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Kim Goldsworthy

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Everything posted by Kim Goldsworthy

  1. For a parliamentary contest where points are taken off for off-The-Book methods, don't mess with short-cuts, else the judges will deduct a point. I know. I've been a judge. Short-cutting the plain application of the given parliamentary rule won't fly. *** See RONR for how to adopt a motion without debate, using Suspend the Rules and Unanimous Consent.
  2. The word "advisory" is used only once in RONR 11th edition (p. 465). And its reference has nothing to do with a vote. This scenario smells like a "straw vote" or "non-binding vote". Such things are dilatory under Robert's Rules of Order.
  3. "Fuzzy" describes your scenario, as there could be many unsaid facts in your post. In general: "No", merely uttering "I resign" is not sufficient, under the plain application of Robert's Rules of Order. There must be an official acknowledgment on behalf of the organization. -- LIke a motion 'to fill the vacancy'.
  4. To be technical, until the chair STATES THE QUESTION and thus PLACES THE MOTION BEFORE THE MEETING, the motion has no status. *** So, in your case, if the motion kind of "fell through the cracks", then the cleanest solution would be "to let sleeping dogs lie". *** See page 32 of RONR (Handling of a Motion).
  5. If Robert's Rules of Order applies, then: • written ballots are counted. (Of course.) • standing votes may or may not be a counted vote. (See RONR for the difference.) • oral votes are not counted. Whether "proxies" are involved or not, is not a relevant factor for the parliamentary rule. *** So, I must ask: Q. How are the votes being cast? -- (a.) By shouting 'aye'/'no', or (b.) by rising, or (c.) by ballot? By rule, sometimes the tellers MUST do an exact tally. -- Whether there are proxies or not. *** Any deviation from the default rule should be via an adopted motion. - So you better get it in before the tellers start counting!
  6. Yes. -- RONR says that committees exist until their charges are executed fully. • For a standing committee, they are never done, as their duty is to be at the ready, even if they have nothing at hand to do. (I am thinking of "judicial committees", which have nothing to do all year, typically, but are alert for a charge coming their way.) • For a special committee, they last until they give their final report, or until discharged (see motion "Discharge a Committee"). Thus, a newsletter editor, or a sergeant-at-arms, continues in his duty, until the appointing party says otherwise. -- By swapping personnel, or by eliminating the position completely (see "Amend Something Previously Adopted"). Or, when the duty is 100% executed, as would be the case for a Xmas Party Coodinator.
  7. I reply. • Yes, if you want. • No, if you don't want. *** You are not the parliamentarian of the organization. You are not the chairman. *** If you had been the parliamentarian, or if you had been the chairman, my answer would have been different. It is the duty of the chair to make rulings. And the chair made a ruling. Don't usurp the prerogative of the chair. Don't show-up the chair. *** Read page 250 (Section 23, "Point of Order"), lines 1 thru 10. There are options. Your original option is one I would not recommend.
  8. Answer: No. The chair should do all such admonishing OUTSIDE of the meeting hour, BEFORE the meeting. Your chair exhibited poor leadership skills, poor people skills. -- The time to prevent problems is before the meeting, not during a meeting. Your chair was out of order. Someone should have raised a Point of Order saying so. A disciplinary action against your chair may be appropriate.
  9. I have not read your bylaws. But when that phrase is used, it usually implies that there is a class of membership which cannot vote. Q. Does your organization have a class of membership which is defined as having "no vote"? If yes, then your "majority" rule is to be interpreted as implying, "Exclude the class of members who are not empowered to vote when counting ____ ." (a majority, or a quorum, etc.)
  10. According to Robert's Rules of Order, the complementary motion to "Lay on the Table" is "Take from the Table." See page 300 in RONR 11th edition. *** What you do after that is unclear. I don't know what you mean by "address one". -- Do you mean, debate it? Do you mean, kill it?
