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Who can Amend a Motion


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I attended a meeting where the President during his report asked the assembly what he could do to help members feel more a part of the club.

Discussion related to communication issues followed.

A member made a motion to clarify that the Board of Directors be a body authorized to make recommendations to the membership rather than be sole decision makers.

Discussion followed.

I offered an amendment to the motion to add clarification that powers of authority be clarified between "matters of daily operations" and "matters related to the direction and mission" of the club

I was told that only the maker of the motion could amend their motion

Further, I was told that the motion had to be handled before the amendment.

 

I am confident I was told incorrectly.

 

Answer, please.

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I attended a meeting where the President during his report asked the assembly what he could do to help members feel more a part of the club.

Discussion related to communication issues followed.

A member made a motion to clarify that the Board of Directors be a body authorized to make recommendations to the membership rather than be sole decision makers.

Discussion followed.

I offered an amendment to the motion to add clarification that powers of authority be clarified between "matters of daily operations" and "matters related to the direction and mission" of the club

I was told that only the maker of the motion could amend their motion

Further, I was told that the motion had to be handled before the amendment.

I am confident I was told incorrectly.

You have it right. A motion to Amend may be offered by any member. It is up to the assembly, by majority vote, to determine whether the amenment shall be adopted. The maker of the original motion has no special privileges in this regard.

With that said, however, it seems to me that the original motion was most likely out of order. The board's duties and authority are usually defined in the bylaws, and if so, any motion to amend or clarify the board's duties and authority would need to be a motion to amend the bylaws.

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Thank you....and thus a committee was form (most likely not according to proper procedure, but created nevertheless), I have been assigned chair to review the bylaws.  Clearer heads will prevail.

We have one board member manipulating interpretation to his own agenda.

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>Further, I was told that the motion had to be handled before the amendment.

 

I am fascinated by how the person saying this thinks it works.  Assuming that they hold both positions listed together (all amendments are after adoption and only by the maker) would they say that all amendments, which can only be made by the maker of a motion, then require a 2/3 vote (or yadda yadda) since all amendments are to something previously adopted?  Would they say that if a motion is adopted and establishes a standing rule, and the maker subsequently dies, that rule can never be amended?

 

I do come across, far too often, people who loudly insist on what amounts to the absence of secondary amendments.  "You can't make a motion to postpone/commit/whatever, we have to deal with the current motion first, then you can make whatever motion you want."  But then, I also came across a person recently who, apparently, thought that threats were a proper response to a point of order (and provided excellent evidence for why, if a standing rule is adopted that members should go to the microphone for the conduct of any business, more than one microphone should be present.)

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