RECORDING SECRETARY GUIDE

RECORDING SECRETARY GUIDE 2017-2019 Website: www.trikappa.org

RECORDING SECRETARY GUIDE DUTIES ACCORDING TO BYLAWS ACTIVE CHAPTERS: Article V, Section 3, D. Recording Secretary shall: 1. Keep a careful and permanent record of the proceedings of chapter meetings. 2. Record the Treasurer's reports in the minutes. 3. If incorporated, record in the minutes the Annual Meeting of the Corporation, including: a. The names of the Directors of the Corporation, who are the officers of the chapter. b. The list of investment accounts and their purposes. 4. Notify: a. The Active members who were absent at the meeting prior to voting on new members at least three (3) days prior to voting. b. Chapter Treasurer of any member who is to be fined. 5. Update the chapter's membership file regularly. 6. Make all additions and corrections of chapter membership on the approved form annually. Article V, Section 5, I Finance Active Chapter Upon declaration by chapter officers that an emergency exists, the Vice President may co-sign for the President, and the Recording Secretary may co-sign for the Treasurer. All signatures must be on file at the appropriate financial institutions. ASSOCIATE CHAPTERS: Article VI, Section 3, C. Secretary shall: 1. Perform the duties of the President during an absence or disability if there is no elected Vice President. 2. Keep a careful and permanent record of the proceedings of the chapter meetings. 3. Record the Treasurer's reports in the minutes. 4. Update the chapter s membership file regularly. 5. Make all additions and corrections of chapter membership on the approved form annually. 6. Handle all correspondence of the office, and keep on file all current correspondence. 7. Keep the eight (8) most recent issues of Cross Keys. 8. Submit, on or before the due date, to: a. The Assistant Editor of Cross Keys, the required materials. b. Central Office, the chapter s vote on a petition for a charter, using the approved form. 9. Notify Council President within ten (10) days when the chapter has received a request for withdrawal from membership or when the chapter has instigated investigation proceedings for expulsion of a member Note: If an Associate Chapter elects a Recording and Corresponding Secretary, the above duties shall be divided in accordance with the Active Chapter division of responsibility. Article VI, Section 5, G Finance Associate Chapter Upon declaration by chapter officers that an emergency exists, the Secretary may co-sign for the President or the Treasurer. All signatures must be on file at the appropriate financial institutions. 2017-19 R - 1

July 15 September DUE DATES Associate Chapters only: Cross Keys letter due by Secretary if there is no Corresponding Secretary. Active and Associate Chapters: Update membership information on the annual printouts and give to Chapter Treasurer by September 30. TOPICAL GUIDE Affiliation - If a member wishes to affiliate to another chapter, she will need to show her membership card. It contains her membership number and the location and date of her Initiation. An Inactive member who went Inactive prior to November 1, 1998, may not have a membership card. To affiliate, she needs to provide her membership number, available from either her prior chapter or from Central Office. Initiation dates can be verified by Central Office, and a card will be provided upon request. There is no charge for the first card. (Effective June 1, 1999). Fill out a new R-7 Card File Record to place in the Membership File for the new affiliate. A Cross Keys subscription fee can be sent in at any time for the new affiliate. Central Office does not prorate Cross Keys, nor do they send out prior issues of the term. Annual Membership Printouts - All membership records are computerized and it is your responsibility to update them each year from your Membership File. Printouts and specific instructions are mailed to the Chapter Recording Secretary in late August each year. The Recording Secretary should carefully check the names and addresses of all members on every page of the printouts with every card (Form R-7) in the Membership File. Check that the member status (Active, Inactive, College, Honorary, Sustaining or Key) is correct. The printout has the membership numbers for the new initiates. Add them to the Card File Records. Before giving the printout to the Treasurer, the Recording Secretary should make a copy to keep in her files until she receives the next one. Give the corrected printout to the Chapter Treasurer by September 30. The Treasurer must verify who has paid and who will receive Cross Keys. Membership Cards - All Active Chapter members have been issued Membership Cards since November 1, 1998. The card contains her name, membership number, date of Initiation and the chapter where she was initiated. Associate members are not routinely issued membership cards. All Associate members are entitled to a card from Central Office. There is no cost for the initial card. When a member requests a card, she should have her membership number and Initiation date and chapter ready. (Her membership number can be found on the address label of Cross Keys or in your chapter Membership File, which is where the date of Initiation should also be listed. Anyone wishing to replace a card for any reason will be charged a small fee. Membership File - Update records as changes occur. Don t forget to get the new members numbers from the printout that arrives each fall. MEMBERSHIP CATEGORIES ACTIVE KEY INACTIVE COLLEGE SUSTAINING those currently paying dues available to Active members who have served a minimum of ten (10) years, attend a minimum of five (5) meetings each term including Pledging, Initiation, and Chapter Review, have full voting privileges and participate in at least one chapter project per year. those currently not participating in activities of the chapter those who are currently full-time students for at least nine (9) months of the year available to those who have given a minimum of twenty (20) years of service, pay per capita assessment, but have no voting privileges 2017-19 R - 2

