Accused of altering minuets

[Guest BCW]

I'm on the board of a nonprofit and over the course of my membership the treasurer has been difficult to work with. Since joining the board I have taken over the position of recorder for our meetings. In June of last year we voted to elect an assistant treasurer after loosing a senior member and our treasure being up there in age himself. The new assistant treasurer asked for some documents and checks to act on his behalf in his absence. Now a year later the documents and checks have not been provided. When asking the treasurer why his response was "to what right do you have" to which we showed him in the minuets where it was voted and passed to approve an assistant. He then accused the board i.e. me the recorder of altering the minuets.

 

[Josh Martin]

On 6/20/2023 at 12:48 PM, Guest BCW said:

I'm on the board of a nonprofit and over the course of my membership the treasurer has been difficult to work with. Since joining the board I have taken over the position of recorder for our meetings. In June of last year we voted to elect an assistant treasurer after loosing a senior member and our treasure being up there in age himself. The new assistant treasurer asked for some documents and checks to act on his behalf in his absence. Now a year later the documents and checks have not been provided. When asking the treasurer why his response was "to what right do you have" to which we showed him in the minuets where it was voted and passed to approve an assistant. He then accused the board i.e. me the recorder of altering the minuets.

What exactly is your question?

[Guest BCW]

Just looking for advise on how to proceed.

[Rob Elsman]

I think what Mr. Martin is asking is what is your question about parliamentary law.  Parliamentary law is all we do here on this forum.

[Josh Martin]

On 6/20/2023 at 1:14 PM, Guest BCW said:

Just looking for advise on how to proceed.

It's difficult to know how to proceed because I don't know exactly what you want to proceed with. We've been given a wide-ranging set of facts, and I can imagine a number of different things the organization might wish to do in the present circumstances. This is my best attempt at answering this question, but let me know if it's not what you're looking for.

• For starters, if the Treasurer is the only person under the impression that the minutes have been falsified, and all other members of the board are in agreement that the minutes faithfully record the actions taken at that meeting, then that seems to resolve that matter. (If there is a legitimate dispute over whether this matter is correctly recorded in the minutes, then that will change things.)
• The board can proceed to adopt a motion ordering the Treasurer to turn over the documents - ideally, while he is present, which will make it somewhat more difficult for him to dispute that it happened.
• If the Treasurer continues to refuse to turn over the documents (and perhaps even if he agrees), the organization may wish to consider removing the Treasurer from office, for various reasons. Check what your bylaws say on this matter or, if they are silent, see FAQ #20.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 6/20/2023 at 1:48 PM, Guest BCW said:

I'm on the board of a nonprofit and over the course of my membership the treasurer has been difficult to work with. Since joining the board I have taken over the position of recorder for our meetings. In June of last year we voted to elect an assistant treasurer after loosing a senior member and our treasure being up there in age himself. The new assistant treasurer asked for some documents and checks to act on his behalf in his absence. Now a year later the documents and checks have not been provided. When asking the treasurer why his response was "to what right do you have" to which we showed him in the minuets where it was voted and passed to approve an assistant. He then accused the board i.e. me the recorder of altering the minuets.

 

Are you asking who's right?  I have no idea.

I do question whether an ordinary main motion by the board is sufficient to elect a new office, as a bylaws amendment would presumably be required to create the office. Was that done?

So it seems to me not so much a question of whether the minutes were altered (such claims require evidence) but rather a question of whether the position was properly created.

[Joshua Katz]

On 6/20/2023 at 5:11 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

I do question whether an ordinary main motion by the board is sufficient to elect a new office, as a bylaws amendment would presumably be required to create the office. Was that done?

 

I think the answer is that it is not sufficient, and so the position is more akin to a committee of one, i.e. the position only entails helping the treasurer. For that reason, the motion was not sufficient to: 

 

On 6/20/2023 at 12:48 PM, Guest BCW said:

to act on his behalf in his absence.

and the motion does not give the assistant treasurer to the right to checks and other documents.

[Guest BCW]

Thank you everyone, my apologies for not asking a direct question. I was just looking for some advise on how to proceed and I think I got it. The accusations of the treasurer came as quite a shock to the board, specialy myself as recorder. If I learned anything it's that I need to familiarize myself more with roberts law. 

[Rob Elsman]

If you are a "newbie" to parliamentary procedure, you might like to get your toes wet with the smaller, educational book called Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief, 3rd edition.  It is published by Perseus.  You can go to the official Robert's Rules of Order website, www.robertsrules.com, browse the summary of the book, and order it online, if you wish.  If you later find you really need the big book to explore parliamentary procedure in depth, you can always go back to the same website and order it.

In addition, this forum is an excellent way to learn parliamentary procedure in a hands-on way.  You will find a mixture of simple and complex questions answered by a mixture of RONR authors, professional parliamentarians, and just "folks with books" like me.  Some of the respondents have been working the forum for decades, and they are very experienced.  I know I have learned a ton, here.