Suggested wording for the routine minutes of a monthly meeting, adapted for Friends in Lake Erie Yearly Meeting. (See also our Recording Clerk's Field Guide for tips on being an effective recording clerk.)
These are suggestions, not requirements. The templates are offered to help recording clerks, especially those new to the work. Lake Erie Yearly Meeting has not adopted or mandated them. Each monthly meeting decides its own practice, guided by the Faith and Practice it uses. Please change the wording to suit your meeting.
Adapted from William Watson, Before Business Begins: Notes for Friends Meeting Recording Clerks and Recorders (New England Yearly Meeting, 1996). Watson wrote that his phrases "are not being offered as the one correct version of the minutes… They really should be treated as advices and suggestions only." The same is true here. Some templates are new, written to reflect LEYM's Policies and Procedures; they are marked "New for LEYM."
Highlighted words in brackets are blanks to fill in. Blanks such as [appointed in minute (number), (date)] are optional references to an earlier minute; Eden Grace recommends including them where you can. Cautions are shown next to the minutes they apply to.