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Getting around a scheduled adjournment.


Alexis Hunt

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The Hobby Dressmaker's Association is having its regular meeting, which has a scheduled adjournment time of 6 pm, adopted at the beginning of the meeting. 6pm comes, and some members wish to continue the meeting until all business is finished. So a member, Z, moves a motion to continue past the adjournment time. The chair cites p. 374, ll. 17-21 in ruling the motion out of order. The chair states that the adjournment can be rescheduled to another time, or the pending question alone extended for a defined period, but that it is out of order to simply ignore the scheduled adjournment entirely. Z then offers a motion to reschedule the adjournment to 9pm, and this is defeated 15-12, a two-thirds vote required.

Undaunted, Z then notices ll. 21-25, and moves to fix the time to which to adjourn to 6:05 pm. The chair cannot find a reason to reject the motion, and allows it. The motion is adopted 15-12, adjourns the meeting, and promptly convenes its adjournment.

Is Z's motion to fix the time to which to adjourn in order? If so, why can this motion, which is in this context effectively just a motion to ignore the adjournment time, be adopted by majority vote while rescheduling the adjournment to another time, a weaker proposition, requires a two-thirds vote?

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"I s Z's motion to fix the time to which to adjourn in order?"  Yes. 

"If so, why can this motion, which is in this context effectively just a motion to ignore the adjournment time, be adopted by majority vote while rescheduling the adjournment to another time, a weaker proposition, requires a two-thirds vote?"

First, the motion to fix the time for the next meeting does not ignore the adjournment time.  The assembly set what was effectively a rule in place and must abide with it or suspend it.  What happens after the rule is no longer in effect is not covered by that rule.

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On 5/3/2017 at 10:04 PM, Alexis Hunt said:

The Hobby Dressmaker's Association is having its regular meeting, which has a scheduled adjournment time of 6 pm, adopted at the beginning of the meeting. 6pm comes, and some members wish to continue the meeting until all business is finished. So a member, Z, moves a motion to continue past the adjournment time. The chair cites p. 374, ll. 17-21 in ruling the motion out of order. The chair states that the adjournment can be rescheduled to another time, or the pending question alone extended for a defined period, but that it is out of order to simply ignore the scheduled adjournment entirely. Z then offers a motion to reschedule the adjournment to 9pm, and this is defeated 15-12, a two-thirds vote required.

Undaunted, Z then notices ll. 21-25, and moves to fix the time to which to adjourn to 6:05 pm. The chair cannot find a reason to reject the motion, and allows it. The motion is adopted 15-12, adjourns the meeting, and promptly convenes its adjournment.

Is Z's motion to fix the time to which to adjourn in order? If so, why can this motion, which is in this context effectively just a motion to ignore the adjournment time, be adopted by majority vote while rescheduling the adjournment to another time, a weaker proposition, requires a two-thirds vote?

First, I don't think the chair should have ruled out of order of the motion to continue the meeting until there is no further business (or until a motion to adjourn is adopted), but should have noted that it would require a two-thirds vote.

Second, that's a neat trick you've come up with to continue meeting past the scheduled adjournment time, by a majority vote. But if the problem is the adopted motion that fixed the time for adjournment, why do you think the decision couldn't be reversed by a majority vote upon reconsidering that motion (if the schedule was not part of an adopted agenda for the meeting)?

Edited by Shmuel Gerber
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9 hours ago, Alexis Hunt said:

Hmm, I believe it would be in order to reconsider it, if it's not part of an agenda. Which further raises the question of why it requires a 2/3rds vote in the first place.

Well, for one thing, adopting a motion to fix the time for an adjourned meeting -- which can be made at any time during the meeting and not just at the time scheduled for adjournment of the present meeting -- would not have the effect of allowing members to make the privileged motion to Adjourn before that time. Therefore, in most cases, a motion to do away with the scheduled adjournment time would be very different from a motion to fix the time for an adjourned meeting.

Furthermore, I'm not so sure that the motion you give in the example is not frivolous. Although it's certainly possible for an assembly to hold two meetings in one day, it is obvious in this case that the intention is to continue the same meeting, not to hold another one. And in a committee, reasonable efforts would need to be made to inform absent members of an adjourned meeting held the same day (or any other day). (RONR, 11th ed., p. 502)

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