Name of Director who is making amotion is entered into the minutes before the meeting takes place.

[Guest Amanda S]

Our board minutes are always prepared in advance with blanks for who made the motion, who seconded the motion, and the result of the vote.   This month, the names of the directors who were going to make the motion were already filled in.  Is this ok?

[Bruce Lages]

I guess it's OK if it works for you, as long as those directors (plural? Usually only one member makes a motion) actually do make the motion at the meeting. In addition, RONR doesn't require the name of the seconder to be recorded.  But it seems like the minutes should have a lot more 'blanks' in advance of the meeting. How do you know what motions are going to be made and what their exact wording is going to be? Does your board require all motions to be submitted in writing in advance of the meeting?

 

[Dan Honemann]

On 10/22/2022 at 3:33 PM, Guest Amanda S said:

Our board minutes are always prepared in advance with blanks for who made the motion, who seconded the motion, and the result of the vote.   This month, the names of the directors who were going to make the motion were already filled in.  Is this ok?

This appears to be some sort of script rather than a draft of minutes.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/22/2022 at 3:33 PM, Guest Amanda S said:

Our board minutes are always prepared in advance with blanks for who made the motion, who seconded the motion, and the result of the vote.   This month, the names of the directors who were going to make the motion were already filled in.  Is this ok?

What you're describing is a very (overly?) detailed agenda.  I've run into this on a school board where the agenda was set in advance by the Superintendent in consultation with the president.  The text of every proposed resolution (motion) was included, with spaces to record the mover and the vote count.    If everything went routinely, the minutes would end up looking very much like this document with very little editing required.  And if things did not go routinely, it was a fair starting point for the minutes.

But it's still an agenda, not a set of minutes.   If the expected mover's name is known in advance, it might as well be included on the agenda.  This makes sense if. say, there is resolution to paint the headquarters red, and Ms. P. is chair of the Building and Grounds committee, who would normally make such a motion.

[Richard Brown]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:33 PM, Guest Amanda S said:

Our board minutes are always prepared in advance with blanks for who made the motion, who seconded the motion, and the result of the vote. 

So, if the minutes are prepared in advance with the text of the motions, how does the secretary handle amendments? Do proposed motions never get amended?

[Josh Martin]

On 10/22/2022 at 2:33 PM, Guest Amanda S said:

Our board minutes are always prepared in advance with blanks for who made the motion, who seconded the motion, and the result of the vote.   This month, the names of the directors who were going to make the motion were already filled in.  Is this ok?

I don't necessarily see a problem with it, although it would seem this strategy is only prudent if the Secretary has reasonable confidence in who will be making the motions. In the event that the Secretary's predictions concerning the makers of the motions turn out to be incorrect, then of course the draft minutes will need to be corrected.

The only thing I'm puzzled about is why the draft minutes are shared in advance with others (which seems to be the case). That seems confusing. It would be preferable, as others have suggested, to use some other document for this purpose.

On 10/22/2022 at 6:08 PM, Richard Brown said:

So, if the minutes are prepared in advance with the text of the motions, how does the secretary handle amendments? Do proposed motions never get amended?

The fact that the draft minutes are "prepared in advance" does not necessarily mean the language is set in stone. In the event that amendments are adopted, then the draft minutes can be adjusted accordingly.

In cases where I have served as Secretary for organizations, I frequently used this strategy of writing a template for the draft minutes in advance based upon the agenda and other available information, and adjusting it as needed based upon what happened at the meeting. But I would keep the draft minutes to myself until after the meeting was over and the draft had been updated to reflect the actual events of the meeting.

Edited October 23, 2022 at 09:23 PM by Josh Martin