SGMP CHAPTER OPERATIONS2015

Secretary-The Chapter Secretary is responsible for creating and distributing the Minutes.-Meeting Minutes are a summary of decisions made and actions to be taken.-Minutes should mainly contain a record of what was done at the meeting, not a play-by-play account of what was said by each member.-A transcription of what was said at a meeting is called “proceedings” and is quite different from minutes.

Secretary-Names should never be included with motions or votes.-Decisions are made as board decisions and need not have individual names attributed to them. The Board speaks as one voice.-Vote counts should never be included with motions or votes.No action/vote is to be taken on the Treasurer’s Report

Secretary- Abstentions should not be noted unless specifically requested by that member.Distribute Minutes while the iron is hot (and while the memory is strong).-Draft Minutes should be distributed first to the presiding officer for their review before they are distributed to the entire board. The first draft of Minutes should occur within one week of the meeting.

Secretary-Suggested revisions to the Minutes should occur within one week of the distribution of the minutes.-Approval of the draft Minutes can be done prior to the next meeting, or at the very latest, at the start of the next meeting.-Minutes are approved by majority vote.-Draft Minutes can generally be considered operational after a revised version isdistributed following the one week review period.

Secretary-The heading of the draft Minutes should be updated every time a revision has been made (with Draft 1” becoming “Draft 2” for example).-Upon formal approval of the Minutes, the heading of the final Minutes should be updated as either “Approved as Submitted” or “Approved as Corrected”.-The date and location of the meeting should always be shown

SecretaryAdditional Heading Information ––Each member present should be listed and state if a quorum was present.–If any member is absent it should be shown and it should also say whether the absence is excused or unexcused.–If any others are present at the meeting it should benoted under “Others Present”.-The time the meeting is called to order should be shown after the roll and the time the meeting adjourns.

Secretary

-The Consent Agenda is a time-saving tool whereby agenda items that are routine and/or noncontroversial, but do merit inclusion, but not necessarily discussion may be handled appropriately and expeditiously. For example, the Membership Report, Treasurer’s Report, and Communications Report.-The Consent Agenda is placed after the Call to Order and confirmation of quorum.

Secretary-Underneath the “Consent Agenda” heading, each item included should be listed and described individually.-At the time that the Consent Agenda is addressed, the presiding officer should ask for a motion to accept the Consent Agenda.-without any objection by any voting member, all items listed there are to be considered in gross and without debate or amendment.

Secretary-with any objection on any item by any voting member, any item(s) within the Consent Agenda may be removed and restored as an agenda item(s) where appropriate under Reports, Unfinished Business or New Business.-no second is required for such an objection-no discussion should occur on the removed item at that time.

Secretary-as many objections may be made by as many voting members who wish to make them.-a motion to approve the Consent Agenda, as it has now been revised, should then be accepted and addressed.-the meeting then proceeds to Reports.-It is a good practice to have whoever is submitting an agenda item request that the presiding officer place that item within the Consent Agenda, if they wish.

Secretary-An “FYI” report or update with no recommendation(s) for action may be included in the Consent Agenda.-A report that includes a recommendation(s) for approval by vote may be included in the Consent Agenda (without objection, that report is accepted and approved as it was presented).

SecretaryExample from National Board Meeting Agenda

1 - Call to Order

A Read the mission statementB Read the member bill of rights

C Confirm quorum

2 - Consent Agenda *VOTE*

A Gilmer Institute of Learning Report (Coffman/Preddy) B Executive Director Report (Bergeron) C Treasurer Report (Sterenson)D Membership Report (Kilpatrick & Lynton)E Communications Report (McGowan & Deloney)F 2014 NEC Task Force Report (Blanding)

Secretary-There is nothing more important to note or useful to review than the actual votes taken/decisions made.-This itemized section is always placed at the top of the minutes.-It is also important to clearly note important items for which no decision was made.

Secretary-If the board votes to go into Executive Session it should be noted at what time you went into Executive Session and what time you came out of Executive Session. There should be no mention of what was discussed in Executive Session.

Secretary-The Action item/Delegated Tasks section serves as the follow-up action list.-For every decision made, there is normally at least one task and all tasks should include the who, the what, and by when. It is helpful if the name(s) of the person(s) responsible is shown.-Items should be listed in chronological order by each item’s deadline.

Secretary

-The Action Items section may be maintained and monitored separately from the meeting minutes.

Secretary-Reports/Announcements/Discussion-This section notes other items from the meeting that did not result in a decision or task.-There is more flexibility in this section than the others.-You may use “[specific name] noted” or “it was noted” here.

Secretary-The name and subject of a guest speaker should be included here, but no effort should be made to summarize those remarks.-This section is not to be used as a chronological and attributed account of all discussions.

Secretary-Sample Minutes can be found on the SGMP website on the Chapter Board section under Chapter Board Member Tools.