Integrity of Assembly Minutes

[Guest Alan]

Should a CLerk record minutes and present them to all the membership at the next meeting for additions and corrections or approval?

Our church has quarterly meetings. The bylaws say that the Executive Board, who are three members of the assembly, reviews the Clerk's minutes at their meeting a few days later and thus get activities under way. The Clerk allows the board to edit in addition to review and only presents the minutes that the board has approved and does not identify any board members' changes when she reads minutes ninety days later. Is such editing consistent with Robert Rules?

One alternative process would be for the Clerk to create draft minutes for all the members including the board to reference. If the board elects to work from altered minutes, then it could propose changes in language at the next meeting of the assembly.

[Joshua Katz]

If the bylaws say only what you've mentioned, then this is a question of bylaw interpretation as to whether or not it means the board approves the minutes.  In my personal opinion, if it actually says "review the minutes at their next meeting a few days later and thus get activities under way," I think, first, that it's pointless, and second, that it doesn't authorize the board to approve the minutes, but my opinion doesn't count.

As an aside, if the board is not approving them, then what it is reviewing are not minutes, but rather notes that might one day become minutes.

If the board does not approve the minutes, though, they remain the clerk's notes until approved, and so the clerk can change them as much as desired, with no need to note why changes were made or who suggested them, up until they are approved.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 11/14/2016 at 7:19 PM, Guest Alan said:

Should a CLerk record minutes and present them to all the membership at the next meeting for additions and corrections or approval?

Our church has quarterly meetings. The bylaws say that the Executive Board, who are three members of the assembly, reviews the Clerk's minutes at their meeting a few days later and thus get activities under way. The Clerk allows the board to edit in addition to review and only presents the minutes that the board has approved and does not identify any board members' changes when she reads minutes ninety days later. Is such editing consistent with Robert Rules?

One alternative process would be for the Clerk to create draft minutes for all the members including the board to reference. If the board elects to work from altered minutes, then it could propose changes in language at the next meeting of the assembly.

It's impossible to tell, based on a paraphrase of a fraction of the bylaws, what is going on.  Whatever rules are actually in the bylaws will supersede any rules in RONR that conflict with them.  If they say the board approves the minutes, then there's no need to get approval from the membership at all.  if they say the board reviews the minutes, I'm not sure what that means.  Your organization has to interpret its own bylaws.  If they board isn't empowered to approve the minutes, then the secretary will present them for approval at the next meeting.

In general under the rules in RONR the secretary is not prevented from seeking or getting advice from anyone before finalizing the draft minutes, and is under no obligation to follow that advice.  Perhaps your bylaws have some rule that allows the board to advise the secretary, but I can't tell from here whether the secretary has to accept these suggestions.

If the minutes are presented for approval at the next meeting, you may not know what changes the board has or hasn't been involved in, but you presumably would know if the minutes are correct, and if for whatever reason they are not, you can offer corrections.