Unco-operative Secretary

[Guest Herman]

The group has a secretary who wants to use an electronic recording device to record the "minutes" because the secretary

claims it is difficult to keep up.  The group has traditionally held to "what goes on here stays here". It was allowed once, then the president reconsidered when the minutes from that meeting included "he said-she said" and opinions of the secretary. The president requested the secretary not to use the device, but the device was used again. And again the minutes contained the secretary's opinions. The president has asked again in private that the device not be used, to which

the secretary is demanding the group vote on its use.  There is minority support of this person.  Can the president demand this device not be used and if this person refuses again can the secretary be relieved of the duties and replaced?

Other important matters are currently before this group and this person and supporters are being disruptive to the task at hand.    Thank you!

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Use of a recording device is up to the group to decide.

 

Also, the minutes should not include "he said-she said" and opinions of the secretary. Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said.

[Edgar Guest]

RONR does say (on p.471)that a recording device can be "of great benefit" to the secretary in the preparation of the minutes. But it goes on to stress, as Mr. Huynh suggests, that the minutes should not be a transcription of the recording.

 

In short, the use of a recording device is not incompatible with the proper preparation of the minutes. You can have it both ways.

[Guest Guest]

RONR does say (on p.471)that a recording device can be "of great benefit" to the secretary in the preparation of the minutes. But it goes on to stress, as Mr. Huynh suggests, that the minutes should not be a transcription of the recording.

 

In short, the use of a recording device is not incompatible with the proper preparation of the minutes. You can have it both ways.

The ultimate question is how to handle the situation if the secretary refuses to comply with the request not to use the recorder.

[Richard Brown]

The ultimate question is how to handle the situation if the secretary refuses to comply with the request not to use the recorder.

The secretary is free to refuse to comply with "requests" from members, even the president.   If the society adopts a rule prohibiting the use of a recording device, then that is a different matter.  The secretary can be removed from office or disciplined in other ways.  See Chapter XX of RONR on discipline and also look at FAQ # 20:  http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#20

 

Edited to add:  Even though the secretary does not have to comply with requests from members, it may not be in the secretary's best interest to ignore those requests.  Depending on the wording in your bylaws, as discussed in FAQ # 20 (above), it may not be difficult to remove the secretary from office.

[Edgar Guest]

The ultimate question is how to handle the situation if the secretary refuses to comply with the request not to use the recorder.

 

Well, why deprive the secretary of a valuable tool just because this secretary doesn't know how to (or doesn't want to) prepare the minutes properly? When she submits her draft, the assembly should correct it to remove all extraneous information. Eventually she should get the message. If not, it's probably time for a new secretary (who might also want to use a recording device)). Don't blame the tool, blame teach the workman.

[Gary Novosielski]

The group has a secretary who wants to use an electronic recording device to record the "minutes" because the secretary

claims it is difficult to keep up.  The group has traditionally held to "what goes on here stays here". It was allowed once, then the president reconsidered when the minutes from that meeting included "he said-she said" and opinions of the secretary. The president requested the secretary not to use the device, but the device was used again. And again the minutes contained the secretary's opinions. The president has asked again in private that the device not be used, to which

the secretary is demanding the group vote on its use.  There is minority support of this person.  Can the president demand this device not be used and if this person refuses again can the secretary be relieved of the duties and replaced?

Other important matters are currently before this group and this person and supporters are being disruptive to the task at hand.    Thank you!

 

The recording of the meeting is not "the minutes".  It's just a recording of the meeting.

 

The electronic recording can be a help if the secretary is having a problem making a paper and pencil record, but it doesn't change what "the minutes" means.

 

And whether the minutes are helped by a recording or not, they should never contain what was said, only what was done.  So the president was quite correct to be upset that the extra material was improperly included in the minutes.  Prohibiting recording is not necessarily the solution, however.  The solution is instructing the secretary on how to properly prepare minutes or, if that fails, getting a new secretary.

 

The question of whether a recording device is allowed, however, is not up to the president, nor the secretary, nor any one person.  It is a decision that can be made by a majority of the assembly that is meeting.