It is the duty of the clerk to keep an accurate record. The importance of accuracy cannot be sufficiently stressed. There should be no doubts or differences later on regarding the question what exactly was decided at such and such a meeting. This places quite a responsibility upon the clerk. Not everyone is able to formulate well and to record accurately what transpires at a meeting. A clerk should be chosen with care and prudence.
[170] What is the clerk to record accurately? "All things that are worthy to be recorded." Does he have to record all that is said and done at the meeting? If that were the case, he would be faced with an impossible task. Besides, is all that is said and done at a meeting "worthy to be recorded?"
What is important and what should be preserved for the future are the decisions of the assembly and what the grounds for its decisions were. Later generations may find it interesting to know what brother A. said about a certain point or what brother B. proposed in such and such a case, but these are things that are not part of what is "worthy to be recorded." In general, only such matters are worthy to be recorded which are acts of the whole assembly. Thus a motion made and seconded but withdrawn later on should not be recorded. On the other hand, a motion made and seconded but voted down should be found in the record, for the voting is an act of the assembly even though it was a negative vote.
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