HONORARY only members given this status prior to April 29, 1983 Other categories may be kept in the Membership File at the option of the chapter (for example deceased, Associates, or Withdrawn members.) Membership File and Membership Ledger Reduction - This is strictly optional for chapters. The purpose is to reduce the size of the chapter s Membership File (Forms R-7 and the old R-9, 3x5 cards) maintained by the Recording Secretary. In order to complete this process you must contact Central Office for the necessary reports. These include: 1. A complete list of your Inactive members. 2. Instructions for completing Card File Reduction 3. Microsoft Excel templates for all forms needed. When the process is complete, the removed membership cards and printed Excel sheets must be sent to Central Office. Those names will be removed and will no longer appear on printouts. There are two more important points about this process: 1. Cards and ledger sheets may not be copied and sent to Central Office, they must be originals. 2. If your chapter wishes to maintain these documents as historical data, do NOT consider this option. Minutes - Minutes are the permanent record of the proceedings of chapter meetings. These should always be as accurate and current as possible. In accordance with Robert s Rules of Order Newly Revised, a draft of the minutes may be sent to members in advance. It is presumed that the members will review the minutes beforehand; therefore, minutes do not need to be read unless requested by a chapter member. For digital minutes, the additions and corrections collected prior to the meeting should be noted. No formal motion is needed. The President simply states: There being no corrections (or further corrections) to the minutes, the minutes are approved as submitted. The minute book should be bound in a manner so that the pages will not be lost. A corporate binder is recommended. CHAPTER MINUTES SHOULD INCLUDE: 1. The name of the chapter. 2. Date, time and place of the meeting. 3. Type of meeting (regular, annual corporate, special). NOTE: If a chapter is incorporated, an annual corporate meeting must be recorded in the minutes. On that date the regular and corporate meetings become one. These minutes should read, The annual corporate meeting of (name) Chapter of Kappa Kappa Kappa, Inc. was held (date, time and place). The members of the Board of Directors are... (Name each officer by name and position). The officers of the chapter shall be the Directors and Officers of the Corporation. If the chapter has any investment accounts, the minutes should include their names and purposes. This becomes a part of your chapter s permanent records and satisfies the requirements of the I.R.S. and the Secretary of State s office. 4. Name of the presiding officer. 5. An accurate roll call record (for voting percentages and fines). 6. The fact that the minutes of the previous meeting were approved as submitted, approved as corrected, or if the reading was dispensed with and the reason why. If dispensed with, these will be read at the next meeting. 7. Corrections are made in the right margin of the minutes being corrected. According to Robert s Rules of Order Newly Revised, the minutes of the meeting that made the correction simply state that the minutes were approved as corrected without specifying what the correction was. 2017-19 R - 3

