Keeping Minutes

The recording secretary keeps the legal, official minutes of the CA-BC Executive Committee. A draft of the minutes is sent to all members of the Executive Committee, who are requested to suggest any corrections or changes. When needed corrections have been made, a final copy of the minutes is distributed to all committee members.

Archives

Recording secretaries are also responsible for maintaining the organization’s records, including past minutes and votes. In the event previous minutes are amended, or a policy voted on at one meeting is changed at another, the recording secretary needs to have the necessary information at his fingertips. 

These records will be passed on to subsequent recording secretaries.

Record-Keeping

Part of keeping accurate minutes and making them available at the necessary time is tracking ongoing items that take place over several meetings. For instance, a proposal made at one meeting may be voted upon at a later meeting. When the latter meeting takes place, the recording secretary needs to be able to read back the proposal before any vote. The recording secretary may also be responsible for recording the votes themselves, not just in terms of the result, but who voted for or against the proposal.

One of the less-heralded, but vital, duties of a recording secretary is knowing exactly what needs to be recorded. Because minutes are official documents that may be given to both internal and external audiences, a recording secretary must know what to track and what to omit. That might include recording that a proposal was discussed, but not directly quoting from the discussion — and how to format it for those who were not present.