Bob Armstrong
01-30-2011, 12:33 AM
On-line Meeting " Minutes "
The On-line Meeting Procedures in section 22A of the Handbook, contemplate two very different sets of documents with respect to the content of the debate that occurs at the meeting.
1. The " Summaries "
From the Procedures:
4. Agenda Item Summary
At 9:00 AM on the 6th, or as soon thereafter as possible, the President, or the Posting Secretary if asked by the President, will post a summary of the agenda item discussion, setting out the critical points and the majority view, if any, on any controversial issue. S/he will propose what action might be taken on the agenda item, if any, in his/her opinion. Governors will have until 9:00 PM on the 7th to respond to the President’s Summary,. Whether the President or Posting Secretary summarizes discussions during a meeting extension is optional.
The purpose of this section is that during the meeting, the President/Posting Secretary will pull together all the disparate comments in an agenda thread and determine what if any action might be taken. All the governors know the postings, and there is no need for the President/Posting Secretary to reproduce them. It is during the meeting, and the drafter of the Summaries does not have a lot of time to prepare them. So of necessity, they are short. All that is required for the governors is a " truncated summary " of the main debate points, and the possible action.
These were prepared during the 2010 Spring and Fall Meetings on the morning of the 6th day, and governors then had 2 days during the meeting to comment on them.
For some reason this was not done at the 2011 Winter Meeting. The President has advised that they will be done shortly, however, though the meeting has now closed. I assume they will be posted on the Governors' Discussion Board ( or the Special Forum if it has not been archived yet ), so that governors may still raise comments, objections, etc. re the " summaries "
These summaries are to assist the governors in their meeting. They are not meant to satisfy the needs of the CFC to be transparent and to inform members/public of the proceedings.
2. The " Minutes "
From the Handbook:
6. Meeting Minutes
Within 7 days of the close of the meeting, the Secretary shall prepare the Minutes of the governors’ meeting, and they shall be posted on the Governors’ Discussion Board, to allow for any corrections to be raised. Notice by e-mail shall be sent to all governors once the Minutes are Posted. Governors shall have 3 days to post corrections or e-mail them to the Posting Secretary.
7. Governors’ Letters
After 3 days, the Minutes, as corrected if necessary, shall then be immediately published in a Governors’ Letter, to be posted immediately on the CFC Website. This may be combined with any other content the CFC Secretary wishes to publish at the same time. .....
These are a different document than the " Summaries ". These are to be a complete record of the meeting, similar to the Minutes produced for an AGM. These fulfill the obligation of the CFC to be transparent, and to disclose to the members/public the content of the meeting.
These are prepared by the Posting Secretary AFTER the meeting, when he has more time to do the fully detailed minutes. These are what are to be published eventually in the GL, so that all members' can access the full meeting.
3. The Problem
The distinction between the Procedures " Summaries " and " MInutes " has been lost.
This occurred because the original 2010 Spring Meeting was only a " trial " meeting at the time, before the proposed Procedures had been passed. All motions at that meeting were therefore only straw votes - all motions came on for vote at the July AGM. Since it was only a trial meeting, I , who prepared the Summaries during the meeting, used these summaries to satisfy the Procedures' requirement for " Minutes ". No actual " Minutes " were prepared. It was the " Summaries " that eventually got published on the CFC Website , under the list for Governors' Letters, as if they were the " Minutes ".
At the 2010 Fall Meeting, the Posting Secretary position was split between myself as administrator, for the first part of the meeting, and the CFC Secretary, Lyle Craver, as the " summarizer " duriing the latter part of the meeting. Lyle duly prepared the " Summaries " for the morning of the 6th day, and governors commented.
Then came the problem - I forgot to tell Lyle, that he also had to, AFTER the meeting, prepare the " Minutes ". The intention of the Procedures was that the " Summaries " would give a good leg up in drafting the " Minutes " - they could be used as a basic framework, and the drafter would then go back and flesh them out with all the particulars and details of the meeting, to create the " Minutes ". So Lyle, not realizing the demands of the Meeting Procedures either, also went ahead, like for the 2010 Spring Meeting, and published in the next GL, the " Summaries " as if they were the " Minutes ".
Clearly these " Summaries " do not satisfy any normal procedural definition of " Minutes of a Meeting ". They do not name those proposing any ideas, they collapse lots of debate ideas into one sanitized point, etc.. They do not satisfy the s. 22A On-line Meeting Procedure section on " Minutes ".