8. The Treasurer s report with beginning balances, receipts, disbursements and ending balances in the General and Philanthropy funds and activity (interest and transfers) in all other accounts. Please note that this information needs to be in the written body of the minutes, not just read from the Treasurer s report. A detailed copy of the report should be prepared by the Treasurer to be attached to the minutes. EXAMPLE (excerpt of minutes of a Treasurer s report): The treasurer reported a beginning balance of the general fund of $900.00, receipts $20.00, disbursements $13.00 leaving a balance of $907.00. She reported a beginning balance in the philanthropy fund of $2,000.00, receipts $1,000.00, disbursements $500.00, leaving a balance of $2,500.00. The Treasurer s report is filed subject to financial review. A copy of the complete Treasurer s report is attached and made a part of these minutes. 9. A financial review that is read to the chapter and recorded in the minutes. 10. A copy of the chapter budget when it is approved by the chapter. 11. A list of investment accounts and their purposes. This must be included in the annual corporate meeting minutes if your chapter has these accounts. 12. A record of what is done but not necessarily everything that is said. (Personal opinions of praise or criticism should not be recorded.) This is not a word-for-word transcript. 13. Only the names of candidates voted into membership. Nothing should be stated if someone is not elected. DO NOT record the names of the proposed members when nominations are read. 14. A summary of each committee s report. 15. All appointments of committees, elected delegates, etc. 16. All motions, whether adopted or defeated. Include the name of the person making the motion, the fact that it was seconded, and whether the motion was adopted or was defeated. It is not necessary to identify the name of the person providing the second. 17. A record of the Kappa (for) votes and Tri (opposed) votes when a count has been ordered, or when the vote is by ballot or roll call. (EXCEPTION: voting for new members). The voting for new members should state, (Names) were elected to membership. Nothing should be stated if someone is not elected. 18. A summary of all important discussions for future reference. 19. Time of adjournment. 20. Signature of secretary. The words, Respectfully submitted represent an older practice that is not essential in signing the minutes. Robert s Rules of Order Newly Revised (11 th ed), p. 471 ll. 32-34 21. Date and signature of President or presiding officer, is recommended as it denotes that the presiding officer is aware of the contents of the minutes and that they are accurate and approved. The Recording Secretary may keep a chapter s minutes digitally. 1. All minutes need to follow the exact format as the chapter s bound minutes. The minutes should include all the required sections of the minutes as listed in the Recording Secretary Guide for things to include in minutes. 2. All minutes MUST be backed up on two flash drives or a flash drive and cloud service each month along with the accompanying Treasurer s report. This is for the protection of the minutes. 3. The flash drives will be kept by the Recording Secretary and the Chapter President until the end of the biennium. One flash drive will be stored in the chapter s strong box. The Recording Secretary will keep the other flash drive to pass on to the next Recording Secretary. At no time should both flash drives be stored in the same location to prevent them from being lost or damaged. 4. If possible the President and Recording Secretary may have their signatures digitized so both signatures can be placed on the documents. Approval and date is needed from both officers. Initials could be used. 2017-19 R - 4

Since technology changes over time, it is suggested that the electronic files be stored in at least two file formats (such as Microsoft Word and Adobe Acrobat) so that at least one version can be accessed in the future. As flash drives are replaced with newer technology these files should be transferred accordingly to the appropriate format so they may be easily accessed in the future. Minutes from prior years may be scanned into an electronic format (such as Adobe Acrobat) for safekeeping. Here again, two copies of the electronic files must be stored in separate locations. Bound minutes may then be disposed of if the chapter wishes to do so. Form R-7 FORMS FOR WHICH YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE Card File Record - It is available from Central Office. This is the permanent record of anyone initiated or affiliated into your chapter. Each card file record must have member number recorded. Data must be kept current as changes occur (i.e. name and address changes etc.). The reverse side of the card may be used to record dates of status changes (i.e. Active, Inactive, College, etc.) In case of death, take the member s Card File Record (R-7); write deceased and the date of death on the card. If you want a deceased member listed in the Infinite Chapter of Cross Keys, you must send the above information to Central Office within two years of the date of death even if you have listed her on the annual printout as deceased. If you are the Chapter Historian, the Card File Record (R-7), Member Information section can be used to record offices and chair positions. OTHER INFORMATION You may send affiliation, marriage and death information to Central Office at any time during the year for inclusion in Cross Keys. These are compiled quarterly. Provide the chapter name, member s complete name, membership number, and Initiation date. 2017-19 R - 5