  11. If you are asking, "What does Robert's Rules of Order say about emails?", the answer is zilch. You violate no parliamentary rule when party A excludes party B in any letter, email, telegram, text, etc., to parties C, D, E, and so on. There is no quorum involved. There is no meeting involved. There is no previous notice involved. So no parliamentary rule is involved.
  12. And, so, Q. How is this different from just moving the Previous Question on all pending questions? Q. Why is P.Q. not sufficient?
  13. There is no penalty for allowing an erroneous ruling of the chair to go unchallenged. If no one cares enough to challenge the chair's ruling, then perhaps the issue is too small to raise a ruckus. You ought not enforce parliamentary rules which will not be supported by a majority. -- Perhaps the motion in question had so little support that no one bothered to care about Reconsideration.
  14. "All pending motions"? How is this possible, when there is, by rule, only one main motion pending?
  15. Q. Was EXECUTIVE SESSION (a.k.a. "closed session" or "in camera session" or "secret session") invoked inside the board meeting? *** By default, there is no parliamentary rule of "secrecy". But some organizations (yours?) do have customized rules in place, saying otherwise.
  16. The short sound-bite answer is: NO. See Robert's Rules of Order for how it is otherwise possible. Also: See you legal counsel for how it is otherwise possible, if your organization is structured as a home-owners association, which many states have laws allowing a free-er access to board documents.
  17. Idea: You may have to visit the church (Baptist) itself, and ask for their archives. I am sure you are not the first person to ask for 1876 minutes from this church (i.e., year of publication of first edition). Idea: I read that the local historical society is having financial problems restoring the building. I bet a "large donation" will go a long way in urging the local docents in finding an archive. :-)
  18. "Render to Caesar the things which are Caesar's . . ." *** The minutes book belongs to the organization. That which has been adopted, belongs to the organization. And minutes are things which have been adopted. *** I don't know about "notes", whatever they are. -- What are your "notes"?
  19. In general: • Whatever job description is adopted, can be amended. (I assume you are NOT amending bylaws or constitution.) • There is no time limit (like "too late").
  20. Interesting. RONR fails to explicitly mention that, if a rule in the nature of a rule of order is embedded in one's Articles of Incorporation, then the rule may still be suspended. Since one's Articles of Incorporation are issued from the state, I suspect that this may be a legal issue, with 50 answers for the 50 states in the U.S.
  21. You won't find the term "grandfather" in Robert's Rules of Order. *** That being said, there are default rules regarding unwritten customs and traditions. If that is what you are interested in . . .
  22. The appointing party is free to appoint and unappoint whomever he/she/it wishes. (I assume there are no "terms of office" involved.) *** There is no "should" in Robert's Rules of Order regarding your specific scenario. So, no rule is violated (so far) if the spouse sits on a given committee despite a motion being moved by the corresponding spouse. And no rule is violated when the appointing party un-appoints the spouse, even if there is no conflict of interest, either.
  23. You failed to cite the actual METHOD OF AMENDMENT of your bylaws. I doubt your bylaws explicitly say, "2. ... the chair of the committee would not be impartial ...". And, I doubt your bylaw say "... must be approved by the committee ...". So far, your question isn't a question of Robert's Rules, but a question of "organization bylaws". -- And you haven't quoted your bylaws (yet).
  24. It is common (really, it is mandatory) that, in labor unions, no "dark horse" candidates can ever be allowed, under any circumstance. The nomination process is tightly controlled, never mind the act of casting ballots. You may look up the history of labor unions (19th and 20th century), to see as to why such is the case. *** If this organization is labor-related, then such an election rule is due a federal requirement, and not due to any consideration of tellers convenience.
  25. I think a simple "Call for the Orders of the Day" is probably sufficient to shut down a non-motion pending situation -- and move on down the agenda. The members may ask their questions of the report off-line, i.e., AFTER the meeting. Or even BEFORE the meeting. Or even via telephone call, or e-mail. or texting, or Instant Messaging, or Tweets. *** I mean, they are only questions. -- Questions are not like the Elvis song, "It's Now or Never". The report itself isn't going anywhere. It is being archived. Forever. -- Access to the report is virtually unlimited.
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