board member distributes non-approved minutes prior to board meeting

Started by LynnR5 • 2 replies • 1569 views

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LynnR5 (Oregon)
Posts: 12

Posted:

Our office manager prepares and delivers the packets for each board member the day before the board meeting. These packets include the agenda, the minutes from the last board meeting, financial reports and any other pertinent items such as notes or recommendations from the ARC committee. Some of this information is intended only for the board..e.g. a member complaint about another member, etc. Our board meeting was today.

Three of our board members had their own meeting with a select group of members last night before the board meeting - to plan their strategies for the next day (their goal is to recall the remaining 4 board members and run the show).

At the board meeting today, the 3 board members had either made copies of their packets themselves or allowed a member at their meeting last night to make copies and distribute them (including the non-approved minutes from the last board meeting) to all the members present at the board meeting.

Is this legitimate??

Where would I find the rules on something like this?

Thanks for your advice!

RobertR1 (South Carolina)
Posts: 5,164

Posted:

Well Lynn,
I would say it is inappropriate behavior but unless there is something in your documents about it, it is probably not something you want to go to court about.
Again, it is inappropriate and should be noted in the Board minutes.

Until the minutes are approved they are just that, a draft and carries no legal weight.

It strikes me that you also have a bigger problem on your agenda. How you are privy to all this information is probably second hand and don't mean a lot. I am referring to three members getting together and discussing board business, which probably means you are a seven member board which probably means your adversary has some knowledge of the documents. I think you all should have gotten this on the table at the meeting of what and why things are as they are. You apparently have picked up sides and now no one is representing the association, which by the way is the mandate of the Board. We, on this site can't pick sides on such scant info, and my opinion is you ALL better look to the health of your association and get this resolved, it is not what they want or what you want, it is what the association demands.

TimB4 (Tennessee)
Posts: 21,059

Posted:

Lynn,

I have to agree that it could be inappropriate but it certainly isn't illegal. Once you tell someone something, you have no real way to prevent them from telling someone else.

In VA anyone who had attended the meeting would have received a copy of everything anyway (State law). This is why we only discuss member issues without disclosing who the member is. If your State or Association has open meeting requirements, anyone attending the open portion of the meeting would have had access to it anyway.

I also wouldn't sweat the minutes issue. How often are the draft minutes not approved? Are there major changes to them or only minor ones? I understand the principal of the issue, but I'm not really sure it's an issue to get hung up on.

If the Board is concerned of sensitive info being released ahead of the meeting, don't release it until the meeting or don't release it with the sensitive info still attached. Granted, meetings might take longer but that is the only real way to protect the information.

Tim

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