Secretary

[Guest Mrs. Secretary]

if the minute has been sent to all of the board period to the meeting; at the meeting do I still need to print everyone a hard copy and do I still need to read the minute to everyone before Mr. Chairman asked for correction? 

[Joshua Katz]

Regarding printing everyone a hard copy, this is not obligatory even if draft minutes (until approved, they are not minutes, but rather your notes or draft minutes) had not been sent out. Making sure everyone has a copy, as by mailing them, is a good practice, though, since it gives people a chance to know what corrections are needed rather than listening intently and keeping track. As to reading the minutes out loud before the chair asks for corrections, any member can demand that they be read, but absent such a demand, there is no need to read them out loud. 

[Gary Novosielski]

23 hours ago, Joshua Katz said:

Regarding printing everyone a hard copy, this is not obligatory even if draft minutes (until approved, they are not minutes, but rather your notes or draft minutes) had not been sent out. Making sure everyone has a copy, as by mailing them, is a good practice, though, since it gives people a chance to know what corrections are needed rather than listening intently and keeping track. As to reading the minutes out loud before the chair asks for corrections, any member can demand that they be read, but absent such a demand, there is no need to read them out loud. 

You seem to  be saying that it's possible to waive reading of the minutes even if draft minutes have not been distributed.  I'm not sure that's what you meant.

[Joshua Katz]

1 hour ago, Gary Novosielski said:

 You seem to  be saying that it's possible to waive reading of the minutes even if draft minutes have not been distributed.  I'm not sure that's what you meant.

You can't waive reading by unanimous consent? It wasn't what I meant, I meant that neither distributing in advance nor distributing at the meeting are obligatory, and when one is done, there's no need to read except on demand of a member, but now that I think about it, I don't see why the reading can't be waived unanimously even without any distribution. I'm not saying it's a good idea, of course, but if anyone thinks there's a chance they'd correct something, they can say "I want to hear them." 

[Gary Novosielski]

I'm on my way out the door, but it was my understanding that waiving reading aloud was only proper if drafts are distributed and no member objects.  

The motion to "dispense with the reading of the minutes", which sounds like waiving by unanimous consent, is effectively a motion to postpone the approval process, and leaves the minutes unapproved until a future time, when approval might still require reading them aloud.

I'll search the Book when I return.

[Richard Brown]

24 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I'm on my way out the door, but it was my understanding that waiving reading aloud was only proper if drafts are distributed and no member objects.  

The motion to "dispense with the reading of the minutes", which sounds like waiving by unanimous consent, is effectively a motion to postpone the approval process, and leaves the minutes unapproved until a future time, when approval might still require reading them aloud.

I'll search the Book when I return.

I'm not looking at the book, either (or at the online CD-ROM version), but my understanding is the same as Gary's as to both of the points he makes.

Edited to  add: I have access to the CD-ROM version now.  Both questions are directly addressed by the following two paragraphs on page 474 regarding Reading and Approval of Minutes:

If the assembly does not wish to carry out the reading and approval of the minutes at the regular time, it may, by majority vote without debate, "dispense with the reading of the minutes." The minutes can then be taken up by majority vote without debate at any later time during the meeting while no business is pending. If the minutes are not thus taken up before adjournment, they are read and approved at the following meeting, before the later minutes are taken up. A motion to "dispense with the reading of the minutes" is not a request to omit their reading altogether.

 A draft of the minutes of the preceding meeting can be sent to all members in advance, usually with the notice. In such a case, it is presumed that the members have used this opportunity to review them, and they are not read unless this is requested by any member. Correction of them and approval, however, is handled in the usual way. It must be understood in such a case that the formal copy placed in the minute book contains all corrections that were made and that none of the many copies circulated to members and marked by them is authoritative (see also p. 355)

(Emphasis in both paragraphs added by RB)

Edited December 12, 2018 at 05:13 PM by Richard Brown
Added RONR citation and made typographical correction

[Joshua Katz]

Certainly I agree on what dispense with the reading means, and obviously with the RONR quotes. But as a general matter, there is very little procedurally that cannot be done by unanimous consent, no? If nothing else, unanimous consent means no one will raise a point of order. I'm not sure (unless it's because the quotations are more specific and hence governing) why reading the minutes should be something that a unanimous body cannot skip, above and beyond the rules discussed here.