writermom-
I did not mean to imply that you are impatient- I said that I can understand your feelings because I am an impatient perfectionist. I am the type of person who would rather do everything, because then I know it is done the way I want it. However, I've learned to delegate & let people do what they can do.

If this has become that big of a problem w/your group & you other officers agree, than maybe it is time to face the problem head on. Without "ganging up on her", hold an officer's meeting where the rest of the board can address this problem. Let the secretary know, again, what is expected of this position. As a group, nicely explain to her the importance of what she does & why it needs to be done correctly.

Honestly, I did not mean to offend you-just trying to present the other side of the coin.

[ 09-16-2006, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Lucella ]

I am our PTA's secretary and I use a tape recorder for each meeting. There is no way I would ever be able to capture everything, especially if I want to participate in the discussion, which I love to do!

We disclose that we are taping the minutes on our agenda and make a verbal announcement at the start of every meeting and we have never had a problem. I do have to listen through the meeting again and I tell you, if everyone heard themselves on tape, the meetings would be 30 minutes tops!

writermom - I believe you are on the right track with your thoughts. Lucella's advice is sound for many situations. But where minutes are concerned, I think your expectations are reasonable.

When I was secretary, I had minutes typed and published within six days of the meeting. The main reason was because the school board met exactly one week after us every month and they liked to see what we were doing. However, due to this tight deadline, I learned that it's actaully easier to do the minutes right away. Things are still fresh in your mind. If you have a question about your notes, things are still fresh for the person you're calling. It gives folks time to read the minutes and jot down any questions or corrections prior to the next meeting, saving valuable meeting time. And, as your main point makes perfectly clear, it helps with the work we need to do in between meetings.

It does put a lot of pressure on the secretary but if there's ever a job for a perfectionist, this is it. Someone who isn't up to the task needs to either buck up and get there or back out and let someone else take over.

But what is the point of having minutes at the meeting if they are grossly inaccurate? They are useless both as a tool for right now, as well as a historical record for our group down the line. If volunteers see their names spelled wrong in the minutes, how will that make them feel? There is no excuse for that when the sec. has the sign in sheet with correctly spelled names right in front of her. If a business that gave us a donation is listed incorrectly in the minutes, whoever sends a thank you note will send it to the wrong company while the company that gave us the donation will think we're unappreciative. And if we can't trust her to get the little things right, how can we trust her to get the big things right? See what I'm getting at?

I realize that taking minutes can be a difficult job. That is why I have given her copies of all past minutes, a template to use for taking minutes, and have offerred numerous times to help in any way I can. I just can't run the meeting and take minutes at the same time. We have even pared down the secretary job so that all she has to do is take minutes and that is it.

I did not ask her to quit. When weeks went by with no minutes from her, and no responses to my emails and phone calls, I asked her if she WANTED to quit--not a stretch of the imagination, given the circumstances. I finally put pressure on her because there was a key piece of information that I needed from the minutes, and I needed it before the next meeting. I even asked for just that piece of information and got no response. At this point, my seeing the minutes prior to the next meeting is nonnegotiable. And I depend on accurate minutes to help me remember important information and things that need to be addressed and done in between meetings.

This is not about my wanting everything perfect, nor about my being impatient. It's about how to run a group smoothly when one person with an important job is not doing that job. I don't mean to sound argumentative but I am frustrated and I think I have a right to be. We are a small group and we rely on one another to do our jobs. When one person isn't, it makes it harder for the rest of us to do our job.

I wouldn't get too excited just yet. As long as she has minutes at the meeting, I wouldn't ask for them ahead of time. Sure, it is nice to be able to review them before a meeting, but hey, we are all busy. If she is continually presenting inaccurate minutes at meetings, she will most likely be the one to be embarassed & will hopefully get her act together. It is hard to keep everything straight sometimes, especially if you do not know everyone. Maybe instead of asking her to quit & putting a lot of pressure on her, you could give her some kind pointers & ask her if she needs some help. I can understand your want for everything to be perfect, I am an impatient perfectionist. But sometimes, you just have to sit back and let people figure stuff out. My husband always tells me I need to choose my battles. Is this really worth battling over?

Ok, I did this--corrected the minutes using word track changes and asked her to read the corrected minutes at the next meeting. She read her original minutes! It was very embarrassing to sit there and listen to and after correcting her a couple of times on things, I gave up.

I don't understand what is up with this person. It took three weeks to get her to send me her minutes, and it was clear to me that she had just typed them up when I started putting pressure on her. She does not return most of my emails or phone calls. When I asked her if she wanted to quit she said no, yet she refuses to do what I ask. At this point I have the treasurer taking notes!

What do you do when you have an officer who isn't doing her job and refuses to communicate with you? We are in the process of writing bylaws so we have no process for removing an officer.