March 2021
While it is generally acknowledged that minutes are to be maintained for condo board meetings, many board members and residents fail to recognize they are to be impartial.
Minutes are a summary record of business conducted at a board meeting including decisions made by the board. Care should be taken to ensure they remain impartial regardless of any conflict or disagreement that arises at a meeting.
Meeting Minutes Should Include, in the Condo Archives, describes what information should be contained in these records.
Care should be taken to avoid compromising the impartiality of condo board meeting minutes.
- Meeting minutes are not a transcript or detailing of what is said to whom.
- Disclosures made by a director of a conflict of interest are to be recorded. Any director making this disclosure is not permitted to vote on matters relating to the conflict nor are they permitted to be present during the related discussion. Minutes should reflect that a director did leave the room during any such discussion and vote.
- Minutes should reflect resolutions voted on by the board and final votes. Individual votes need are not recorded unless a director specifically requests their opposing vote be noted. Directors abstaining from a vote should be noted.
- Advice or opinions of legal counsel should not be disclosed. Minutes can note that a resolution was voted on after discussion with or advice from legal counsel.
- Defamatory statements made at a meeting about any person should not be recorded.
To avoid controversy or conflict, recording of minutes may be outsourced to a third party. Should disputes arise at a future date, this impartiality may be necessary to support their accuracy.
