wwdslovene Posted August 12, 2018 at 05:30 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2018 at 05:30 PM Our organization of +/- 400members has a Board of Directors of 15 members which meets monthly. Each month the Treasurer submits a report. Our Bylaws say nothing about the privacy of the Treasurer's report or monthly committee reports. It has been learned that an ex-treasurer has been provided with current reports. That person is an active member of the organization, but no longer an officer (director). Is this "legal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted August 12, 2018 at 05:35 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2018 at 05:35 PM We can't speak to "legal" but RONR doesn't prohibit the providing of Treasurer's Reports to members and it doesn't sound like your bylaws prohibits it either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 13, 2018 at 02:32 PM Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 at 02:32 PM 20 hours ago, wwdslovene said: Our organization of +/- 400members has a Board of Directors of 15 members which meets monthly. Each month the Treasurer submits a report. Our Bylaws say nothing about the privacy of the Treasurer's report or monthly committee reports. It has been learned that an ex-treasurer has been provided with current reports. That person is an active member of the organization, but no longer an officer (director). Is this "legal? RONR has no rule that requires keeping financial reports secret from members. It would be unusual to find such a rule in the bylaws, but certainly possible. Still, if I were a member I might wonder (aloud) what the board was trying to hide. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted August 13, 2018 at 03:36 PM Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 at 03:36 PM 21 hours ago, Chris Harrison said: We can't speak to "legal" but RONR doesn't prohibit the providing of Treasurer's Reports to members and it doesn't sound like your bylaws prohibits it either. Also, this is a shot in the dark but do your bylaws specifically state the Treasurer (or some other officer) is the custodian of the Treasurer Reports? If not, then I think it could be (semi) reasonably argued that per RONR p. 458 ll. 24-26 and p. 459 ll. 4-5 the Secretary would then be the custodian of those reports and must make them available to any member upon request. Even if the Treasurer is the custodian of those reports I would probably argue that absent some compelling reason why those reports shouldn't be made available to any member the default position should be the members have a right to make sure the money coming in is going out to the proper places (the Board isn't using it to go lie on some beach in Barbados sipping Rum Punches ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted August 13, 2018 at 06:29 PM Report Share Posted August 13, 2018 at 06:29 PM 2 hours ago, Chris Harrison said: Also, this is a shot in the dark but do your bylaws specifically state the Treasurer (or some other officer) is the custodian of the Treasurer Reports? If not, then I think it could be (semi) reasonably argued that per RONR p. 458 ll. 24-26 and p. 459 ll. 4-5 the Secretary would then be the custodian of those reports and must make them available to any member upon request. Even if the Treasurer is the custodian of those reports I would probably argue that absent some compelling reason why those reports shouldn't be made available to any member the default position should be the members have a right to make sure the money coming in is going out to the proper places (the Board isn't using it to go lie on some beach in Barbados sipping Rum Punches ). Since the reports in question are given at meetings of the board, only members of the board have a right to review them under RONR, in the same way that only members of the board have the right to review minutes of the board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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