Academy/Minutes & Official Records
Recording motions
A motion made at a board meeting has a specific, narrow record it leaves behind. Here is exactly what belongs in that entry.
When you record a motion in the minutes, write the motion's exact wording, name the member who made it, and state only whether it was adopted or lost. Don't name the seconder, and don't summarize what anyone said about it; minutes record what the board did, not what it discussed.
What the record of a motion must include
Minutes open by naming the kind of meeting held and confirming who presided. From there, each main motion gets its own entry: the motion's wording, whether it was adopted or lost, and the name of the member who made it.
That last detail surprises a lot of new secretaries: the seconder is not named in the minutes. A motion needs a second to be considered, but once that happens, the second has done its job and drops out of the record.
What the minutes leave out
Minutes are not a transcript. They record what the board did, not what any director said to get there. A secretary who tries to capture the back and forth of debate is not being thorough, they are doing something the board's own parliamentary authority treats as a mistake.
"Not only is it not necessary to summarize matters discussed at a meeting in the minutes of that meeting, it is improper to do so."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association
So the entry for a motion never includes who argued for or against it, a paraphrase of the discussion, or anyone's opinion. Just the motion, its maker, and its outcome.
Recording the outcome, not the count
Once a motion is voted on, the default entry is just the result.
"The motion was adopted."
Source: Recording votes in meeting minutes, Jurassic Parliament
That single line is the whole vote record for an ordinary motion. A specific count, a list of who voted which way, or a ballot tally only appears when the board specifically ordered a count, took a ballot vote, or voted by roll call. If your board's own rules or bylaws require a recorded count for certain kinds of motions, follow that rule instead. For the full mechanics of recording a vote itself, see the next lesson.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
Two directors spend ten minutes debating whether to hire a new landscaper before the board votes. What should the minutes record about that discussion?
A director seconds a motion to approve the reserve study contract. How should the seconder's name appear in the minutes?
A motion passes on a simple voice vote and nobody calls for a count. What does the record of the vote look like?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association
- Recording votes in meeting minutes, Jurassic Parliament
Minutes & Official Records
Once you can record a motion, the next step is recording the vote that followed it: see Recording votes.
The parliamentary authority your association actually follows, and any bylaw rule about what a motion record must include, can differ from Robert's Rules of Order. Check your bylaws to see which authority governs and what your board has already agreed to require in the minutes.