Terse Minutes

Q: Our President demanded that our Secretary limit the minutes of a meeting, only including all actions taken, motions and votes, absolutely no discussions were allowed to be in the minutes, the meeting took two hours and the minutes will take about five minutes. This leave most of us in the dark regarding certain things that are in the process, a new sign, a new directory, etc. Can she do that?

Yes, she can and she should. According to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, the minutes" should contain mainly a record of what was done at the meeting, not what was said by the members" (p. 451).

Essentially, minutes should include motions made and actions taken on those motions. If things are in process, there should be a motion tied to that process. For example, "Resolved, that we purchase a new sign." This motion can be postponed to the next meeting or referred to a committee, if the organization wishes to continue consideration. A postponed motion should be treated as a General Order for the next meeting and taken up before New Business. A committee can report back its recommendations when it is ready, and this would be taken up under Reports of Committees. If your organization is discussing matters without a motion pending, it needs to initiate all new items of business with a formally introduced main motion. The disposition of all main motions must be recorded in the minutes and tracked from meeting to meeting (through the use of committee reports and general orders).

I hope this helps.