Minutes - signing of

[Guest Janet M.]

The minutes for our meetings are typically signed by our committee President who is also the chairperson for the meetings. 

If the President is absent for a meeting then do they still sign the minutes for that meeting?  If not then who should sign them?  

 

 

[Richard Brown]

The secretary is the person who would normally sign the minutes per RONR. However, if these are minutes of a committee which has no secretary, they would normally be prepared by and, I suppose, signed by the president  committee chairman.  At any rate, the minutes should be signed by the person who took them.

Edited November 13, 2018 at 01:25 AM by Richard Brown
Correction as indicated

[Gary Novosielski]

It is also worth noting that there is no requirement in RONR  that committees keep minutes.

[Richard Brown]

8 hours ago, Guest Janet M. said:

The minutes for our meetings are typically signed by our committee President who is also the chairperson for the meetings.

I'm a little confused. What kind of committee is this? Committees usually have chairman, not presidents. I'm not sure we are talking about a committee in the usual parliamentary sense of the word.

[Richard Brown]

Guest Janet, you might find the following language from page 471 of RONR helpful:  "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."

RONR contains this additional provision on page 475 concerning a notation that the minutes have been approved:  "When the minutes are approved, the word Approved, with the secretary's initials and the date, should be written below them."

If the minutes are prepared by an assistant secretary or secretary pro-tem, that is the person who should sign the minutes.

[Guest Janet]

Thank you for your responses.  Janet 

We are a committee with a President, Vice President, Secretary, and 2 Members appointed by a Board. I don't know if this meets the RONR definition of Committee but accurate Minutes are definitely required and we follow Roberts Rules for our meetings. 

We normally have the Secretary and the President sign the Minutes after they are approved.  From your comments, if the President is not at a meeting then the chairperson for that meeting should sign the Minutes and also if the Secretary is not at a meeting then the appointed Secretary for that meeting should prepare and sign the Minutes. 

Correct?

 

[Atul Kapur]

19 minutes ago, Guest Janet said:

if the Secretary is not at a meeting then the appointed Secretary for that meeting should prepare and sign the Minutes. 

Definitely

19 minutes ago, Guest Janet said:

if the President is not at a meeting then the chairperson for that meeting should sign the Minutes

Sure, that would be fine. But I wouldn't get too worried about this one.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

There is no requirement under Robert's Rules that the presiding officer sign the minutes. That is the duty of the secretary alone.

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

There is no requirement under Robert's Rules that the presiding officer sign the minutes. That is the duty of the secretary alone.

RONR does say on page 471 that the minutes should be signed by the secretary, as we have already pointed out, but that same paragraph goes on to say that "the minutes can also be signed, if the assembly wishes, by the president" 

So, there is nothing wrong with the President also signing the minutes.

[Guest Janet]

Thank you!  Janet