4. Proposal
It seems to me that now that the distinction between " Summaries " and " Minutes " in the procedures has been clarified, CFC Secretary, Lyle Craver, now has to produce both " Summaries ", for the governors to comment on, and to try to determine courses of action on the various agenda items AND " Minutes " which are to be published in the GL for the members/public.
However, it seems to me that I, as drafter of the Procedures, had not anticipated that there would be a significant difference in trying to draft AGM minutes, re in person debate, and On-line Meeting MInutes, with a plethora of threads. I see the latter as a much more onerous task.
I therefore propose that the requirement of " Minutes " under the Meeting Procedures, be satisfied by the CFC, by , after a meeting, making the confidential forum of the meeting, public ( with the deletion of any " confidential material " and a note this was done ). This would be a comprehensive compliance with the " Minutes " requirement, since CFC would effectively be providing a full " transcript " of the meeting - with every governor who spoke identified as to his/her exact contribution.
I apologize to the governors that I did not realize that this had slipped by me until now. I realized it I think, because of the Motion 2011-F debate we had had in the 2011 Winter Meeting about opening the meeting to the public, and the secondary issue of how much meeting content CFC had to disclose to be " transparent ". I was vaguely aware I think, that I initially in drafting, had wanted a pretty full disclosure of the meeting. I then re-read the rules, and realized the discord between the section on " Summaries " and the section on " Minutes ". The initial intention in the Meeting Procedures had been for CFC to provide a very high degree of transparency, as in the AGM, with full " Minutes ".
Now that the issue has been outed, CFC must deal with it, and comply with the rules we passed in the 2010 AGM.
Recent Developments
1. I have now been advised that a majority of the executive have rejected my proposal to open the meeting forum to the public, as " Minutes of the Meeting ". So it is now up to the govenors to debate and determine whether they wish to bring a motion to try to implement my proposal.
2. The President has advised that the " Summaries " will be done in due course. They will initially form part of the record of the confidential meeting, for govenors to comment on them, before they are finalized ( to the best of my knowledge ).
3. It is unclear if the Posting Secretary, Lyle Craver, will also be drafting full " MInutes of the Meeting ", to be published in the next GL. Or is it the executive intention to publish only the " Summaries ", and to ignore the Handbook requirement for " Minutes "?
Course of Action ?
What do you think the Executive and Governors should now do on this issue?
Bob A
The On-line Meeting Procedures in section 22A of the Handbook, contemplate two very different sets of documents with respect to the content of the debate that occurs at the meeting.
1. The " Summaries "
From the Procedures:
4. Agenda Item Summary
At 9:00 AM on the 6th, or as soon thereafter as possible, the President, or the Posting Secretary if asked by the President, will post a summary of the agenda item discussion, setting out the critical points and the majority view, if any, on any controversial issue. S/he will propose what action might be taken on the agenda item, if any, in his/her opinion. Governors will have until 9:00 PM on the 7th to respond to the President’s Summary,. Whether the President or Posting Secretary summarizes discussions during a meeting extension is optional.
The purpose of this section is that during the meeting, the President/Posting Secretary will pull together all the disparate comments in an agenda thread and determine what if any action might be taken. All the governors know the postings, and there is no need for the President/Posting Secretary to reproduce them. It is during the meeting, and the drafter of the Summaries does not have a lot of time to prepare them. So of necessity, they are short. All that is required for the governors is a " truncated summary " of the main debate points, and the possible action.
These were prepared during the 2010 Spring and Fall Meetings on the morning of the 6th day, and governors then had 2 days during the meeting to comment on them.
For some reason this was not done at the 2011 Winter Meeting. The President has advised that they will be done shortly, however, though the meeting has now closed. I assume they will be posted on the Governors' Discussion Board ( or the Special Forum if it has not been archived yet ), so that governors may still raise comments, objections, etc. re the " summaries "
These summaries are to assist the governors in their meeting. They are not meant to satisfy the needs of the CFC to be transparent and to inform members/public of the proceedings.
2. The " Minutes "
From the Handbook:
6. Meeting Minutes
Within 7 days of the close of the meeting, the Secretary shall prepare the Minutes of the governors’ meeting, and they shall be posted on the Governors’ Discussion Board, to allow for any corrections to be raised. Notice by e-mail shall be sent to all governors once the Minutes are Posted. Governors shall have 3 days to post corrections or e-mail them to the Posting Secretary.
7. Governors’ Letters
After 3 days, the Minutes, as corrected if necessary, shall then be immediately published in a Governors’ Letter, to be posted immediately on the CFC Website. This may be combined with any other content the CFC Secretary wishes to publish at the same time. .....
