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jstackpo

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  1. Hey Rick, Just tell the State PTA Chapter, I said they have to publish the numbers. That should take care of it all (even though I resigned from the APTA bylaws review business a few weeks ago). Best, John Stackpole
  2. But the recommendation to raise the guest fees should have been voted upon as a separate issue,
  3. I agree (with somebody): the association should, or must, formally authorize voting outside a meeting place for the voting to be valid.
  4. Certainly. Quorum is "members present", not down the hall somewhere. No business until the voters all come back, or enough of them anyway.
  5. Suppose a member came on time, signed in, and then slept through the whole thing. Does that count? (It does happen.) Best definition of attendance I know of, as applied to churches: He/she was there when the collection plate went around.
  6. Do the bylaws really say that?? Please quote the exact text of the bylaw.
  7. Unfortunately, there is a lot of that going around.
  8. Moral of the story: Always check for a quorum BEFORE opening the meeting (page 25, line 10) and, although it isn't actually required, document that fact in the very opening lines of the minutes: "A quorum being present, President Jamison called the meeting to order at [date & time] ... "
  9. And keep in mind: if the tellers do read the report, they (or the reporting teller) do NOT declare who won the individual races. That is the chairman's job.
  10. Minutes, for a "closed" (I presume you mean what RONR calls an "Executive Session", page 95) or an open meeting, should only contain motions that were made, and how they were disposed of: adopted, defeated, postponed to the next meeting, or whatever. See p 468ff. Minutes record what was done, not what was said.
  11. Indeed it is the proper thing to do, to read out the numerical vote results for the members to hear -- see p. 417, line 18 ff. - and to include them in the minutes Consider some possibilities: 1) The winner got nearly all the votes and the loser has had a long history of fruitlessly running for office. Reading the vote count might send him a message, that it is time to quit making a fool of himself. 2) The vote is "reasonably" close. This way the loser will be encouraged to try again, as it seems, by the vote, that he has a good deal of potential, and many friends, but just went up against a better person this time. This may help to keep a good candidate in the game. 3) The vote is "extremely" close - one or two votes different. The assembly may very well want to order a recount (RONR p. 419, line 1, see index also) just to be sure of the result. This way there are no (or fewer) hard feelings. 4) The president, when declaring who won, makes a simple mistake and names the wrong person, or he does not understand the vote required to adopt the motion (majority, 2/3, &c.) and states the "wrong" outcome. 5) The tellers make an error. Reading the results out loud may not help to catch this but studying the printed documentation in the minutes at leisure probably would. The documentation would also serve as evidence if there were serious questions about the outcome. Without the teller having read the numbers, how will anybody (except the teller, if he is paying attention) know to correct this? 6) The winner of the election (or partisans of the winning side of a critical issue) could weigh the numerical results in terms of whether they have a "mandate" to proceed at full bore, or whether there might be some fence mending to look after first. If the vote results were not made immediately available to the membership, none of the above good things could happen. And this listing doesn't even mention the myriad possibilities for knavery or outright fraud that are available when vote counts are kept secret.
  12. But, if there was or is time, you could amend your bylaws. This might, of course, substantially blur the line(s) between Associate Members and regular general members. The choice is up to you.
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