Guest ERB Posted August 12, 2019 at 01:47 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 01:47 PM Our non-profit holds monthly board meetings. We have been under the impression that we should only release meeting mutes to the full membership after they have been approved, which means a one month lag. I can only find information on when to release minutes to meeting attendees, which is suggested with 24-48 hours if possible. Is it appropriate to release "unapproved" minutes to non-attendees (i.e., the full membership) in the same time frame as long as the minutes are notated as "unapproved"? I would prefer this approach. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted August 12, 2019 at 01:51 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 01:51 PM (edited) 4 minutes ago, Guest ERB said: Our non-profit holds monthly board meetings. We have been under the impression that we should only release meeting mutes to the full membership after they have been approved, which means a one month lag. I can only find information on when to release minutes to meeting attendees, which is suggested with 24-48 hours if possible. Is it appropriate to release "unapproved" minutes to non-attendees (i.e., the full membership) in the same time frame as long as the minutes are notated as "unapproved"? I would prefer this approach. Nothing in RONR requires that the board release its minutes to the full membership at all. The board is free to adopt its own rules on this matter if it wishes, including releasing the draft minutes, which should be clearly marked as such. I have no objection to using “unapproved” instead of “draft”. Edited August 12, 2019 at 01:52 PM by Josh Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zev Posted August 12, 2019 at 05:55 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 05:55 PM A simple list of the board's actions might also be considered, omitting the extra verbiage found in formal minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 12, 2019 at 06:59 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 06:59 PM 1 hour ago, Guest Zev said: A simple list of the board's actions might also be considered, omitting the extra verbiage found in formal minutes. But the question of whether corrections may yet be made to this simple list is equally problematic. This list had better still be identified as preliminary/draft/unapproved, i.e. subject to correction when the minutes are approved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zev Posted August 12, 2019 at 09:48 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 09:48 PM 2 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said: But the question of whether corrections may yet be made to this simple list is equally problematic. This list had better still be identified as preliminary/draft/unapproved, i.e. subject to correction when the minutes are approved. I agree that it might be problematic. Please observe that I said "the board's actions" and also observe that the OP mentions that the board is informing the assembly of what took place in the board's meeting. I would suspect that if the membership received a draft or the suggested summary and they had some difference of opinion then the assembly would be unable to do anything about it since what was presented was the board's minutes and not the assembly's minutes. The assembly could order the board to perform a different act, but the minutes are still the board's minutes and not the assembly's. Could the assembly order a redaction of the board's minutes? I suppose they could, especially in cases where the board's minutes are made known to outsiders. Otherwise I fail to see anything useful flowing from it. And yet, perhaps there is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted August 12, 2019 at 10:18 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 10:18 PM 4 hours ago, Guest Zev said: A simple list of the board's actions might also be considered, omitting the extra verbiage found in formal minutes. There shouldn’t be much extra beyond “a simple list of the board’s actions” if the Secretary is following the rules in RONR. 17 minutes ago, Guest Zev said: I agree that it might be problematic. Please observe that I said "the board's actions" and also observe that the OP mentions that the board is informing the assembly of what took place in the board's meeting. I would suspect that if the membership received a draft or the suggested summary and they had some difference of opinion then the assembly would be unable to do anything about it since what was presented was the board's minutes and not the assembly's minutes. The assembly could order the board to perform a different act, but the minutes are still the board's minutes and not the assembly's. Could the assembly order a redaction of the board's minutes? I suppose they could, especially in cases where the board's minutes are made known to outsiders. Otherwise I fail to see anything useful flowing from it. And yet, perhaps there is. This seems to be going down a rabbit hole. All Mr. Novosielski was saying is that a “list of the board’s actions,” which is presumably compiled based upon the draft minutes, should be marked as “draft” in the same manner as draft minutes, since if there is an error in the draft minutes (perhaps the wording of a motion is incorrect), the error will likely also be present in the list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zev Posted August 12, 2019 at 11:40 PM Report Share Posted August 12, 2019 at 11:40 PM 1 hour ago, Josh Martin said: This seems to be going down a rabbit hole. I think we are already at the table having tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 13, 2019 at 01:52 AM Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 at 01:52 AM Why is a raven like a writing desk? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Zev Posted August 13, 2019 at 07:10 AM Report Share Posted August 13, 2019 at 07:10 AM I'll answer that question as soon as you sell me your hat for 10s 6d. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted August 14, 2019 at 12:47 AM Report Share Posted August 14, 2019 at 12:47 AM Sing a song of 6d. Hey, in today's money, that's probably a £30 hat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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