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Novice parliamentarian here - we had a situation when ending a meeting recently. We were debating a main motion, and the chair was keeping a list of people who wanted to speak, following the usual rules there (speak once unless everyone has spoken, etc). We came to end of our scheduled meeting time, with several people still on the list. So I think I understand what would have happened if one of those speakers had either moved to adjourn, or moved that other privileged motion whose name I cannot recall ("stick to the agenda"?). However, none of these people did that, and in fact a few more wanted to be added to the list to discuss the same motion. The Chair thought the meeting should be over, but they followed the "recognize the order of speakers" rule, and the speakers didn't adjourn. So, what should happened? I gave the advice "keep giving members the floor until one of them moves to adjourn", but it's also possible the chair could have used their discretion and when we were over time, simply given the floor to someone who they knew wanted to adjourn the meeting (say, they announced it between speakers or something). I guess the chair could have inserted themselves into the speaker order, to obtain the floor and move to adjourn - is that possible? Any and all advice welcome, thanks!

I'm trying to wrap my head around something and want to do things in a proper way. Our annual congregational meeting is on sunday afternoon. Last night I had a couple of bizarre requests dropped into my lap by council. The one I want to write about here is postponing part of the meeting to allow folks to study the financials, which will only be ready at the very last minute. My qns are about how to handle the postponed part of the meeting. Our bylaws state that: -- two of the purposes of the annual meeting is "considering and making a decision on the draft annual budget" and to elect new officers -- elected officials hold office "from the moment immediately following the adjournment of the meeting at which he or she was elected .... until the next Congregational Meeting at which [title is] appointed or elected. " In particular the Secretary of the Congregation "holds office until the next annual meeting." -- there is no provision in the bylaws for breaking the annual meeting into two parts -- notice of a cong meeting requires a minimum of two full Sundays prior to the meeting. Council wants to have the financial discussion the following Sunday. Some feel that announcing from the pulpit is sufficient, I prefer a more thorough approach with a packet (cover letter, agenda, supporting documents, etc.) by email or postal mail. In the agenda I have already sent out, financials are about 2/3 of the way in (estimated: 30 minutes), followed by a motion re auditors, then elections, then a second motion suggested earlier, then motions from the floor. (My time estimate not including a break is 3 hours 42 minutes and there is now another meeting booked into the space at 3 hours 30 minutes. There are required elements that need to take place, and I encourage folks to speak up and interact. Time estimates are not circulated to the masses.) Here are my questions: -- There is currently no date/time for the postponed part of the meeting. I anticipate squabbles about who can and cannot attend on a proposed date. Can I ask a select few (e.g. finance, tech, social events, etc.) to put their heads together for 5 minutes (either immediately before the meeting or at the financial section) and agree on a date for all of us? -- Can changes be made the the agenda of the postponed section? If this postponement goes ahead I want to postpone just the financial discussion and [attempt to] finish the rest of the meeting. I object to breaking up the meeting into two parts simply because "it's too long". -- Do I need to read minutes when we reconvene? For the entire meeting or just for the financial section? -- Do last year's elected officials still hold office till the end of the postponed period? In particular for two roles: Director of finance (no one nominated for next year) and secretary of the congregation (new person acclaimed at the moment). Currently I seem to be continuing as chair of cong. -- If the motion to postpone is lost, does that mean we must move to approve the budget then and there? I am anticipating several meltdowns especially by the current secretary of the cong, who apparently had never taken minutes until 3 weeks ago and has been trying to redefine her responsibilities on the fly. (example: insisting that taking attendance is not part of minutes) Your kind thoughts are much appreciated. I feel manipulated.

What are the options available if a voting error is discovered after a meeting has been adjourned and an invalid vote allowed the passage of a motion? Votes were changed after the result was announced, without querying the body if that was acceptable. If something can be done to redress the issue, how is this process handled? Thanks for your assistance!