Signing the Minutes

[dudashamd]

I understand that the Secretary and or President are to sign the minutes. Can someone clarify, is this the elected Secretary and/or President of the committee or is this the Secretary and/or President of your company? If it is the committee, what if there is no elected Secretary or President? Would it then be the Chairman? thank you for your help everyone...I am new to this order.

[hmtcastle]

Can someone clarify, is this the elected Secretary and/or President of the committee or is this the Secretary and/or President of your company? If it is the committee, what if there is no elected Secretary or President? Would it then be the Chairman?

The person who submits the minutes for approval signs them. The person serving as secretary when they're approved initials them as approved.

[dudashamd]

The person who submits the minutes for approval signs them. The person serving as secretary when they're approved initials them as approved.

So it isn't necessarily the person typing the minutes who signs them? As an example. If the Chairman is submitting for approval at the meeting, the Chairman would be noted as signing the minutes. Correct?

As it pertains to the "secretary" initialling them as approved. Do you mean the Executive Assistant who is typing the minutes or the Secretary of the Committee? If there is no appointed Secretary of the Committee, would it also be the Chairman?

I apologize as I want to make sure we are using the same terms. I do appreciate your patience.

[hmtcastle]

So it isn't necessarily the person typing the minutes who signs them? As an example. If the Chairman is submitting for approval at the meeting, the Chairman would be noted as signing the minutes. Correct?

As it pertains to the "secretary" initialling them as approved. Do you mean the Executive Assistant who is typing the minutes or the Secretary of the Committee? If there is no appointed Secretary of the Committee, would it also be the Chairman?

The person who took the notes and drafts the minutes is the person who signs her work. The fact that someone else (the secretary's secretary?) may type them up for her is immaterial, as is the person who physically brings them to the meeting for approval.

The person serving as secretary at the meeting where the minutes are approved (i.e. the person taking the current minutes) is the one who initials them as approved.

These may be the same person or two different people and neither has to be the official "Secretary". In other words, forget titles and focus on who did what.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

If it is the committee, what if there is no elected Secretary or President?

Like any business rule, "The person who is responsible for document X signs document X."

That's just good business practice, not Robert's Rules of Order.

The typist can be anybody. - For example, a typist who is typing up President Barack Obama's executive orders never signs his own name. President Obama signs the document, even if President Obama had no hand in the drafting of the document. He is just "responsible." So he signs off on what he is responsible for.

Thus, whoever wrote the minutes, signs that document as his own work. - Not the typist who helped out.

• You don't have an absentee secretary sign for minutes he never saw before in his life. The secretary who drafted the minutes signs the minutes. Any secretary who didn't draft those minutes does not sign those minutes.

• You don't have an absent president "vouch for" minutes which he has no clue matches (or does not match) what truly happened inside that one given meeting. Whoever was the chair at the meeting where the minutes are approved does the signing of those newly approved minutes (i.e., the act of verification that this hard copy document is the one which is official and which is to be archived as the sole master original copy).

Remember, minutes are not signed and dated for the sake of the signer or the dater.

Minutes are signed and dated as a symbol to future readers that the hard copy document is the sole master original document.

That is why absentee offices don't sign off on minutes they know nothing about. Their dating and their signing are meaningless, misleading, and inauthentic. Their symbols communicate nothing authentic to future members, readers, researchers, archivists, etc.

[George Mervosh]

RONR notes that most committees don't take minutes like a regular assembly does, it just keeps a brief memorandum.

[Castielle679]

On 8/13/2010 at 4:55 AM, Kim Goldsworthy said:

Thank you for this. I am currently in a situation where the Chairperson sent his apologies last minute and the Deputy Chairperson chaired the meeting; the approved minutes now require signing. Much is needed in terms of putting in place meeting procedures, however, this thread has helped me with my query on who then signs the minutes that were just approved - Chairperson or Deputy Chairperson. Hope to have all the nitty gritty ironed out in a procedural/guideline document.

 

Like any business rule, "The person who is responsible for document X signs document X."

That's just good business practice, not Robert's Rules of Order.

The typist can be anybody. - For example, a typist who is typing up President Barack Obama's executive orders never signs his own name. President Obama signs the document, even if President Obama had no hand in the drafting of the document. He is just "responsible." So he signs off on what he is responsible for.

Thus, whoever wrote the minutes, signs that document as his own work. - Not the typist who helped out.

• You don't have an absentee secretary sign for minutes he never saw before in his life. The secretary who drafted the minutes signs the minutes. Any secretary who didn't draft those minutes does not sign those minutes.

• You don't have an absent president "vouch for" minutes which he has no clue matches (or does not match) what truly happened inside that one given meeting. Whoever was the chair at the meeting where the minutes are approved does the signing of those newly approved minutes (i.e., the act of verification that this hard copy document is the one which is official and which is to be archived as the sole master original copy).

Remember, minutes are not signed and dated for the sake of the signer or the dater.

Minutes are signed and dated as a symbol to future readers that the hard copy document is the sole master original document.

That is why absentee offices don't sign off on minutes they know nothing about. Their dating and their signing are meaningless, misleading, and inauthentic. Their symbols communicate nothing authentic to future members, readers, researchers, archivists, etc.