Motion Approving Minutes

[Lisa Musil]

A motion to approve the minutes was made by the person who transcribed the Minutes.  She is a member of the Committee; however, I've not run into this before.  I was then told the 'motion' was not considered a vote it was considered more as a submission.  May I have any thoughts on this simple topic?

[Josh Martin]

On 6/8/2023 at 5:07 PM, Lisa Musil said:

A motion to approve the minutes was made by the person who transcribed the Minutes.  She is a member of the Committee; however, I've not run into this before.  I was then told the 'motion' was not considered a vote it was considered more as a submission.  May I have any thoughts on this simple topic?

I don't really understand what is meant by "the 'motion' was not considered a vote it was considered more as a submission." A motion is neither of these things. It's a motion.

In any event, however, for future reference, a motion to approve the minutes is unnecessary. After any corrections are handled, the chair simply declares the minutes approved. In addition, committees generally do not take minutes, since the committee's reports serve as its records.

[Rob Elsman]

A motion to approve the minutes should be dropped, and the minutes should be approved by unanimous consent after any motions to amend them have been handled.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 6/8/2023 at 5:21 PM, Rob Elsman said:

A motion to approve the minutes should be dropped, and the minutes should be approved by unanimous consent after any motions to amend them have been handled.

On 6/8/2023 at 5:07 PM, Lisa Musil said:

May I have any thoughts on this simple topic?

To be clear, I would call this a special form of unanimous consent.  Rather than saying, 'If there are no objections, the minutes stand approved," the chair says, "If there are no corrections, the minutes stand approved."   Offering a correction is the only way to object to their approval.  There is no way to simply object and force a vote, since the approval of (correct) minutes is mandatory.

Those corrections are usually handled by unanimous consent, unless some dispute arises. And disputes are handled by discussion and (majority) vote, like an amendment.

[Atul Kapur]

41:10 "A formal motion to approve the minutes is not necessary, although such a motion is not out of order."

41:11 "The minutes are thus approved without any formal vote, even if a motion for their approval has been made."

This ignores the fact that committees normally do not keep minutes, as it sounds like your committee is working more like a board.