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Atul Kapur

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Everything posted by Atul Kapur

  1. RONR (12th ed.) "47:55 A member of an assembly who acts as its parliamentarian has the same duty as the presiding officer to maintain a position of impartiality, and therefore does not make motions, participate in debate, or vote on any question except in the case of a ballot vote. He does not cast a deciding vote, even if his vote would affect the result, since that would interfere with the chair’s prerogative of doing so. If a member feels that he cannot properly forgo these rights in order to serve as parliamentarian, he should not accept that position. Unlike the presiding officer, the parliamentarian cannot temporarily relinquish his position in order to exercise such rights on a particular motion."
  2. As there is no identified person or group, it was used to cover any and all circumstancese (it's a very useful word).
  3. Look at the motion to Rescind or to Amend Something Previously Adopted.
  4. I don't understand how your bylaws can specify 2 classes without defining their criteria or how the classification is determined.
  5. 😀 I haven't heard of anyone who wants to mess with your pronouns, so of course you can continue to use the singular for yourself. I understand that they are seeking to have their preferences similarly respected.
  6. I agree with Mr. Martin and reinforce his point that 2/3 of the entire officers is required, not just 2/3 of those who are present. As an example, if there were 15 officers, the 9 who were present could never have achieved the required 10 vote minimum. What was the pretext for repeating the vote? RONR (12th ed.) 30:6 is clear that "It is never in order to move that the vote on a question be taken a second time by the same method." The first vote provided a definitive result.
  7. Removal from office only requires a majority vote under two sets of circumstances (a) if the bylaws specify the term of office as "___ years or until their successors are elected" and previous notice was given; or (b) if the bylaws specify the term of office as "___ years and until their successors are elected" and the person was found guilty after a trial, then the meeting may vote to remove the person from office by a majority vote.
  8. Under RONR, a member who is delinquent with membership dues retains all their rights, including the right to make nominations. RONR (12th ed.) 1:13n3 states "Members in good standing are those whose rights as members of the assembly are not under suspension as a consequence of disciplinary proceedings or by operation of some specific provision in the bylaws. A member may thus be in good standing even if in arrears in payment of dues (see 45:1, 56:19)." As Mr. Lages advises, you should also check your organization's governing documents to see if they say anything about "good standing" or the effect of being delinquent in dues. I believe the OP is asking about the nominator, rather than the nominee.
  9. The Standard Order of Business in RONR includes Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees but this is the second item, after Reading and Approval of Minutes, rather than "In the beginning of our board meetings." RONR (12th ed.) 41:5 While it is not specified in RONR, a member may make a Request for Information after the report.
  10. Hi Cheryl, Robert's Rules of Order (RONR) defers to legislation and special rules of order adopted by the organization. Here in Canada, most municipalities are governed by the applicable provincial law (eg: Ontario's Municipal Act) and then usually adopt their own special rules (in Ontario, this is called the Procedural By-law). Most municipalities specify a parliamentary authority in their procedural by-law but only in situations when the law and procedural by-law are silent. Many use RONR, but there are several that use others. RONR, itself, does not require a recorded vote unless the assembly itself orders one. I know of some municipal and similar councils in Canada that require a recorded vote for all final decisions, but it is not widespread. You mentioned "tradition." RONR uses the word "custom" and the rules of order, special rules and the rules in RONR, supersede custom.
  11. In case it helps, another P.A. (AIP Standard Code) defines a "majority of the quorum" as "a majority of those present and voting, assuming a quorum is present, with the further stipulation that the affirmative vote must include a majority of the number required for a quorum." If you replace majority with ¾, you get the same result as your option #4.
  12. I don't know about strange. Sloppy, yes, but unfortunately not as rare as you'd hope. So, from here you can raise a point of order that the added sentence was never properly adopted and should be struck out. And you could appeal the ruling if it goes against you. If that doesn't work, then you can move to amend the bylaws (following requirements for notice, etc).
  13. That one. Your bylaws, you tell us, specify five individuals on the board. What authority allows anyone (committee, board, etc) to ignore the bylaws? Edited to add: see Mr. Novosielski's reply, above, with more details about how to conduct your elections.
  14. Motions can be referred to a committee. The purpose is usually to have the committee review the motion in depth and make recommendations to the assembly.
  15. The first rule of Reconsider and Enter Club is ... 😀
  16. Actually, you're second on that point, Gary Josh 😉
  17. You do not, normally adopt or approve committee reports. The committee makes its report, members may have questions for the reporting member (through a Request for Information), then you thank the reporting member and move to the next item of business. And, for certainty, there is no motion to "receive" the report. If the committee has recommendations in its report, then they should be made as motions, which are processed as any other motion (except that a second is not required).
  18. That the bylaws interpret the Articles of Incorporation as being specific to election by the membership, rather than including appointment by the board to fill a vacancy. I'm not saying that I like this interpretation, but it is not unreasonable. In the end, the organization, itself, is the body that needs to decide if this bylaw provision is in conflict with the Articles. I would also advise that they consult an attorney experienced in the relevant law.
  19. Both. The Articles of Incorporation take precedence over the bylaws. RONR (12th ed.) 2:7 and 2:5 The two provisions can be read together in a way that doesn't create a conflict so that should be the way they're read. 56:68(2)
  20. Doesn't sound like it would, no. You do have proper business meetings as well, I hope.
  21. Between us non-lawyers, what do you make of this excerpt from, I presume, statute: I may have missed it in the volume of posts, but I do not see that "the items on the agenda" were provided.
  22. I'm also not an attorney, but I have reviewed enough bylaws to suggest that you are assuming, incorrectly, that these two sections are adjacent. More likely, the first snippet ("Quorum") is in the section about meetings of the association (that is, meetings of the members) and states the quorum for those meetings. The second snippet ("Quorum and Vote") appears to be taken from the section on meetings of he board and only states the quorum for board meetings and has nothing to do with quorum at membership meetings. I have seen quorum requirements for membership meetings that do require the presence of a certain number of officers and/or directors, but in those cases the requirements are in the same section, not divided as here (eg: "Quorum is 20% of the membership including at least one Officer.")
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