Minutes Approval

[Rob C]

To save time at meetings, we would like a committee of 3 (in addition to the secretary) to approve the minutes of a meeting prior to the next meeting. How do we state this during the meeting?

[Josh Martin]

1 minute ago, Rob C said:

To save time at meetings, we would like a committee of 3 (in addition to the secretary) to approve the minutes of a meeting prior to the next meeting. How do we state this during the meeting?

"Exceptions to the rule that minutes are approved at the next regular meeting (or at the next meeting within the session) arise when the next meeting will not be held within a quarterly time interval, when the term of a specified portion of the membership will expire before the start of the next meeting, or when, as at the final meeting of a convention, the assembly will be dissolved at the close of the present meeting. In any of these cases, minutes that have not been approved previously should be approved before final adjournment, or the assembly should authorize the executive board or a special committee to approve the minutes. The fact that the minutes are not read for approval at the next meeting does not prevent a member from having a relevant excerpt read for information; nor does it prevent the assembly in such a case from making additional corrections, treating the minutes as having been previously approved (see 48:15)." RONR (12th ed.) 48:12

I don't think this rule prohibits an assembly from appointing a minutes approval committee even if the assembly is meeting frequently enough that it would ordinarily approve its own minutes. As to exactly how this is stated, in meetings where this practice is used, it's often as simple as the chair saying, "If there is no objection, Mr. A, Ms. B, Mr. C, and the Secretary are appointed as members of the Minutes Approval Committee, with Mr. A serving as its chair."

I am curious, however, as to why the approval of the minutes is currently taking so much time.

[Rob C]

The "approved" by committee minutes are distributed to all members prior to the next meeting. Because all have had the opportunity to read the minutes, it did not seem necessary to read, ask for corrections or additions, and then approve while in a meeting. 

With this method, our secretary gets the draft out within a few hours of the meeting and the committee is able to go through the minutes while all is fresh in their mind. We discovered a while ago, that if we wait a month to read and approve the minutes, members often remembered things differently which caused problems.

[Richard Brown]

I suspect that if approving the minutes is proving to be so difficult and taking so long, more information is being put in the minutes then should normally be there. The minutes should be a record of what was done, not what was said.

I agree with Mr. Martin that the appointment of a minutes approval committee is likely your best option.  The bylaws can be amended to provide for such a committee to be a standing committee, or, depending upon the language currently in the bylaws about standing committees, the assembly might be able to create one without amending the bylaws  

If creating a standing committee is a problem, I would think the assembly could appoint a special bylaws approval committee to serve for a definite period of time. Whichever route you take, the motion should give the committee the authority to correct and approve minutes.

as a last option, at every meeting the assembly can appoint a committee to approve the minutes of that meeting.

Edited April 6, 2021 at 09:18 PM by Richard Brown
Removed duplicate paragraph and corrected numerous typos