J. Moore

Thank you all for your replies. I was looking for how the actual mechanics of breaking off and taking up special orders are done. I have read and re-read all the relevant sections (and others, besides!); of course, I do know that the secretary does not transcribe minutes verbatim so that was poor writing on my part. You have helped to make the process much clearer.

When a special order or a general order is made for a particular time and that time arrives, RRO states the chair simply announces it. So, if the society is in the midst of debating some other matter, how is the other matter put aside? Must there be a motion of some kind? Does the secretary simply note what the last point made in the debate was so that it may be returned to after disposal of the special/general order? And after the special/general order has been disposed of, does the chair just say something to the effect of, discussion now resumes on the matter that was interrupted?

Society's bylaws read: "The Board may each year appoint standing committees.......Such committees shall always be subject to the final authority of the Board. Special committees may also be appointed by the Board to assist on particular projects. Any committee appointment may be terminated by a majority vote of the full membership of the Board upon written notice to the appointee, and the Board may appoint successors to those persons whose services have been terminated." Society recently held a general membership meeting, and a quorum was present. A member obtained the floor and moved that a committee be established to revise the bylaws. No Board member raised an objection to the motion and the chair put the motion to a vote by the assembly. The assembly approved the formation of a committee to revise the bylaws. The custom in this society is for a member to write his/her name on a sheet that is passed around immediately after the vote to volunteer to serve on the committee. This was done, and a number of members volunteered to serve on the committee. The sign up sheet was then taken by one of the Board members and the meeting continued and concluded in the usual fashion. Three days later, a Board member contacted the motion maker to say that the Board has the complete authority over the formation of committees and the Board thanks the member for her interest in this matter, but the committee formation is in abeyance. Question: Since a quorum was present and since no Board member objected and since the chair put the question to the assembly and allowed the vote, can the Board now deny the formation of the committee? My understanding of RRO is that this is a legally formed committee and the Board may not overturn the decision of the assembly. The Board appears to want to fight the establishment of this committee. What recourse under RRO is there?

Our board has revised our constitution and bylaws. They have given the proper amount of notice, as required. The reason for the revision is that the board wishes every member to sign, on a yearly basis, four different documents to maintain "member in good standing status", in addition to paying dues. They did this because it was pointed out to them that standing depends only on whether or not dues have been paid (as is stated in the current bylaws), and since the relevant documents were not listed in the bylaws, this created a conflict with the bylaws taking precedence. The four documents have been listed in the revision; they have also been attached as "exhibits". I can find no reference to attaching exhibits in RRO; the closest I can find is that the bylaws would be printed in a booklet, along with standing rules and any other relevant documents, to be given to members as needed. Can bylaws have "exhibits" attached to them? I suspect this attachment is being done to put these documents on an equal footing with the bylaws, and I do not believe this can be done, since RRO clearly states the bylaws have precedence over all other rules of an organization, after state and Federal, of course.

To continue with this query, if the annual financial report is prepared by an auditor or audit firm and that is what the Treasurer presents to the membership, what happens to that report - is it appended to the minutes of the meeting, or is it just filed with the Treasurer's books? It seems logical that if the members are asked to approve the audit, that it should be appended to the minutes and become part of the organization's official record, but I cannot find anything in RRO that addresses this point. Can you help?

I belong to an organization that uses RRO as its parliamentary authority; in its bylaws, there is an order of business for general membership meetings. Lately, the board has been ignoring the order of business (over the protests of some members). What is the correct way to ask, or move, to get the board (and chair) to follow the order of business as laid out in the bylaws?