Meeting minutes

[Guest Jim]

Can a board member during a meeting demand that his statement be "documented in the minutes"?

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Can a board member during a meeting demand that his statement be "documented in the minutes"?

"Demand"?

No.

"Request"?

Yes.

Treat it as a motion. Vote it up or vote it down.

Then move on.

[Guest JIM]

"Demand"?

No.

"Request"?

Yes.

Treat it as a motion. Vote it up or vote it down.

Then move on.

[Guest Jim]

Okay. So I would ask him to make a motion that his statement be submitted into the minutes. Then as a board we would vote on that motion. Is that right?

[Tim Wynn]

Okay. So I would ask him to make a motion that his statement be submitted into the minutes. Then as a board we would vote on that motion. Is that right?

You should advise him of the contents of RONR(10th ed.), p. 451, l. 25-28.

[Rob Elsman]

Can a board member during a meeting demand that his statement be "documented in the minutes"?

No. Such a motion is dilatory and serves no legitimate parliamentary purpose. The minutes are a journal of the assembly's proceedings, not the private journal of an individual member.

[Guest Jim]

You should advise him of the contents of RONR(10th ed.), p. 451, l. 25-28.

Thank you. I told him minutes should not contain conversation, but he insists that if something is said by a Board member with the statement of "I want this noted in the minutes" then I have to include it. I will take note of page 451. I have the book and am trying hard to figure this out. I am very new at this.

[David A Foulkes]

Thank you. I told him minutes should not contain conversation, but he insists that if something is said by a Board member with the statement of "I want this noted in the minutes" then I have to include it. I will take note of page 451. I have the book and am trying hard to figure this out. I am very new at this.

Ask him to show you the rule (bylaw, RONR, or wherever) that supports this.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

... but he insists that if something is said by a Board member with the statement of "I want this noted in the minutes" then I have to include it.

THAT is definitely not anything from any edition of Robert's Rules of Order.

Maybe (a long shot!) he is referring to state law, i.e., the corporations code for your state?

Maybe he is referring to the organization's articles of incorporation?

Maybe he is referring to a rule embedded in the organization's charter (from a national or international superior organization)?

[Josh Martin]

Maybe (a long shot!) he is referring to state law, i.e., the corporations code for your state?

Maybe he is referring to the organization's articles of incorporation?

Maybe he is referring to a rule embedded in the organization's charter (from a national or international superior organization)?

I suspect it is more likely this is a case of a member mistakenly believing that practices of legislative assemblies are applicable to voluntary societies. What the member is speaking of sounds similar to the practice of "reading into the record."

In my experience, this is usually the source when members believe they can "read into the record," or "filibuster," or that a President can "veto" motions of the assembly. I suspect it may also be the source of the belief that certain motions require "three readings" before they can be put to a vote.