If Agenda not approved

[Jayadev]

Our board of directors sent an agenda for a special general body meeting..If majority  members of  general body did not approve the agenda when they assemble what is the fate of meeting?

Thanks in advance

Jay

[Joshua Katz]

The members should amend the proposed agenda so that they like it, and then adopt it.  

[Richard Brown]

Keep in mind, Jay , that if thus is a special meeting, the purpose of the meeting and the business conducted cannot vary from the purpose of the meeting and the items listed in the call of the meeting. You can vary the order of items on the proposed agenda but you cannot add any substantive business to it. 

Can you be more specific about the issue here? 

[Joshua Katz]

Oh, sorry, I missed the "special."  

[Greg Goodwiller, PRP]

It sounds to me as though you are asking whether or not (after the fact) it matters that the assembly didn't formally adopt the agenda, but rather just went about its work.

If that is the question, the answer is that it doesn't matter, and it doesn't affect the legitimacy of the actions taken.

[Jayadev]

 Thanks for your answers .Some of our organization  members feel  if an agenda was not approved that means majority are not willing to have a meeting and further proceedings are illegal is it true? Any motions and  resolutions  even agenda was not approved are valid?

[jstackpo]

If the majority of the membership in attendance don't want to continue with the meeting (even though it was a special meeting called for a specific purpose) the have two choices:

1)  Move to adjourn the meeting and vote to adopt that motion;

2) Just walk out, presuming that those who might remain do not add up to a quorum - this can be a little risky;

#1 will end the meeting and #2 will end the opportunity to do any further business in the meeting.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

24 minutes ago, jay said:

 Thanks for your answers .Some of our organization  members feel  if an agenda was not approved that means majority are not willing to have a meeting and further proceedings are illegal is it true? Any motions and  resolutions  even agenda was not approved are valid?

The members cannot refuse to hold a special meeting that is properly called. Nor is an agenda required. Any matter can be taken up which is within the scope of notice for the meeting. Or none at all, as jstackpo observes. As long as (1) a quorum was present, and (2) the motions/resolutions were within scope, then the business done at this meeting is probably valid.

[Jayadev]

Great information Thanks to every one.

Jay

[Richard Brown]

44 minutes ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

The members cannot refuse to hold a special meeting that is properly called. Nor is an agenda required. Any matter can be taken up which is within the scope of notice for the meeting. . . . (Remainder of post omitted).

Well, the members can refuse to show up for the meeting, leaving it without a quorum. And they can vote to adjourn any time they want to, even right after the meeting is called to order. And if a motion to adjourn fails to get a majority vote, enough members to deprive the meeting of a quorum can simply walk out. So, I would say that the members definitely can refuse to hold a specially called meeting.

I do agree that an agenda is not required. As to the scope of notice issue at a special meeting, I've never heard it expressed the way you did, but will leave it to others to quibble with it. I know what you mean by it but I'm not sure O.P. Jay does. I prefer the terminology RONR uses for describing what business can be conducted at a special meeting. 

Edited to add: technically a meeting can be held even without a quorum, but it is very limited as to what can be done and no substantive business can be conducted.

Edited August 19, 2017 at 10:15 PM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[Josh Martin]

On 8/19/2017 at 3:59 PM, jay said:

 Thanks for your answers .Some of our organization  members feel  if an agenda was not approved that means majority are not willing to have a meeting and further proceedings are illegal is it true? Any motions and  resolutions  even agenda was not approved are valid?

No, this is not true. An agenda is simply the order in which the business is considered. If an agenda is not adopted for a regular meeting, then the assembly follows the standard order of business, or a special order of business in the society's rules (if there is one). For a special meeting, the meeting is limited to considering the items in the call of the meeting, so an agenda is likely not necessary anyway.

If the members did not wish for the meeting to continue, a member should have moved to adjourn.

On 8/19/2017 at 4:28 PM, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

The members cannot refuse to hold a special meeting that is properly called. Nor is an agenda required. Any matter can be taken up which is within the scope of notice for the meeting. Or none at all, as jstackpo observes. As long as (1) a quorum was present, and (2) the motions/resolutions were within scope, then the business done at this meeting is probably valid.

As a point of language, "scope of notice" is a separate subject which is related to motions which require previous notice, or where notice lowers the required threshold for adoption. It is not related to the rule that a special meeting may only consider business included in the call of the meeting.

[Gary c Tesser]

On 8/19/2017 at 5:21 PM, jstackpo said:

If the majority of the membership in attendance don't want to continue with the meeting

 

On 8/19/2017 at 5:28 PM, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

The members cannot refuse to hold a special meeting

I think some of us are misinterpreting OP Jay's remark.  When he says --

On 8/19/2017 at 4:59 PM, jay said:

Some of our organization  members feel  if an agenda was not approved that means majority are not willing to have a meeting and further proceedings are illegal

-- I think he's talking about a possibly small group that's concerned about procedure here.  Note that Jay mentions further proceedings, motions, and resolutions, and for all we know, a majority of the entire membership (I'm talking about popularity, not a parliamentary threshold) was there and participating.

Jay, how about it?

Edited August 21, 2017 at 07:46 PM by Gary c Tesser
copyediting / formatting