remedies for violation of by-laws

[Guest Raymond]

If an organization's by-laws say it has to meet "X" number of times per year and a majority of the organization desires to cancel its last meeting for the year despite the fact that it will then fail to hold the requisite number of regular meetings, can a member of the minority compel the organization to hold the meeting? If so, how does a person go about compelling the organization to hold the meeting? Given that the Chairman of the Organization is one of the persons seeking to cancel the meeting, it's unlikely an appeal the the Chairman would be fruitful. Would the minority member basically have to take the organization to court if he/she really wanted to force the issue or is there some other way to compel the meeting to be held?

[Guest Edgar]

If so, how does a person go about compelling the organization to hold the meeting?

The meeting can't be canceled so just show up. And if enough members (i.e. a quorum) do the same, you're good to go. And even if only one or two show up the meeting can and should be held (you just can't do much without a quorum).

[Chris Harrison]

There is no mechanism under RONR to cancel an already scheduled meeting and there is no way under RONR to compel a member who doesn't want to show up to a meeting to show up (with one exception which would only be applicable MAYBE if the organization is a legislative body). Has the last meeting already been scheduled and the members just don't want to have it or is the date still to be determined and they don't want to set that final date?

If the date has been set but the members don't want to and refuse to hold the meeting what the minority members could do is meet at the time and place that the meeting should be held and after someone calls the meeting to order the fact that there is no quorum present should be noted and a motion to Adjourn should be adopted (someone should take minutes of this meeting). At the next meeting the person who took the minutes should submit them for approval. It is likely that people are going to object to this but you can refer them to RONR pp. 347-348 with a focus on p. 347 ll. 24-29. If you all were able to get a quorum for this meeting you could in theory elect a Chair and Secretary pro tem and conduct the organization's business. However, I wouldn't recommend doing any more than immediately Adjourning the meeting since I would think these members would get less static by merely holding the bylaw mandated number of meetings and doing nothing more.

If the date of the final meeting hasn't been set stay tuned for some ideas on how to proceed.