Carlos

Fascinating. Really. I believe that next year we will present an agenda, then ask the membership to vote to accept. That should prevent any questions and/or ill will moving forward!

Mr. Katz, Thank you for your clarity and brevity. Based upon MY admittedly superficial "research," I came away with a similar conclusion. More so to the point that BECAUSE it is a "membership meeting," the following holds: a. There are no "officers": They could/should sit amongst the membership b. I believe I even saw in writing that there, "should not be a 'head' table!" c. Everyone present is equal since it is a "membership" meeting. Do you by any chance have a cite you can share that nails this home? This WILL be challenged. Note that I have already tucked away the other two cites shared in this thread. That said, I suspect that there is a section--a sentence--that nails once and for all the point that a "membership" meeting devoid of other rules IS open to all BECAUSE everyone is EQUAL. (Fingers crossed it's that simple. LOL). THANK YOU!

W/ regard to the "make your motion during 'New Biz,'" the problem was that that was at the end of the Annual Mtg., by which time the point was moot. For context, the issue was this: a. Agenda posted by then current Bd prior to mtg b. During mtg, then current Bd would be succeeded by new Bd members via vote, consistent w/ past practice c. The motion was made to change the agenda ORDER to ensure that pending proposals promoted by then current (e.g. "old") Bd would be voted on PRIOR to the vote installing the new Bd...since it was the original (e.g. "old") Bd that proposed/advocated the proposals the gen'l membership would be asked to vote on and therefore made sense that they "own" their proposals and handle the presentation of each and the impending debate. In other words, d. The motion from the Floor when the pending proposals were about to be discussed and then voted upon was to move the proposal discussion/election to AFTER the election of new officers. Put another way, to reverse the order from "Vote on/install new Bd, BEFORE proposals" to "vote on proposals created/advocated by current Bd, THEN new Bd" (again, to match proposal discussion w/ the Bd members that created them--as they were all defeated by wide margins). It was a simple concept, but the then current (e.g. "old") Bd ruled the motion "improper" (and still maintain that it was "based on research of Roberts' Rules). During that mtg, were verbally challenged, directed that a "show of hands" be counted--THREE TIMES (it wasn't close)--before they would honor the motion to reverse the order of the Agenda items and place action on the proposals ahead of voting in the new Bd. To be clear: There had been no motion to "approve" the agenda as proposed for that mtg. Fast forward: The claim today remains that the motion from the floor was an "improper motion." Demand si to clearly indicate that in the Minutes of the Annual Mtg. Hence the questions re: "Annual vs. Board" meetings: Understood that during a regular Board meeting, it is the members of the Board that may make motions/vote, etc. the point of the questions here was to confirm that during a MEMBERSHIP meeting (Annual, in our case), ALL members are, in fact, "equal" and can therefore make motions. I hope this context clarifies the situation and that you still agree w/ your original guidance! Thank you for your time!

Hello. Looking to confirm three points: First, that unlike during regular Board meeting, an ANNUAL meeting entitles anyone within the "General membership" to make a motion from the Floor. Second, that the motion to (only) CHANGE the order of the agenda would be appropriate in this scenario Finally, what (if any) "caveats" are there to this as there will be pushback regardless of the answer! I am dictating this and have a friend writing as I have vision issues. IF you have time, any supporting citations would be extremely helpful! Thank you!