Who owns board notes?

The minutes are the record, not your notebook

Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, the parliamentary authority most associations adopt by reference in their bylaws, treats minutes as a record of what a body did, not what its members said. The secretary drafts the minutes and the board approves them. Whatever you personally scribble on your agenda, in a laptop file, or on a legal pad during the meeting is a memory aid, not the official record.

"Minutes are a record of what was done at a meeting, not a record of what was said."

Source: Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, Frequently Asked Questions, The Robert's Rules Association

Where "yours" stops and "the association's" starts

Not every document a director creates while doing board work counts as something an owner can demand. Practitioners who work this area say plainly that not all documentation an association holds is a record subject to inspection, but they do not spell out exactly where a director's private notes stop and the official record begins.

"Not all documentation that the HOA may have constitutes a 'record' that is subject to inspection by a member."

Source: Inspection and Copying of Association Records, Tinnelly Law Group HOA Law Blog

Some states define the inspectable category by statute, for example one state's civil code lists specific categories such as meeting minutes by name. Ask your manager or association attorney whether your state draws that list narrowly or broadly, and whether your bylaws add anything to it.

What you hand over when you leave the board

When a director's term ends, files sitting in a personal drawer do not automatically stay personal. One state's condominium statute states outgoing board members must turn over association records and property to the incoming board within a set number of days of the election. That state's homeowners' association statute does not repeat the same language, so practitioners treat it as guidance from a neighboring law rather than a confirmed rule for HOAs specifically.

"An outgoing board or committee member must relinquish all Official Records and property of the association in his or her possession or under his or her control to the incoming board within 5 days after the election."

Source: Former Board Members Must Turn Over Association Files, Clayton & McCulloh

Check your own state's HOA statute and your bylaws for a records handoff requirement before you assume you can keep, or must surrender, what you personally wrote.