the rules for over 100 years, the reason probably escapes almost everyone..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Hunt Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:12 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:12 PM It is the President who has the responsibility and authority to certify copies of resolutions passed, where required. I assume that the President signing the minutes is an extension of this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:13 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:13 PM RONR notes that the president can also sign itthough the reason for this escapes me.Hypothesis.Two guesses.Standard business practices. 1.) Old Russian saying. "Trust. But Verify."Meaning, a single person, like a secretary, should not be sufficient for authenticating a document as important as minutes. A second party, like a president, should double check the process and double check the document. 2.) When any report is presented, it is already signed by the author(s). No report should be submitted by "Anonymous". Readers need to know who drafted the report. -- The boss? The employee? A consultant?For minutes, the document is signed by the secretary well before anyone hears the minutes read aloud.A second mark, symbol, or seal, by a second party, like a president, is a non-author's signature or mark, thus the reader has evidence that someone other than the author(s) have read/approved the signed document. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:19 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:19 PM It is the President who has the responsibility and authority to certify copies of resolutions passed, where required. I assume that the President signing the minutes is an extension of this.In the U.S., it is the secretary, not the president, who usually "authenticates" the acts of the organization and the signature of the president. As to the president also signing the minutes, I call everyone's attention to the quote from RONR that I posted in post # 2 above:"THE SIGNATURE. Minutes should be signed by the secretary and can also be signed, if the assembly wishes, by the president. " It's up to the assembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:27 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:27 PM In the U.S., it is the secretary, not the president, who usually "authenticates" the acts of the organization and the signature of the president. As far as RONR is concerned, it is the duty of the presiding officer of an assembly to do so "when necessary". (RONR, 11th ed., p. 450, ll. 22-23) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:33 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 05:33 PM As far as RONR is concerned, it is the duty of the presiding officer of an assembly to do so "when necessary". (RONR, 11th ed., p. 450, ll. 22-23)So it does. I was answering based on my experience in the corporate world. Thank you for the citation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted November 12, 2014 at 07:02 PM Report Share Posted November 12, 2014 at 07:02 PM Also, the Secretary (and the President, if the assembly chooses) do not need to sign every page, usually the last page. And motions take effect immediately upon approval, except if the By-laws or the motion itself states otherwise. So, it is possible that all the motions may have been carried out by the next meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steven V. Agraviador Posted November 13, 2014 at 11:18 AM Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 at 11:18 AM When the trascription of the previous meeting is corrected and approved, this becomes the minutes and has to be filed by the Secretary together with the other approved minutes. Is it necessary for all the members of the Board to sign on all the pages to signify approval of it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted November 13, 2014 at 11:30 AM Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 at 11:30 AM When the trascription of the previous meeting is corrected and approved,this becomes the minutes and has to be filed by the Secretarytogether with the other approved minutes. Is it necessary for all the members of the Board to sign on all the pages to signify approval of it?"When the trascription of the previous meeting is corrected and approved, this becomes the minutes and has to be filed by the Secretary together with the other approved minutes." "Transcription"? No. A transciption is not the same as minutes. Minutes hold a list of motions and their disposition.A transcript holds a list of "what is said."Minutes do not hold "what is said" except so far as related to motions and reports. If you have a transcription, then that is a good start; but that transciption ought to be edited down into a set of real minutes.All the extraneous fluff and commentary are to be edited out. Is it necessary for all the members of the Board to sign on all the pages to signify approval of it? Per Robert's Rules of Order? -- "No."Not all of the board members.Not all of the pages. If you wish to conform to Robert's Rules of Order,then NO board member is to sign ANY of the pages. A single signature is all that is necessary. -- The Secretary's signature.On one page. Other people are optional, not mandatory.Other pages are optional, not mandatory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Steven V. Agraviador Posted November 13, 2014 at 05:57 PM Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 at 05:57 PM Thank you everyone for all of helpful information Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted November 13, 2014 at 07:24 PM Report Share Posted November 13, 2014 at 07:24 PM When the trascription of the previous meeting is corrected and approved, this becomes the minutes and has to be filed by the Secretary together with the other approved minutes. Is it necessary for all the members of the Board to sign on all the pages to signify approval of it?No. What you suggest amounts to a requirement for unanimous approval of every word in the minutes, which RONR does not (by a long shot) require. But the minutes are not a transcription, and a transcription is not the minutes, so the first sentence does not appear to have anything to do with minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jamie Posted October 18, 2015 at 02:41 PM Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 at 02:41 PM What exactly is a valid signature...as Secretary of our Condo Board I have always included my name in printed form on the approved copy of the minutes. We are a small condo complex of 34 units and everyone knows each other. One unit owner has recently started to insist that all the minutes ever recorded are invalid because the 'signature' was printed. His claim is that only a cursive style signature is valid. I have not used cursive style since the nuns in primary school made me use it. My formal signature is printed and that's what is represented electronically on the minutes. The unit owner I refer to has a tendency to nit-pick technical details like this and quite honestly I just want to put it to rest and move on to more important issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted October 18, 2015 at 04:53 PM Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 at 04:53 PM What exactly is a valid signature...as Secretary of our Condo Board I have always included my name in printed form on the approved copy of the minutes. We are a small condo complex of 34 units and everyone knows each other. One unit owner has recently started to insist that all the minutes ever recorded are invalid because the 'signature' was printed. His claim is that only a cursive style signature is valid. I have not used cursive style since the nuns in primary school made me use it. My formal signature is printed and that's what is represented electronically on the minutes. The unit owner I refer to has a tendency to nit-pick technical details like this and quite honestly I just want to put it to rest and move on to more important issues. Nothing in RONR requires that a signature be written in cursive. Additionally, even the lack of any signature would not make the minutes invalid, so even if it was true that only a cursive signature is valid, this would not mean that the minutes are invalid. For future reference, however, it is generally best on this forum to ask a new question as a new topic, even if an existing topic is similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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