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RONR states that immediately following the passage of the bylaws, the election of officers takes place. Could the bylaws be passed with the proviso that elections not take place until the following meeting, and that the temporary officers elected to guide the creation of the organization continue in that capacity until such a time? Also, if the bylaws state that regular meetings must be scheduled by resolution at least 21 days in advance, would we have to wait 3 weeks between the meeting where the bylaws are passed and the following meeting?

Duplicate

Page 459 line 4 may be of assistance

Per RONR section 54 (page 553), I'm having the "First Organizational Meeting" of an organization I'm forming. This section mentions that following a presentation by the person most interested in forming the society, there should be a casual discussion about the purpose and structure of the society. Is there a motion to have the secretary pro tem summarize this discussion in the minutes? I realize that minutes are not usually for this purpose, but I think an exception is appropriate in this case.

The Society meets on the first of every month. A member wishes to make a motion at the February meeting that requires previous notice, but failed to give notice at the January meeting. If a special meeting were to occur between the regular January and February meetings, could notice be given at that special meeting and then acted upon at the February meeting?

As am I, which leads me to believe that the president has no such unilateral power unless stated in the bylaws.

I can't find the citation, which leads me to believe that I was wrong.

Such committees would have to be composed of board members and would require board approval.

Yes that's what I was asking

The bylaws of the Society use the same text as the RONR sample bylaws on page 586 regarding EB authority: "The Executive Board shall have general supervision of the affairs of the Society between its business meetings, fix the hour and place of meetings, make recommendations to the Society, and perform such other duties as are specified in these bylaws." This is expounded upon on page 578 lines 1-4 to mean "The Executive Board shall have the responsibility to supervise, and to determine the details of, implementation of the decisions of the Society and, in a manner not inconsistent with such decisions, to attend to any business of the Society that cannot wait until the next meeting." If the Society gave a committee power to carry out a motion, would the EB have any authority regarding the "details of" or "implementation of" that motion? Or would only passed motions not referred to a committee with power fall under the purview of the EB?

That sentence only seems to apply to the president, not all of the officers. Or am I missing something...

My bad, he didn't forget to amend anything. Both the terms "power" and "full power" appear in RONR so I think it just depends on what comes after the word "power." Lines 5-14 on page 172 seem to support my take.

I don't think there's a distinction in RONR between power and full power. It seems to me that Richard added the second paragraph of his post after posting and simply forgot to amend the first paragraph.

How could a motion be worded to give a committee executive authority?

Yes

Say the motion "That the Society have a booth at the county fair, with up to $500 spent on registration and giveaways" is referred to a committee, and that committee is given the power to act. The committee then passes the motion as is. Would being given the power to act also give the committee the power to execute that motion, or would that have to be specified elsewhere in the motion?

Two questions Q1: Are there any limitations to the duties that can be assigned to officers in special rules of order or standing rules? Q2: Would the bylaws have to specifically allow for the assignement of duties to officers in special rules of order or standing rules, or would having adopted RONR as the parliamentary authority with the proper bylaws clause be enough?

Article X -- Parliamentary Authority The rules contained in the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised shall govern the Council in all cases to which they are applicable and in which they are not inconsistent with these bylaws and any special rules of order the Council may adopt. The bylaws do contain the precise language from page 588 (the Council is the short-hand name of the organization). I suppose the question now is whether the duties should be special rules of order or standing rules. Based on my understanding of RONR, if the duties relate to meetings, they have to be special rules of order, whereas administrative duties have to be standing rules.

The bylaws read as follows, "The officers shall perform the duties prescribed in the parliamentary authority and these bylaws" Can additional duties be prescribed as standing rules, so long as they are not inconsistent with higher governing documents? If not, how should the bylaws be amended to allow this?

I disagree with Godelfan. There are so many contradictions in your organization's bylaws that I don't see how they can be reconciled. You need to immediately move for the creation of a bylaws revision committee and get this fixed ASAP. That committee should codify whatever the standard, although illegal, practice has been under the current bylaws.

I have been doing that so far. They'e been a great resource! While I know that for motions requiring notice RONR says declaring one's intent at the previous meeting qualifies as notice, I am confused as to how members not in attendance become aware of this notice. Does RONR set forth a method, or should I specify one? Also, what qualifies as "notice" (pg. 575 lines 6-7) regarding officer vacancies? Do I need to define that too?

I'm actually drafting the bylaws right now. Should I not mention notice at all and leave this entirely to RONR? I just want to make sure that every member knows when notice is given at a meeting, even if they're not at that particular meeting.

When you put it like that, it does sound pointless. Could you point to the part of RONR that defines prior notice?

Thank you. Should prior notice should be defined in an organization's bylaws? If so, would "announced at the previous general meeting and distributed to the membership with the draft meeting minutes by the secretary" be appropriate?

Including motions that require prior notice under some circumstances, such as amending the special rules of order.