Minutes access to Members

[Jay M]

When do minutes of a Board of trustees meeting become public? Does a member of organization entitled to look into the minutes before they were approved by the board in their next monthly meeting? Thanks in advance

[Atul Kapur]

Under RONR, minutes are made available to the members of the body that is meeting; that would be the Board of Trustees, not every member of the organization.
Before the minutes are approved, they are draft minutes = the secretary's notes. Members do not have a right to see the secretary's notes.

If this is a public body, then there are likely other rules or laws that apply.

 

[Jay M]

3 minutes ago, Atul Kapur said:

Under RONR, minutes are made available to the members of the body that is meeting; that would be the Board of Trustees, not every member of the organization.
Before the minutes are approved, they are draft minutes = the secretary's notes. Members do not have a right to see the secretary's notes.

If this is a public body, then there are likely other rules or laws that apply.

 

Is this rule "minutes are made available to the members of the body that is meeting" applies to not for profit organizations too?

Secretary can share the minutes saying " draft minutes not yet approved" right?

Thanks

[Rob Elsman]

1. No rule in RONR requires the minutes of meetings to become "public" at any time.

2. No.

[J. J.]

1 hour ago, Jay M said:

Is this rule "minutes are made available to the members of the body that is meeting" applies to not for profit organizations too?

Secretary can share the minutes saying " draft minutes not yet approved" right?

Thanks

1.  Yes it applies, unless your rules say otherwise.

2.  Share the minutes with whom?  It is fairly common for draft minutes to be sent out all members of the body that was meeting.  The secretary cannot, on his own, share draft minutes with additional people who are not members of the body that was meeting. 

[Dan Honemann]

5 hours ago, J. J. said:

1.  Yes it applies, unless your rules say otherwise.

2.  Share the minutes with whom?  It is fairly common for draft minutes to be sent out all members of the body that was meeting.  The secretary cannot, on his own, share draft minutes with additional people who are not members of the body that was meeting. 

No rule in RONR prohibits the secretary from sharing his or her draft minutes with anyone at all, provided, of course, that the content is not protected by the secrecy of an executive session.

[Richard Brown]

6 hours ago, Daniel H. Honemann said:

No rule in RONR prohibits the secretary from sharing his or her draft minutes with anyone at all, provided, of course, that the content is not protected by the secrecy of an executive session.

Thank you.  That's what I was thinking as I was reading the previous comments (except for Atul Kapur's comment, with which I agree completely).  It's my understanding that when it comes to minutes, RONR provides that no one but members of the body that was meeting have a RIGHT to see the minutes, but, unless the meeting was in executive session or some specific rule of the organization applies, members (including the secretary) are free to share the minutes with anyone they want to.  That also applies to the secretary's draft minutes:  No one else has the RIGHT to see them, but no rule in RONR prohibits the secretary from voluntarily sharing them as far and wise as he or she might desire.

I emphasize that all of the above is provided that executive session rules do not apply and that no contrary rule of the organization applies.  Every organization is free to adopt its own rules on the subject.