Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: meeting minutes

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Sep 11, 2015, at 12:52 PM, Malcom Eva <malcolm [at] m-eva.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> At Springhill (UK) we made a decision early on that minutes would be regarded 
> as a legal document, and therefore record ONLY decisions made. 

In the DC our lawyer has told us that all these documents are legal documents. 
Whatever the secretary writes down becomes part of the official record of the 
association and its members, and can be used in court as evidence. 

That’s one reason everyone should read and correct the minutes, not only for 
their own comments or whatever but for other possible problems as well.

But people continue to want an informal record of the social life of the 
community. Much of it takes place or is discussed or announced in meetings.

One option might be to write a record of the meeting that everyone receives and 
then pull from that a formal set of minutes that is the “business” of the 
meeting. That way the social purposes are preserved but don’t become an 
approved record of events.

The secretary is supposed to sign the minutes to affirm that they are accurate 
and approved by the association. 

One asks, of course, is this really necessary? We have a member who does 
big-time security for companies he doesn’t reveal. When I asked him about one 
of our security issues that I thought was being taken too seriously, he said, 
"After it happens, it will keep happening.” 

So we can coast on these issues but as cohousing communities grow larger and 
become larger financial commitments, these issues will become more important. 
Is anyone going around inspecting cohousing communities? No, but one unhappy 
resident can cause a lot of problems. It could even be a renter or a resident’s 
relative. When someone dies, you may suddenly be dealing with people you’ve 
never met who view you as a strictly as business, and even one that has taken 
advantage of their loved one.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Sociocracy: A Deeper Democracy
http://www.sociocracy.info