Chair rewriting draft minutes

[Guest June]

Can the chair of an organization rewrite the draft minutes of a meeting 

[Josh Martin]

On 10/19/2023 at 6:16 PM, Guest June said:

Can the chair of an organization rewrite the draft minutes of a meeting 

No.

[Guest June]

On 10/19/2023 at 7:16 PM, Guest June said:

Can the chair of an organization rewrite the draft minutes of a meeting 

 

On 10/19/2023 at 7:27 PM, Josh Martin said:

No.

Can you direct me to the section in the 11th edition that states this

[Rob Elsman]

We are doing the 12th edition now. Check the index for the entry, minutes, reading and approval of. There are a lot of references pointing to quite a bit of information there. The presumption is that the chair is being made aware of the contents of the minutes when the secretary reads them at the meeting, right along with everyone else. In some assemblies, the draft is distributed some time before the meeting, but the chair need not have any input in the drafting.

[Weldon Merritt]

On 10/19/2023 at 7:20 PM, Guest June said:

 

Can you direct me to the section in the 11th edition that states this

I don't think you will find a provision that says, in so many words, that the chair can't rewrite the draft minutes  Rather, if the chair (or anyone else) claims that the chair can do it, the burden is on them to show you where RONR (or your organizations' other governing rules) gives them that authority/ They certainly won't find it in RONR. (I obviously don't know whether teh organization's own rules do, but I doubt it.)

[Gary Novosielski]

On 10/19/2023 at 9:20 PM, Guest June said:

 

Can you direct me to the section in the 11th edition that states this

There isn't one.  But that's not surprising.  There is also no section, even in the 12th edition, that states that the chair can't slash people's tires. But that doesn't mean that it's okay to do so.\

RONR describes in detail the duties of the president/chairman starting at [47:5], all of which relate to the various things the presiding officer does in the process of actually presiding over a meeting.  It then points out that, beyond those duties, any additional duties, powers, or authority have to be provided in the bylaws.  So that's where you should look to see if your bylaws give the chair that power.  Here's what RONR 12th ed. 47:20 says, in relevant part:

All of the duties of the presiding officer described above relate to
the function of presiding over the assembly at its meetings. In
addition, in many organized societies, the president has duties
as an administrative or executive officer; but these are outside
the scope of parliamentary law, and the president has such
authority only insofar as the bylaws provide it. In some
organizations, the president is responsible for appointing, and
is ex officio a member of, all committees (with the exception of
the nominating committee, which should be expressly
excluded from such a provision, and with the further possible
exception of all disciplinary committees; see 56:47). But only
when he is so authorized by the bylaws—or, in the case of a
particular committee, by vote of the assembly—does he have
this authority and status.