Minutes

[Guest Rlk710]

Under the Rules, if there is no quorum present, and therefore no meeting, are minutes required?

[hmtcastle]

Under the Rules, if there is no quorum present, and therefore no meeting, are minutes required?

Ah, but there was a meeting. That's how you knew there wasn't a quorum.

So minutes are prepared as usual. Though they're likely to be brief.

[Guest Rlk710]

Is there a particular rule on this point? Seems that if a quorum is required to hold a meeting, failure to achieve it means no meeting occurs. Without a meeting, no minutes.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Under the Rules, if there is no quorum present, and therefore no meeting, are minutes required?

Two answers:

• Yes, if someone did convene the meeting.

• No, if no one ever convened the meeting.

If nothing else, you don't need a quorum to:

(a.) convene the meeting.

(b.) adjourn the meeting.

(c.) arrange a day and hour to continue the meeting (and hope to rally the absent troops so that the quorum is satisfied). -- See the motion, FIX THE TIME TO WHICH TO ADJOURN.

Without a quorum, there isn't much else to do.

But you do record the fact that of convening/adjourning, assuming the president or the chair pro tem actually does convene the meeting.

Contrari-wise, if the hour to start the meeting comes and goes without anyone saying anything, and everybody silently goes home, then, of course, there is no meeting which convened nor adjourned, and consequently, no minutes are to be taken. -- There truly was no meeting.

[Josh Martin]

Seems that if a quorum is required to hold a meeting, failure to achieve it means no meeting occurs. Without a meeting, no minutes.

Your reasoning is based on a flawed premise. Quorum is not required to hold a meeting, it is only required to conduct any business at a meeting (except for a very small category of procedural motions). An inquorate meeting still counts for purposes of holding a meeting required under the Bylaws. Minutes must still be taken, although they are likely to be very brief.

[George Mervosh]

Is there a particular rule on this point? Seems that if a quorum is required to hold a meeting, failure to achieve it means no meeting occurs. Without a meeting, no minutes.

Yes there is: "PROCEEDINGS IN THE ABSENCE OF A QUORUM. In the absence of a quorum, any business transacted (except for the procedural actions noted in the next paragraph) is null and void. But if a quorum fails to appear at a regular or properly called meeting, the inability to transact business does not detract from the fact that the society's rules requiring the meeting to be held were complied with and the meeting was convened-even though it had to adjourn immediately." RONR, p. 336