Sending Minutes Post Meeting

[Guest Denise]

I am a newly appointed HOA President of a neighborhood in Florida. My question: Once a meeting is completed and minutes have been written, is it OK to send the minutes to the entire neighborhood regardless of whether they attended the meeting or not? In this case, no votes were cast nor were any important decisions made. 

[Joshua Katz]

Yes. And any member may participate in approving the minutes even if they were absent at the meeting the minutes memorialize. The answer would be the same regardless of what decisions were made. Of course, if they haven't been approved, they are draft minutes, and should be labeled as such, as with a watermark.

Edited February 28, 2024 at 04:01 PM by Joshua Katz

[Gary Novosielski]

On 2/28/2024 at 10:27 AM, Guest Denise said:

I am a newly appointed HOA President of a neighborhood in Florida. My question: Once a meeting is completed and minutes have been written, is it OK to send the minutes to the entire neighborhood regardless of whether they attended the meeting or not? In this case, no votes were cast nor were any important decisions made. 

If no votes were cast, nor decisions made, then the minutes would presumably have no useful information, apart from the fact that the meeting was held.

If it's desired to communicate what matters might have been discussed during the meeting but not acted upon, then the minutes are a poor method of communication.  You might wish to publish a newsie-notes or from-the-desk column on what the board is doing, but minutes should only contain what was done, not what was said.  And minutes that have not yet been approved should be clearly marked as   - D R A F T -  minutes, since they are still subject to corrections before being approved.

[Guest Denise]

Got it - Thanks so much