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

[Elizabeth Magill (pastorlizm]

Which leads to an interesting question.

How often do people look back at old minutes or "longhand notes"
and when they *do* look back, can they find what they were looking for?

-Liz
(The Rev. Dr.) Elizabeth Mae Magill
Pastor, Ashburnham Community Church
Minister to the Affiliates, Ecclesia Ministries
www.elizabethmaemagill.com
508-450-0431

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 9:31 PM Max Tite <maxtite [at] gmail.com> wrote:
>
> We have two documents per plenary meeting: a Minutes report and a Meeting
> Notes report.
>
> Minutes is the official record of the meeting; date, times, attendees
> (directors, Affiliates, guests), along with actual proposals and outcomes
> of any votes or decisions. Dissenting votes are recorded. The Minutes
> report is published to our Gather Wiki (our community documents repository)
> shortly after the meeting. It is read at the following month's meeting near
> the start of the meeting and is then formally approved by all. Rarely are
> changes brought forward, but this review serves as a good reminder of
> recent decisions and events.
>
> The Notes document is more of a longhand narrative of the meeting as it
> transpires. Monterey Cohousing was formed in 1992, so in a quaint tribute
> to the pre-digital age we still call these the Longhand Notes. It is not a
> word-for-word transcript of what was said at the meeting, nor is it
> considered an official record, but it does help to give color and
> historical reference to each meeting's content and discussions. People's
> stated reservations or comments about decisions may be recorded in the
> longhand notes.  Sometimes a person puts forward an idea that doesn't get
> taken up. We may record those ideas because sometimes we might want to come
> go back to them later.
>
> Various members volunteer to take down these records by signing up for the
> two tasks. In addition to the two meeting recorders, we have one or
> typically two facilitators, a timekeeper, and a stacker for discussion
> queues at each meeting.
>
> In preparation for each meeting, agendas are published in advance, with
> specific proposal language included for review well prior to the meeting.
>
> If discussion meetings about proposals are needed, a 4-day advance notice
> of the meeting day and time is required so people can plan to attend if
> they want to.
>
> Max Tite
> Monterey Cohousing Community
> Minneapolis Minnesota US
> texts to 626-MAX-TITE
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 9, 2022, 2:59 PM Muriel Kranowski <murielk [at] vt.edu> wrote:
>
> > I'm the primary minutes-taker for our plenary meetings. Near the top of the
> > minutes, below the date and the list of those attending, I always have a
> > "Meeting Summary" section that briefly lists each agenda item and (if it
> > required a decision) its outcome. Then you get "Meeting Details." I think,
> > if we adopt the idea of approving previous minutes, it could be useful for
> > the facilitator to read the Summary aloud as a reminder of what they're
> > approving.
> >
> > My greatest challenge with the minutes is deciding how much to include. It
> > seems worthwhile to say what the major points were in a discussion, but
> > there is definitely such a thing as too much detail. If I don't include the
> > gist of someone's comment that they think was just as important as what I
> > thought were the major points, or if I provide a very abbreviated version
> > of it and they want a fuller version of what they said, am I obliged to
> > revise the minutes when it comes down to their judgment vs mine? That's a
> > tough one for me.
> >    Muriel
> > _________________________________________________________________
> > Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> > http://L.cohousing.org/info
> >
> >
> >
> >
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://L.cohousing.org/info
>
>
>