Guest Tom Harrison Posted August 20, 2019 at 08:19 PM Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 at 08:19 PM If the Council votes 4 to 2 to NOT approve the minutes, are the actions of that meeting (of minutes not approved) null and void? What impact does the vote NOT approving the minutes of a meeting have on actions taken during that meeting? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted August 20, 2019 at 08:39 PM Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 at 08:39 PM 16 minutes ago, Guest Tom Harrison said: If the Council votes 4 to 2 to NOT approve the minutes, are the actions of that meeting (of minutes not approved) null and void? What impact does the vote NOT approving the minutes of a meeting have on actions taken during that meeting? First, no vote should be taken on approving the minutes. The chair should just declare the minutes approved if there are no corrections or once all corrections have been made. What you actually vote on is the corrections. Second, failure to approve the minutes has absolutely no effect on the actions taken (motions adopted) at the meeting. They remain valid regardless of whether the minutes are approved. However, if the minutes fail to mention something that was adopted or incorrectly reflect what happened, that can lead to confusion and problems in the future. The minutes should correctly reflect what was actually adopted (or rejected) at the meeting, as well as points of order, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted August 20, 2019 at 10:15 PM Report Share Posted August 20, 2019 at 10:15 PM 1 hour ago, Guest Tom Harrison said: If the Council votes 4 to 2 to NOT approve the minutes, are the actions of that meeting (of minutes not approved) null and void? No. 1 hour ago, Guest Tom Harrison said: What impact does the vote NOT approving the minutes of a meeting have on actions taken during that meeting? None. Approving the minutes has nothing to do with approving the actions taken during a meeting. The approval of the actions has already occurred. The purpose of approving the minutes is to ensure that they are an accurate record of what happened at the meeting. The chairman should never take a final vote on approving the minutes. Not approving the minutes simply isn’t an option. If a member believes there is an error in the minutes, he should offer a correction. These are generally handled by unanimous consent, but a majority vote is sufficient if there is disagreement. After any corrections are handled, the minutes are declared approved. If the assembly is for some reason unable or unwilling to finish the process of correcting and approving the minutes at that time, the proper course of action would be to postpone the approval of the minutes. So this situation should have never occurred. Since the assembly has failed to approve the minutes, the result is that there is no official record of the meeting in question. This should be remedied as soon as possible by approving the minutes (after corrections, if necessary). If the assembly’s issue is not with the accuracy of the minutes but that it wishes to change some of the motions adopted at that meeting, the proper course of action is to approve the minutes and then use motions to Rescind or Amend Something Previously Adopted in regards to the motions in question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J. J. Posted August 21, 2019 at 01:11 AM Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 at 01:11 AM 2 hours ago, Josh Martin said: The chairman should never take a final vote on approving the minutes. Not approving the minutes simply isn’t an option. If a member believes there is an error in the minutes, he should offer a correction. These are generally handled by unanimous consent, but a majority vote is sufficient if there is disagreement. After any corrections are handled, the minutes are declared approved. If the assembly is for some reason unable or unwilling to finish the process of correcting and approving the minutes at that time, the proper course of action would be to postpone the approval of the minutes. So this situation should have never occurred. Since the assembly has failed to approve the minutes, the result is that there is no official record of the meeting in question. This should be remedied as soon as possible by approving the minutes (after corrections, if necessary). As a practical matter, I doubt that the minutes can be foisted on an unwilling majority. In this case, there would be sufficient votes to "suspend the rules and require the chair to put the approval of the minutes up to a vote." I am not thrilled with the possibility, but it is a possibility. I do agree that minutes need to be approved, with appropriate corrections, if any. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted August 21, 2019 at 01:55 AM Report Share Posted August 21, 2019 at 01:55 AM Put it this way: if the motions adopted at the meeting were all null and void, that would include the motion to adjourn. Is the meeting still going on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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