ttraider88

Our bylaws state that as Parliamentarian..."any violations will be recorded by the Parliamentarian and reported to the Bord for corrective action. My term is up as of June 1st. During the transition to the next Parliamentarian, how much of what was recorded is kept? I have a Parliamentarian email account with a lot documentation in it as well things in writing when members had grievances with other members. Do I keep all of that as is to be passed on? Our bylaws do not say anything else other violations are recorded and reported to the board.

As newly elected officers but not starting their term until June 1st, are they allowed to attend and participate in the current executive board meetings?

We had board elections in April. Our bylaws state that "Executive board members (elected or appointed) shall serve a term of one service year. A service year is from June 1 through May 31." Are the newly elected board members allowed to vote on anything the current executive board is considering or do they have to wait until their official term begins June 1st?

Our organization has 2 sets of fees. The membership dues which are collected at the time a person completes the application and makes payment to become a member and what we call "fair share" fees. The fair share fees are paid towards expenses incurred during marching season. Marching season runs from late August-early November. Due to the expense of purchasing items such as the marching program music, paying technicians, fees for competitions, uniform cleaning fees, instrument repair, show props, etc, these fees are due upon the conclusion of marching season. We do provide monthly installments for paying out the fees during marching season as well as allowing members "credits" towards fees if there is a hardship situation. Hardship case determination is at the director's discretion. The director also requires that all outstanding fair share fees be caught up in order to attend the end of year band banquet. We have about 2 months left in our fiscal year and we have a huge deficit in our account because of outstanding fair share fees. The director has been sending out notices that fees need to be paid since marching season ended in November. Are members with these outstanding still eligible to vote? It is now hindering our ability to even put a budget together for next year because we are in a such a huge deficit.

If a point of order from the floor calls into a question a member's good standing and the chair rules well taken, can that member ask for justification for not being in good standing or do the general rules of debate still apply? Regarding the nominating committee, if only one person has submitted an application for an office and the committee is provided information that the member is not in good standing, does that candidate have to be recommended by the committee? This is a band booster organization and it was brought to the committee's attention that there have been some complaints filed with the head director about this members conduct. The directors spoke to the member about these complaints but the behavior has not been satisfactorily resolved. These complaints were not submitted to the Parliamentarian and recorded as required by our bylaws. The language for membership states that "Parents and guardians of students enrolled in the band program of OHS may become members of the Band Boosters by paying annual membership dues and student Fair Share fees and agreeing to abide by the bylaws. Members may vote, hold an elected office, serve in an appointed position and participate in all Band booster activities except as otherwise provided by the bylaws. The language for the nominating committee is "shall consider all candidates for elected positions whose submissions meet the requirements set forth by these bylaws and who have signified their consent to serve if elected; may consider additional candidates during its deliberations and shall submit only one name for each position to be filled." It further states "nominees from the floor shall be accepted at the election meeting and candidates must be in good standing." Under Parliamentarian description the language states the role is to "enforce that the board and boosters abide by it's bylaws and Robert's Rules of Order. Any violations will be recorded by the parliamentarian and reported to the board for corrective action. If actions are repeated or not corrected, the parliamentarian shall report violations to the general membership at the next general meeting." Thank you for your response.

A special meeting was called to vote the nominating committee in place. A special meeting was used because it was determined after the monthly meeting that the motion for the nomination was seconded but never voted on as another motion was brought to the floor. Once in place the committee began its review process of the applicants. It was brought to the attention of the committee that the bylaws state that "the report of the nominating committee shall be published to the membership through regular publicity channels at least seven days before the election meeting." The committee has been unable to meet the 7 day requirement because of the special meeting being called and allowing proper notice for that. Our elections are Tuesday night. Is the work of the committee now invalid since it didn't meet the 7 day requirement? Can the membership vote as to whether or not to accept the recommendations of the nominating committee or will everything need to be done from the floor? For floor nominations, is there any discussion allowed as to a member's "good standing" requirement in our bylaws? Or do floor nominations if accepted go straight to a vote?

No point of order was called and another motion was picked up after that. We were voting to put a nominating committee in place for upcoming elections. Our bylaws do not mention anything about voting by email or zoom. However monthly zoom meetings were done during covid. The nominating committee is to make candidate recommendations for elections at the April meeting. We would prefer not having to do everything from the floor.

If a motion is put on the floor, seconded, there is no debate but the President moves on without calling for a vote, the motion is still pending correct? What are the options? Can the membership who was present at the meeting vote by email? Could a special meeting by zoom be called or would the vote have to take place in person? Our bylaws do allow for special meetings to be called.

Is there a specific rule that can be cited to the member asking?

Our membership has always been in the practice of using a Reader's Committee to review the minutes and make corrections/edits. The committee is appointed by the President, each committee member reviews the minutes on his/her own and submits corrections to the secretary. The corrected minutes then go to the executive board for approval. Per our by laws, "approval of minutes for the previous meeting will be made at the following Executive Board meeting." The President announces at the next general meeting whether or not the minutes were approved by the committee. The approved minutes are posted electronically for members to access. Everything I'm reading in Section 48 tells me this is incorrect procedure. The Readers Committee isn't mentioned anywhere in our bylaws. It's just something that's always been done. There is no instruction as to what happens if the all 3 committee members don't agree on the minutes as proposed. Does this process need to be changed to be in line with Section 48 Minutes and Reports of Officers? If so, should this be implemented at the next membership meeting?

At our last booster meeting, a member mentioned that is the members who adjourn the meetings not the President. Is there a specific rule about who closes meetings? I did see in 6:12(4) that a member can close the meeting by moving to adjourn even with business pending. Our assembly has fixed, regular monthly meeting dates that are announced at the beginning of the school year. What reason would a member want to close a meeting with business pending? I'm trying to understand why that was even brought up. The President has always adjourned the meetings.