cdjames2

I did not see this listed anywhere in the forum so I am starting the conversation.  

What is the role of the Semicolon in understanding any particular amendment in an organization's bylaws?  The semicolon is often read the same as a comma and changes the interpretation of bylaws.

The president is not the president of assembly they are president of the institution. The governing documents give them the right to suspend or start any activity. Dont assume that I have not paid attention to the if.  The if is in fact what it is.   

On 8/20/2021 at 10:20 PM, Richard Brown said:

I don’t really understand this. How did your president “make it so you can suspend the rules” and meet electronically?

It seems to me like that’s a pretty big “if” that perhaps the original poster should pay close attention to. But I do agree that if they can validly hold electronic meetings, they can most likely amend the bylaws using one. 

Gary I thinking you are miss reading my question.

19 hours ago, Gary Novosielski said:

There's a lot of wiggle room in that statement.  I have no idea what the "authority of our system" means.  Presumably there was some written declaration of emergency  by <some authority> that could be consulted to confirm that the president had such powers, and which spells out in particular how far those powers extend.

If the rules in RONR apply, the whole thing is prohibited.  So we hope there's some rule somewhere that supersedes the rule in RONR.  The president presumably can provide the authority under which he "made it so".

Daniel  Thank you.  What I have presented is correct? In this case the president of our institution does not preside over this body but has authority over this body. They released a statement with details regarding the ability to hold meetings electronically because of Covid-19 mandates that where implemented by the state.

Thank you for your response.

Please direct me to another part of the forum if this question has already been answered. 
 

I work at a public institution who has adopted RONR as it authority. Because of COVID we have been in state of emergency since spring 2020. During the emergency our president under the authority of our system made it so we could suspend rules regarding meetings so that we could meet on line. So now we are having electronic meetings. Can we now vote during these electronic meetings to change the bylaws. We are not sure when the state of emergency will be removed. Can we vote to amend the bylaws to allow for electronic meetings while in this emergency status or do we have to wait till the emergency is over and have one meeting face to face in order to included online meetings. I think we can go on and vote for the amendment to add electronic meetings with 2/3 vote of those present at an official meeting even if it is under the directive of president for emergency.  Am I right? Are there other solutions. 

So the meeting is on October 16th, the agenda went out in email on October 9th. The mistake was found yesterday and the agenda was posted online today.  So do they have to cancel the meeting.  Nothing in the constitutions allows them to adjust the rule except that at the meeting the agenda can be modified.

A group I am a part of has in its Constitution that the agenda must be sent to each voting member and posted on line 5 days before meeting. The agenda was sent to everyone but a posting mistake with the online version was noticed two days before meeting. A member is now suggesting that we can not hold the meeting or use the agenda. Is there a way to correct this so we can maintain our regular meeting time?