Approve Regular Meeting Minutes at Annual Meeting?

We have regular monthly board meetings as well as our annual member meeting.

RONR (11th ed.), pp. 94-95, ll. 34-3 state that the previous board meeting's minutes should be approved at the annual meeting and the annual meeting minutes should be approved at the next board meeting.

I get why the annual meeting minutes are to be approved at the next board meeting and since it is the board approving them, they should have been and mostly were at the annual meeting.

What I'm being asked is: How can the non-board members at the annual meeting approve the previous board meeting's minutes when they weren't there?

They can't verify the record of what happened and there won't be enough votes if only the board members vote to approve them. What do I tell the members to convince them they should be voting to approve the previous board meeting's minutes? If I tell them we should dispose of the minutes and let the board vote on them at the next board meeting, why does RONR say they should be approved at the annual meeting?

Yes, we are required to follow Roberts Rules of Order by our Bylaws (not that we have in the past, like many organizations).

One good reason the board should approve the annual meeting minutes at the next board meeting is so an approved and legal record of the meeting is made shortly after the meeting closes but before memories of what occurred in the meeting fade (which has been a major issue when the secretary waits until just before the following annual meeting to try and put together the minutes). The minutes can always be amended later and I plan to have them presented as part of the following year's annual report.

While I may be able to convince them to let the board approve the annual meeting minutes, I think you are right in that having them approve the board meeting's minutes doesn't pass the common sense test.

Personally, I think the board meeting minutes should just be approved at the next board meeting after the annual meeting along with the annual meeting's minutes. To do this procedurally would require something in the bylaws or making a motion at each annual meeting to dispense with reading of the board meeting minutes at the annual meeting.

Well, there is nothing written in our rules at all about when minutes should be approved or by whom. Because we adopt RONR, I'm trying to get us to follow RONR and avoid situations where annual meeting minutes aren't even written until a year later and nobody can really remember what happened except by looking at that meeting's agenda (and probably just assuming).

RONR (11th ed.), pp. 94-95, ll. 34-3 is pretty clear, but approving the board meeting's minutes at the annual meeting seems to not have a good reason like the reverse has.

(btw, thanks all for responding and helping us work this out.)

For my HOA: At the AMOM, only the board approves the previous board meeting's minutes. Also at the AMOM, the entire membership approves the previous year's minutes for the AMOM.

"RONR (11th ed.), pp. 94-95, ll. 34-3 state that the previous board meeting's minutes should be approved at the annual meeting and the annual meeting minutes should be approved at the next board meeting.'

Yes, I have seen this done (when I attended an annual meeting of a large historical society)

I asked why and they just said RONR says so.

Since the "annual meeting" is NOT a board meeting, I just found it confusing.

There is an RONR web site that will answer questions. Just Google RONR Forum and it comes up.