EBMG: Documents

THE BIG PICTURE

Look at the minutes. It can be a very revealing experience.Some minutes cover who voted on what, as well as off-topic conversations. You must always remember that minutes are actually a legal document, they can be used for exploratory purposes in lawsuits and discovery, and are read by potential apartment purchasers.

BE SMART

We always recommend that minutes be bare-boned, and by bare-boned I mean just who’s present at the time that the meeting started and ended, any motions that were made, and voting results. Anything else is considered fluff and shouldn’t be in there.

Fluff leaves the board open to possible legal action down the road. So you want to protect yourself. It’s one thing to have transparency but it’s quite another to record what went on in a legal manner. As for minutes, less information is better. They should be reserved simply for motions that were made, seconded, and approved, or even motions that were made and not approved, so that we can know what is moving forward in the building and what isn’t. Anything else, you’re leaving yourself open to liability.