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Great! Thank you for providing me with your thoughts! How would you recommend the bylaws be clarified? I'm open to all suggestions to make it easier moving forward.

Thank you for that clarification! So do you believe that the quorum consists of those who attend the meeting? Previously, all middle and high school students vote to elect officers. This is also provided in our Constitution and Bylaws (quoted below). "Section 3.3 - Voting. Following speeches, officers shall be elected by ballot unless there is only one candidate in which case the candidate shall be elected by viva-voce. All HCHSA middle and high school students shall have the right to vote in elections. The nominee receiving the majority votes will be elected into office."

Only the Student Council members are allowed to participate as a member during regular/special meetings. Our Association members consists of adults and students (grades K-12). The Association has a Board of Directors which consists of the parents. The Board created the Student Council. The reason sec. 5.2 specifies who can participate during annual meetings is to provide a grade limit. We always have a quorum of the Council members present at meetings. I am just curious if we have an annual meeting, does that now expand the number for a quorum because now there are more students participating?

You're right, the list of items is the order of business, but they make up the agenda. Here are sections 5.1 - 5.4: Article V. Meetings Section 5.1 - Regular Meetings. Regular meetings shall be held on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month at 12:30 p.m. from September to May of the following year inclusive unless otherwise ordered by the Council. Section 5.2 - Annual Meetings. The regular meeting on the second Tuesday in May shall be known as the annual meeting. The purpose of the meeting shall be to elect officers for the next school year, to receive reports of officers and committees, and for any other business that may arise. All HCHSA middle school and high school students shall have the right to participate in annual meetings. Section 5.3 - Special Meetings. Special meetings may be called by the president or upon a written request of three Council members. The purpose of the meeting shall be stated in the notice. Section 5.4 - Quorum. A majority of the Council’s membership shall constitute a quorum.

I am a member of a student organization that adheres to RRNR. I have a few questions regarding an annual meeting. Thanks for any help! 1) When should elections take place? Our agenda typically looks like this: CALL TO ORDER ROLL CALL INVOCATION 1. ADOPTION OF AGENDA 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 3. REPORTS OF OFFICERS 4. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES 5. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES 6. SPECIAL ORDERS 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS AND GENERAL ORDERS 7. NEW BUSINESS 8. OFFICER’S OPEN FORUM 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS ADJOURNMENT 2) What is the quorum required for the meeting? All middle and high school students have the right to participate. So, is it a quorum of the number of middle and high school students or is it still a quorum of the Council? Here are sections from Article V. Meetings of the Constitution and Bylaws for reference: Section 5.2 - Annual Meetings. The regular meeting on the second Tuesday in May shall be known as the annual meeting. The purpose of the meeting shall be to elect officers for the next school year, to receive reports of officers and committees, and for any other business that may arise. All HCHSA middle school and high school students shall have the right to participate in annual meetings. Section 5.4 - Quorum. A majority of the Council’s membership shall constitute a quorum.

It seems that Josh provided a good example. I was looking at the U.S. Senate "Floor Activity" and found an example that may also work. Although the Senate does not use RRNR, they can still use unanimous consent. By unanimous consent, on the request of Mr. McConnell, at 5:05 p.m., the Senate adjourned, under its order of today, until 10 a.m. tomorrow. - U.S. Senate Floor Activity: Adjournment So a similar wording could be: "On the request of Member A, it was agreed by unanimous consent 'to host a Christmas party on December 21, 2019, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.'" It is just a hypothetical question, but it could be for the body to host the party. I agree, it should definitely be in the minutes. Probably just in different wording.

Thank you, Greg! I know you said the wording is the same but asking for unanimous consent isn't necessarily making a motion, correct? So why would you say "On motion by..."?

Could someone provide examples of how to write something that was adopted by unanimous consent in the minutes? I provided two examples below. Thanks! Example 1 (Motion): Member A: "I move to host a Christmas party on December 21, 2019, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m." Chair: "Is there an objection?" [pause] "Without objection, it is so ordered." Example 2 (Unanimous Consent): Member A: "I ask unanimous consent to host a Christmas party on December 21, 2019, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m." Chair: "Without objection, it is so ordered."

Below is the wording from the bylaws. Please let me know what you think. Section 6.1 - Establishing Committees; Vice President’s Ex-Officio Membership. Committees, standing or special, may be established by the Council as it shall deem necessary. Each committee shall consist of three or five members, besides the vice president. Their members shall be elected by ballot as prescribed by the parliamentary authority. Each Council member may nominate one person. The vice president shall be an ex officio member of all committees.

So the student council I am a member of uses the order of business listed in RRNR on p. 353. The agendas are also sent out with the notice of a meeting (at least 72 hrs. prior to the start of the meeting) by the president(chair) of the council. Would it be "acceptable" or "proper" for the president to add items under New Business? I understood that nothing should be listed under New Business because this is a time for members to bring up their own proposals/motions.

This was a regular meeting and it was done under New Business. I think the chair did not announce that nominations were open because it was under New Business and it was not a special order or general order. I think the chair can only announce something like that if it is "supposed" to come up (such as a special order or general order). Does anyone else have a different perspective on this situation?

Thank you very much! Lastly, I wanted to see if anyone finds anything wrong with this procedure? This occurred at a previous meeting and I want to confirm if this is possible to do or if there were any errors in this procedure. 1) a member asked unanimous consent to open nominations for a vacant committee position 2) without objection, nominations were open 3) nominations were made 4) after there were no more nominations, nominations were closed 5) a member moved to set the ballot vote for the nominees as a special order for the next meeting (This was done so the council could contact the nominees to see if they were interested in serving before voting.) 5) the motion was adopted Anything wrong here?

For something to be made a general order doesn't it have to be voted to be such at a previous meeting?

Ok, thank you for clarifying that. You're right, I missed that part.

Thank you for confirming that, but what motion exactly needs to be made in order to do that. Would it be a motion to open nominations, a motion to appoint members to the vacant positions, etc? I'm looking for a step-by-step process if someone can provide me with one. In response to your question about whether the vice president counts towards a quorum of a committee or not (as an ex-officio member): RRNR, page 497, lines 20-22 states, "The rules affecting ex-officio members of committees are the same as those applying to ex-officio members of boards (pp. 483-84)." Page 483, line 35, and page 484, lines 1-3 states, "The latter class of ex-offico board member, who had no obligation to participate, should not be counted in determining the number required for a quorum or whether a quorum is present at a meeting." Therefore, I believe the vice president does not count towards a quorum. However, someone please correct me if I am wrong.

I the president of a student council that is governed by a single constitution and bylaws document and the latest edition of RRNR. At a previous regular council meeting, a motion was adopted to create a special committee of five members to organize an event the council will be hosting. After the motion was adopted, the council went straight into making nominations for the special committee. After there were no more nominations, the chair closed the nominations and the council voted by ballot. In the end, five members were appointed to the committee. Our bylaws state that a committee shall consist of either three or five members, besides the vice president (who is an ex-offico member of all committees). It also states that members to any type of committee shall be elected by ballot. Recently, two members declined their position on the committee, which leaves the committee with two vacancies. The council now needs to appoint two more members to the committee in order to fulfill the five-member positions that were established by the adopted motion. With that said, I'm wondering what is the proper procedure to fill the two vacancies (ie. what motion needs to be made to do so, etc.)? Thank you for any help!