Quote:
Posted By DianaE on 04/18/2013 9:34 AM
Does a board member approve minutes that he did not attend, or should he abstain form giving approval? If the entire board is new, than they are approving that which they did not hear or participate in?
If you are following accepted parliamentary procedure, such as Roberts Rules, the approval of the minutes is not done by a formal vote. A complete description of the process for reading and "approval" of the minutes is given on pages 354 and 355 of the 11th edition. Although it is too much to quote completely, here is a summary about what Roberts has to say on the subject:
1. If the minutes have been previously distributed to the members, the president may make note of that fact and state that the reading of the minutes will be dispensed with unless any member objects.
2. A formal motion to approve the minutes is not necessary, although such a motion is not out of order.
3. The president asks is there are any corrections to the minutes. Obviously, only members who were in attendance at the prior meeting can offer any corrections. Corrections are handled by unanimous consent
4. After it is apparent that there are no corrections, or after all corrections have been made, the president simply announces that the minutes are approved as read, or submitted, or as corrected, whatever the case may be.
5. The only way to object to the minutes is to offer a correction to them. (Line 7, page 355)
6. The minutes are approved without any formal vote, even if a motion for their approval has been made. (Lines 5 and 6, page 355)
Thus, if no formal vote is required to approve the minutes, the concept of abstaining is meaningless.