Q&A

Reading minutes for approval

Our new president decided on her own that she was going to "shorten" the minutes read from the previous months' meeting. She stated that it took to long to read all that "happened" at the last meeting and takes too much time. She had stated that if we wanted the full minutes we could read them on the website which as of yet there has been none posted. I feel this is in violation of our bylaws. Am I correct.
- CC3

It sounds like the problem might actually be the minutes themselves. Minutes should be a record of what was decided, not a recap of the discussion on various topics. Reading the minutes shouldn't take more than a minute or two. It's OK to dispense with the reading of the minutes, but it requires a motion and a vote. I also think it's OK, if you want to keep detailed minutes for reference, to prepare a shortened version for meetings (just the decisions), but that should probably be done on a more formal basis than the president picking and choosing what to read. You might refer your secretary to the article How To Take Meeting Minutes for a refresher on what goes into minutes and how to structure them.
- Craig
Links in this post:

How To Take Meeting Minutes: https:/classic.ptotoday.com//pto-today-articles/article/1029-how-to-take-meeting-minutes