Afternoon Quickie: Minutes of Meetings

It is approaching AGM season so I thought that I would write a few short posts answering some of the most common questions that I receive about AGMs. Today I'm going to tackle the minutes of the meeting. Q: When do the minutes become an official record of what happened at the meeting? A: Only after the minutes have been approved at a meeting. Draft minutes may be available before they are approved, but they do not become an official record of what happened at the meeting until they are approved at a subsequent meeting. Q: How much information needs to be in the minutes? A: The minutes are not intended to act as a play-by-play for those who missed the meeting. The minutes are intended to record the actions taken or decisions made, not a record of who said what. Q: Who should take the minutes? A: The by-laws ordinarily say that the secretary takes the minutes. Practically speaking it is normally the property manager or a recording secretary hired specifically to record the minutes.