Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: approval of plenary minutes

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

We send out our minutes, take corrections, send them again, and then
approve them at the next meeting.

We define a green card for this decision only to mean that you both
read the minutes, and were at the meeting (thus implying you think
they are accurate.)
We define a blue card for this decision only to mean that you accept
what is in the minutes.

We've never (I think) had any discussion or changes in the meeting,
they all happen before the call for consensus.
-Liz
(The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.elizabethmaemagill.com
508-450-0431

On Mon, Aug 8, 2022 at 9:31 PM Muriel Kranowski <murielk [at] vt.edu> wrote:
>
> I have a question about your practices regarding the minutes of your
> plenary (full-group) business meetings.
>
> In the 22 years that I've been part of my cohousing group, we've never done
> "can we approve the minutes of the last meeting" at the next meeting. The
> minutes-taker sends out the minutes,  and may (rarely) send out an updated
> version of it after being contacted by someone who had a problem with the
> minutes, and that's that.
>
> Now someone is saying this is not good practice and we should treat the
> minutes as a draft that is subject to revision and approval at the next
> plenary meeting. This is indeed standard practice on Boards of Directors
> I've been involved with, but it's always been a pro forma motion in the
> context of an organization that is much more Robert's-Rules-ish than we
> are.
>
> How do you handle this aspect of your governance? Do you approve (after
> possibly revising) the previous minutes at the next meeting before
> considering them final? If so, does that usually go pretty quickly or can
> it bog down the meeting or lead to disagreements about what to include? I
> can imagine some members wanting to wordsmith or add their preferred
> content if given the opportunity.
>
> Thanks -- I will appreciate your input!
>     Muriel @ Shadowlake Village
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