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.

Approving the Minutes

Q. What is the proper procedure for approving the minutes?

In Robert's In Brief on page 14, you will see the correct procedure for handling the minutes.

This motion and the motion to adjourn are so routine, that they are best done by unanimous consent. Robert's recognizes that the normal steps -- move, second, state the question -- are not necessary. Simply have the chair say: "Are there any corrections to the minutes? . . . If there are no corrections, the minutes are approved." If no one objects to this, the minutes have been adopted by unanimous consent.

You are doing the right thing for your organization by learning more about procedure. Remember that the rules exist to help the assembly, not to burden it.

Who Can Move to Approve Minutes?

Q. Can a person move to approve the minutes of the previous meeting even though he was not in attendance at the previous meeting?


Yes. Any person may move, second, or correct the minutes and may vote to approve them. To formally move approval of the minutes means that the maker of the motion has either reviewed the secretary's draft and feels that it is in decent form for approval or trusts the secretary's ability to draft the minutes. It is so routine a question that it is best done by unanimous consent, rather than a formal motion. Seconding simply means that the person wishes to consider the approval of the minutes, but then who wouldn't be in favor of considering and approving the minutes? Again, it is so routine that seconds should not even be required. One doesn't have to have attended the meeting to make a correction. The name of a member mentioned in the minutes might be misspelled and the person who was not in attendance is as capable as anyone to correct such things.

As for voting to approve the minutes, all members should be allowed to do so, even though they may not have attended the previous meeting. Minutes are a legal statement of actions taken. The principle at play here is that an organization, and especially a corporation, speaks through its minutes. If your organization ever finds itself in court, the first question the judge may ask is to see a copy of the minutes. Every member should have a say so in something that important.