These are a different document than the " Summaries ". These are to be a complete record of the meeting, similar to the Minutes produced for an AGM. These fulfill the obligation of the CFC to be transparent, and to disclose to the members/public the content of the meeting.
These are prepared by the Posting Secretary AFTER the meeting, when he has more time to do the fully detailed minutes. These are what are to be published eventually in the GL, so that all members' can access the full meeting.
3. The Problem
The distinction between the Procedures " Summaries " and " MInutes " has been lost.
This occurred because the original 2010 Spring Meeting was only a " trial " meeting at the time, before the proposed Procedures had been passed. All motions at that meeting were therefore only straw votes - all motions came on for vote at the July AGM. Since it was only a trial meeting, I , who prepared the Summaries during the meeting, used these summaries to satisfy the Procedures' requirement for " Minutes ". No actual " Minutes " were prepared. It was the " Summaries " that eventually got published on the CFC Website , under the list for Governors' Letters, as if they were the " Minutes ".
At the 2010 Fall Meeting, the Posting Secretary position was split between myself as administrator, for the first part of the meeting, and the CFC Secretary, Lyle Craver, as the " summarizer " duriing the latter part of the meeting. Lyle duly prepared the " Summaries " for the morning of the 6th day, and governors commented.
Then came the problem - I forgot to tell Lyle, that he also had to, AFTER the meeting, prepare the " Minutes ". The intention of the Procedures was that the " Summaries " would give a good leg up in drafting the " Minutes " - they could be used as a basic framework, and the drafter would then go back and flesh them out with all the particulars and details of the meeting, to create the " Minutes ". So Lyle, not realizing the demands of the Meeting Procedures either, also went ahead, like for the 2010 Spring Meeting, and published in the next GL, the " Summaries " as if they were the " Minutes ".
Clearly these " Summaries " do not satisfy any normal procedural definition of " Minutes of a Meeting ". They do not name those proposing any ideas, they collapse lots of debate ideas into one sanitized point, etc.. They do not satisfy the s. 22A On-line Meeting Procedure section on " Minutes ".
4. Proposal
It seems to me that now that the distinction between " Summaries " and " Minutes " in the procedures has been clarified, CFC Secretary, Lyle Craver, now has to produce both " Summaries ", for the governors to comment on, and to try to determine courses of action on the various agenda items AND " Minutes " which are to be published in the GL for the members/public.
However, it seems to me that I, as drafter of the Procedures, had not anticipated that there would be a significant difference in trying to draft AGM minutes, re in person debate, and On-line Meeting MInutes, with a plethora of threads. I see the latter as a much more onerous task.
I therefore propose that the requirement of " Minutes " under the Meeting Procedures, be satisfied by the CFC, by , after a meeting, making the confidential forum of the meeting, public ( with the deletion of any " confidential material " and a note this was done ). This would be a comprehensive compliance with the " Minutes " requirement, since CFC would effectively be providing a full " transcript " of the meeting - with every governor who spoke identified as to his/her exact contribution.
I apologize to the governors that I did not realize that this had slipped by me until now. I realized it I think, because of the Motion 2011-F debate we had had in the 2011 Winter Meeting about opening the meeting to the public, and the secondary issue of how much meeting content CFC had to disclose to be " transparent ". I was vaguely aware I think, that I initially in drafting, had wanted a pretty full disclosure of the meeting. I then re-read the rules, and realized the discord between the section on " Summaries " and the section on " Minutes ". The initial intention in the Meeting Procedures had been for CFC to provide a very high degree of transparency, as in the AGM, with full " Minutes ".
Now that the issue has been outed, CFC must deal with it, and comply with the rules we passed in the 2010 AGM.
Recent Developments
1. I have now been advised that a majority of the executive have rejected my proposal to open the meeting forum to the public, as " Minutes of the Meeting ". So it is now up to the govenors to debate and determine whether they wish to bring a motion to try to implement my proposal.
2. The President has advised that the " Summaries " will be done in due course. They will initially form part of the record of the confidential meeting, for govenors to comment on them, before they are finalized ( to the best of my knowledge ).
3. It is unclear if the Posting Secretary, Lyle Craver, will also be drafting full " MInutes of the Meeting ", to be published in the next GL. Or is it the executive intention to publish only the " Summaries ", and to ignore the Handbook requirement for " Minutes "?
Course of Action ?
What do you think the Executive and Governors should now do on this issue?
Bob A