Request to add to the minutes

[Guest Kim]

During a small board meeting, a director asked that his statement be entered into the minutes. Is this allowed?

I have both RONR and RONR In Brief. I cannot find an answer. I know minutes contain what was done, not what was said, but am unclear on this issue.

To give more detail, our small board was discussing the budget, an agenda item.  One of the directors started talking about filing taxes. The president tried to acknowledge his concerns and get him to stop talking. He continued and became belligerent. I called him out of order. He then made a statement and asked that it be entered into the minutes. Then he left the meeting.

I wrote the minutes and included his statement, word for word. I sent it to the board members, prior to the meeting. This is usual. Several board members are saying that they  want the statement deleted, because it will upset the members of our organization. Some things in the statement are not true. The director who made the statement is now asking that it be worded differently in the minutes. Our board meeting is tomorrow, so I need to know how to handle this, properly.

Thank you,

Kim

[George Mervosh]

The board, by majority vote, can grant his request to include it in the minutes. RONR (11th ed.), p. 299, l. 20ff.  That should have been voted on as soon as the request was made.   As Secretary, you should not have entered it into the draft since the request was not acted upon.  

At this point in time it is still the board's decision, but given the facts as you presented them, I'd personally vote against allowing it to stay in the minutes, in any form.

[Weldon Merritt]

I agree with Mr. Mervosh. Further, if the statement is include in the minutes, it certainly should not " be worded differently." The member said what he said, and should not be allowed to edit it after the fact. Just one of many reasons why it should not be included at all.

[Dan Honemann]

I also agree with Mr. Mervosh, and would add that, since it appears that the minutes have not as yet been presented to the board for its approval, if I were the secretary I would remove this statement from my draft of the minutes before presenting the minutes for approval at the next meeting.

[George Mervosh]

An excellent recommendation from Mr. Honemann, as it will at least demonstrate that you now understand it should not have been entered at all without permission of the assembly.  Oh, sure, they can go ahead and put it back in but that's not your concern. Presenting the draft minutes in accordance with the rules in RONR is.  The golf course now beckons.  

[Dan Honemann]

5 minutes ago, George Mervosh said:

An excellent recommendation from Mr. Honemann, as it will at least demonstrate that you now understand it should not have been entered at all without permission of the assembly.  Oh, sure, they can go ahead and put it back in but that's not your concern. Presenting the draft minutes in accordance with the rules in RONR is.  The golf course now beckons.  

Hey, I'm only here because I spent quite a bit of time out fishing the last two days, and hope to do so the next two days, so I had better tend to stuff here at home today if I want to stay out of trouble.