Calling of a Special Meeting

[Guest Jennifer Jones]

Our bylaws state that 3 members of the board can request a special meeting and that the chair must call the meeting.  The bylaws do not stipulate a time frame within which the chair will do this, so technically a chair could leave a request hanging forever. Does Robert's Rules address this?  Would state statutes address this? 

[George Mervosh]

Our bylaws state that 3 members of the board can request a special meeting and that the chair must call the meeting.  The bylaws do not stipulate a time frame within which the chair will do this, so technically a chair could leave a request hanging forever. Does Robert's Rules address this?  Would state statutes address this? 

 

If applicable state statutes address it, those rules prevail over what is said in RONR.

 

In cases such as yours "Our bylaws state that 3 members of the board can request a special meeting and that the chair must call the meeting."  RONR says "The president directs the secretary to send the notice of the special meeting to all members at the society's expense in compliance with the bylaws no later than the required number of days in advance, making sure that it contains all the necessary information."   RONR (11th ed.), pp. 92-93.

 

The president/chair could be subject to disciplinary procedures if he fails to comply with his required duty in this matter.

[Gary Novosielski]

Our bylaws state that 3 members of the board can request a special meeting and that the chair must call the meeting.  The bylaws do not stipulate a time frame within which the chair will do this, so technically a chair could leave a request hanging forever. Does Robert's Rules address this?  Would state statutes address this? 

We can't tell what would happen by seeing only a paraphrase of a fragment of the bylaws, and we don't attempt bylaws interpretation even on clear days.

 

But if the bylaws don't stipulate a time frame, do they say that the president has the power to set the date of a meeting requested by members?  If not, he doesn't have it.

 

And if that's the case, then It might mean that the three members requesting a special meeting can request a specific date, and that the chair must call it, presuming the required notice would be possible to achieve with only reasonable effort on the part of the chair and secretary.

 

 But as I said above, I can't really tell.