Secretary and records responsibilities
Know exactly what the secretary must keep on file, and why it matters when someone asks.
The HOA secretary is the board's official recordkeeper. Robert's Rules calls the secretary "the recording officer of the assembly and the custodian of it's records except such as are specifically assigned to others," covering minutes, the membership roll, governing documents, and election materials, so future boards and homeowners can find out what actually happened.
What the secretary keeps
Under Robert's Rules, the secretary is the recording officer of the assembly and the default custodian of its records, except any records the bylaws specifically hand to someone else, such as financial records, which typically sit with the treasurer.
"The secretary is the recording officer of the assembly and the custodian of it's records except such as are specifically assigned to others."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Ch. XI, "The Officers and the Minutes", public domain text hosted by Westside Toastmasters
In practice this means minutes from every meeting, the membership roll, the governing documents (articles, declaration, bylaws), board policies, and election materials. Whether Robert's Rules governs your board at all is a bylaws question first: many HOA bylaws adopt Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised by name, some name a different authority, and some name none, so check your own bylaws before assuming it applies.
Why the paper trail matters
The secretary's records are not paperwork for its own sake. A practitioner guide to the role describes the secretary as holding "the custodian of the association's official memory," and explains why that framing matters in practice.
"If a future board, homeowner, auditor, manager, or attorney needs to know what happened, the record should answer the question without guesswork."
Source: The Board Member Secretary: An HOA & COA Governance Guide, Access Management Group
That is the test worth applying to any record the secretary keeps: could someone with no memory of the meeting read it and know what was decided, by whom, and when? For a fuller picture of the role beyond recordkeeping, see What does the secretary do?
What varies by state
Two questions come up constantly and neither has a single national answer. How long the secretary must keep a given category of record (minutes, financials, election materials) is set by your state's records statute, not by Robert's Rules, and it can differ by record type. How quickly the secretary must respond when a homeowner requests to inspect the association's records is also a state statute question, and the deadline is not the same everywhere. Look up your own state's nonprofit corporation or HOA statute, and check your bylaws for anything stricter.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
A homeowner emails asking what happened at last month's board meeting. What should the secretary point them to?
The board adopts a new rule mid meeting. Whose job is it to preserve that decision as part of the association's official record?
A homeowner asks how many years the secretary must keep old election materials. What should the secretary do?
- Robert's Rules of Order Revised, Ch. XI, "The Officers and the Minutes", public domain text hosted by Westside Toastmasters
- The Board Member Secretary: An HOA & COA Governance Guide, Access Management Group
Related elsewhere in the Academy
Board Roles
Next up: see how the secretary's minutes tie into filling a board vacancy or appointing new officers.
How long the secretary must keep each type of record, and how fast the secretary must respond to a homeowner's request to inspect them, vary by state statute and by your bylaws.