Newteach201

Is it debatable?

Hi!

We have draft minutes from a board meeting. We had advice from our lawyer and a statement was made. The vice president wants to change the statement because the secretary rejected the amendment. 

What happens now?

Thank you!

Hello!

Our Bylaws require a first reading of a bylaw amendment before it is voted on during a second meeting, 27 days later. During the first reading, does there need to be quorum at the meeting? THANKS! 

Hello! I'm back again. I have a committee that is in our bylaws and the members are elected. They elect their own chair. The committee appears to have decided that they would like to have co-chairs. The bylaws state that they elect their own chair, not co-chairs. Do they have the right to elect co-chairs? thanks!

Fantastic. I will keep them as is and we wont vote until we need to change! Thank you!

Hello!

We recently had a transition in our leadership and there is a new chair of our large meetings. We normally go through and adopt the standing rules at our first meeting. We did not meet quorum, so we could not adopt. Do the old rules stand? Do we just use policy and Bylaws until the new rules come into place (new standing rules have some rule changes)? Thanks for always helping

What if we don't know if that's what we want but we want to try a change before we commit to a bylaws change. 

Hi I am back! Our bylaws mention a certain position that we would have to hire for. What if we can't hire for this position? Can't find the funds? Or just want to try something different, do we need to change our bylaws? It just says the board directs this person but that direction is limited. That's the only mention of this position. I am hoping we can find something different as this position has not been a good fit.

Hi!

Our association recently made a motion that passed but was later determined by the chair to be out of order because it was a violation of the bylaws. What could remedy this? We can fix it as nothing has happened yet. Please help. 

On 6/10/2022 at 6:56 PM, Joshua Katz said:

In that case, given that:

I would certainly recommend following Robert's Rules, which are designed for that very purpose.

I'm assuming your bylaws do not require adherence to any particular parliamentary manual. If they do, you should follow that. But if you are truly at sea for procedure, then certainly I'd recommend using some set of rules rather than winging it, which will result in easily getting side-tracked and not being in order. And if you're going to use some set of rules, RONR, refined over many volumes, seems like a good choice.

That's my thought. I want us to stay on track. It's still a meeting of sorts if we vote or not. 

On 6/10/2022 at 6:46 PM, Joshua Katz said:

Are you making decisions? Is it in the nature of a business meeting, or something else?

We will be making some decisions. Some of it is your typical conference with conversation. 

Hello!

I am running a retreat with a local organization.  We are not voting (theoretically).  Should we follow Roberts or is that not necessary? I would like us to stay in order and not get side tracked as time is of the essence. 

Thanks!

On 5/12/2022 at 11:44 AM, Dan Honemann said:

And how are these representatives chosen, and by whom?

Voted in by the members or they volunteer. Each group gets a certain number of reps from each cluster of members (dept).

On 5/12/2022 at 11:38 AM, Joshua Katz said:

What do your bylaws say about amendments?

We have a bylaws process. There are multiple ways to move a bylaw but it has to go to the reps and to vote we need a quorum. Which we have not gotten

Hi 

Our large organization uses representatives to vote. In order to have quorum, we need a majority of those reps. This isn't happening. Is there a way to suspend quorum rules or change them to allow us to have quorum until we start getting quorum again? Business can't get done and it's become a bigger and bigger problem. Also, if anyone else has faced this, ideas, would be amazing. 

Tonight, we vote on standing rules.  First, do we vote on them? Second, how can we change them? I saw something about advanced notice? We just got the rules, does that mean we don't vote until next meeting? Thanks!

Yes. I suppose so. So, no New business can be brought forward by itself? I have to submit all new business 2 weeks before the meeting per standing rules? 

Just now, Joshua Katz said:

Your organization's rules of order will take precedence over RONR. Your standing rules will not. The type of thing you are discussing here is a rule of order, and would govern over RONR.

Rules of Order. By laws? I don't Think we have rules of order? We have standing rules, by laws and Roberts.

Do standing rules overrule Robert's? Such as: if you have new business and the Association requires New Business to be submitted a week before. However, New Business can be brought on the floor? Can new business only be brought by submitting New business weeks before the meeting? 

2 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

RONR provides a number of options to deal with stubborn presiding officers. Members could start by raising a Point of Order, followed by an Appeal if necessary. There are also tools to use if these motions are ignored. One "last resort" option is to remove the presiding officer from the chair temporarily (such as for the duration of the current meeting). This may be done much more swiftly than procedures to remove this person from office permanently.

See RONR (12th ed.) 62:2-15 for more information.

So I can call point of order even though, I am guessing that he can't change it once we are there. 

Hi everyone,

I have another question in preparation for our assembly tomorrow. Last assembly, a motion passed on the floor that "allowed participants to see each other and the participant list" prior to this, the President had been using panel view. 

If the president ops for panel view which is a violation of the motion. What can be done at the assembly? Yes, I know recall is always an option but our process for that is extended and will not fix the probable problem tomorrow. 

Thanks!

On 1/7/2021 at 1:41 PM, Rob Elsman said:

Unlike  Mr. Martin, I predict that this kind of "mixed presence" meeting or convention will become the new norm.  The technology for this is improving constantly.  As long as all the members agree to what the rules will be, and the rules are muscular enough to cover the unique parliamentary challenges, I think this is fine.

It might be worthwhile to consult with a professional parliamentarian to develop the necessary special rules of order.  With enough forethought, planning, and training, I think this can be made to work.

I am going to ask a beginners question. Where do I find a professional parlimentarian? Thanks 

14 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

The RONR Authorship Team has developed four different sets of rules for electronic meetings. Those rules are in the 12th edition and are also available here: http://robertsrules.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/electronic-meeting-sample-rules.pdf

Scenario C in that document appears to most closely match what is described here. The rules may require some modification due to the fact that the technology proposed is slightly different than what is envisioned in the scenario, and also because all of the scenarios in the document are designed with a small board in mind rather than a full-sized assembly. It may, however, still provide a starting point.

I have seen small boards meet in the manner you have described and it seems to work reasonably well. I generally do not see larger assemblies attempt to meet in this manner.

I kind of figured. We are a large organization. Many of the members are scattered about the area making it difficult for some (many)to make it. Our assembly would be around 90? And maybe half or less would be on zoom. So, I will look into this to see if we can figure it out. 

Hi Everyone,

I know that this is not Robert's Rules specific but I am curious: Our organization is looking to the future when we can have large gatherings again (Assembly). We are thinking that we would like to have concurrent meetings going (Zoom and in-person) based on the members needs. Has anyone done this? What would it look like? Does it work? How?

You are all my favorite group. You truly have guided me and helped me understand the intricacies of Robert's and their importance within our organization (you even motivated me to push for a parliamentarian!) 

Thank you!