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When is someone considered to have attended a meeting? Our bylaws state that someone becomes an active member upon attending 3 consecutive meetings. Active members may vote in elections. The question has come up as to whether the third meeting can be the one at which the vote is taken. Stated differently, would someone be considered to have attended a meeting upon arrival at the meeting, and thereby be considered an active member at the time of arrival or would they be considered to have attended a meeting upon the completion of the meeting?

Stated meetings have started at 6 p.m. for several years. Now a member wants to change the meeting to 4 p.m. If the majority vote to change the meeting time, is it legal to do so if other member's work hours will prevent them from coming to the meetings?

On the first session (and first meeting), resolutions were to be dealt with. Four were approved, one was postponed indefinitely, and seven were postponed until a certain committee was present. Does the next meeing (or session) start with the postponed seven resolutions, or do they start with the new agenda before the seven resolutions? Note, the charter is nearly completely devoid of meeting procedures.

Should we be including an open discussion in our meeting without a motion out? I have yet to see a requirement for open business after new business, but a member of our organization is adamant we are wrong and it is required.

We are planning on holding our Annual Membership meeting soon. Can non members attend? Can non members discuss or make motions? I know they can not vote.

We hold both our general meeting and board meeting on the same date. The board meeting directly following the general meeting. Our president was out of town on our last meeting date. She did not leave an agenda for either meeting. The vice president presided over the general meeting having put together an agenda with 2 other Board members. They also went ahead and had the board meeting without the knowledge of the president. They created an agenda and the president was not apprised of any of the topics for discussion. Are they allowed to do that? It seems wrong to me.

We have a Mayor who is facing the grand jury tomorrow for possible felony charges. She is also facing an impeachment call from concerned citizens and if those two fail an recall vote later on in month. Last year the sitting council members (many changes from that board at the time to the current board) took the administration duties of operating the city from mayor to the city manager, or administration. Last months regular council meeting the item to return the administration dues to the mayor was on the agenda but after thought she asked they delay this until the next regular council meeting (3rd Monday nights are regular meetings) and this request passed 6 to0 to do so. Now with mayor facing grand jury, impeachment, and recall she has decided to call a special meeting to give the mayor the administration duties back. If she does resign, true billed by grand jury, impeached or recalled the mayor pro-tem will then have administration duties. In fact he is pushing this meeting so he can fire some of the employees he does not like. What can we do as citizens to stop this act from taking place? As you can see we are pushed for time as they meet May 2 2016. Thanks Derwood

If an official meeting is held in conjunction with a larger event, can a member be counted as attending the meeting even though he or she is not within the physical area of the meeting but only in attendance at the larger event in the same building?

can a item brought up at a meeting be voted on if members are not previously made aware of the subject.

can a item brought up at a meeting be voted on if members are not previously made aware of the subject.

At an All Member Meeting can the membership select a chair to preside over the meeting ? In the past it has been the President but there has been debate that it does not have to be; since the meeting is the memberships and not a board of directors meeting.

We are a small condominium association with a very small board, 3 board members. The Bylaws provide that special meetings of the members may be called by the President, Vice-President or a majority of the board, and must be called by the association upon receipt of written request by 20% of the voting interests. The Bylaws provide for no time limitation upon which the board must call the meeting. The Bylaws also specifically reference RONR as the parliamentary procedures to be followed. Florida Statutes 718.112(2)©1 states in part: "If 20 percent of the voting interests petition the board to address an item of business, the board, within 60 days after receipt of the petition, shall place the item on the agenda at its next regular board meeting or at a special meeting called for that purpose." Q: Is there a way that 20% of the members can actually call the meeting, create the agenda, meet the notice requirements, etc. without being forced to go through the board? Q: If such a members meeting is called by the members and all members receive notice, is the meeting official assuming a quorum is met, and can official business be taken at said meeting. In the alternative, Florida Statutes 718.112(2)(j) states: Recall of board members.—Subject to s. 718.301, any member of the board of administration may be recalled and removed from office with or without cause by the vote or agreement in writing by a majority of all the voting interests. A special meeting of the unit owners to recall a member or members of the board of administration may be called by 10 percent of the voting interests giving notice of the meeting as required for a meeting of unit owners, and the notice shall state the purpose of the meeting. Electronic transmission may not be used as a method of giving notice of a meeting called in whole or in part for this purpose. Q: If such a members meeting is called by 10% of the voting interest, can other business be conducted at said meeting in addition to the recall of board members, such as amending the association documents? Thanks in advance for any input.

On a non-profit board, if a quorum of committee members meets outside of regularly scheduled meetings to work together in general on a project so that it can later be reviewed and discussed at a regularly scheduled committee meeting, is their non-scheduled working meeting considered an official meeting of the committee (e.g., requires standard meeting practices such as minutes be taken) because a quorum is present? It may be of value to note that the full committee suggested/requested during a regularly scheduled meeting that they should hold the working meeting in the interim between full committee meetings to help advance the project.

Under Roberts Rules do the board members count towards the quorum for a general membership meeting? Our bylaws do not specify this.

I was absent from our last two meetings. When I read the reports I saw that in the November meeting the Council tabled a motion to create education programs. The next month, I read that the Council simply passed the educational programs, there was no mention that the motion was taken off the table. Can I before the minutes are approved in January, point out that the educational program was passed incorrectly and that the motion was first tabled and that it needed to be taken off the table, then voted upon. Since it was not voted upon correctly, the actions of the Council in December, are null and void. What are you opinions? Thank You

I'd be interested in having the assistance of a parliamentarian to assist with some upcoming meetings. We are just learning about Roberts Rules and will be asking the membership to approve newly revised bylaws. I would like to know we are treading the path correctly and think someone with experience would be a help. Is there an organization or resource I could go to in searching for this service in our area? I must not know where to look, because even tho I leave in a state capital where you'd think there would be lots of need, I sure couldn't find anything like what I was looking for. I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to go about looking for this service. Thanks

I am a new board secretary for a small non-profit organization. I am having a difficult time with the contents of minutes. It appears that the only items I put in the Unfinished Business and New Business sections are items that actually had a motion made and voted on. What happens to topics in which an individual took or was given responsibility to follow up on or action items that were assigned. Here are a few of examples which came up in a recent meeting: Our building received a fire violation and the Director of Properties said he would contact the inspector. I discovered a local business had a volunteer program which we could benefit from and our vice-president was tasked to contact the business. There was no motion or vote but the VP was assigned by the president. We had a fund raising opportunity but the head of the committee did not have time to do it so she decided the "Beautification Committee" within our community (not affiliated with our organization) could take it on. Which organization would take this on had been discussed in previous meetings. I have a hard time not documenting these items as a history of what took place and for the purposes of following up on commitments. Any guidance you can give me will be greatly appreciated! Darlene

I am relatively new Robert's Rules but have done quite a bit of reading over the past several months. This is my first post and it is with great hope and appreciation that someone out there can help me with my problem. I am an elected Board member of a local high school football association. Our games are assigned by our Assignor who is also a working official. Our Bylaws state that all game assignments are to be reviewed by the Assignment Committee especially those games that the Assignor assigns to himself. I was asked by the Assignment/Assignor Review Committee Chair to help with this review. During my review the President asked me not to "blindside" with any of my findings related to the Assignment/Assignor Review (AAR) and stated that I could, with complete confidentiality bring to him any issues I had discovered. I told the Committee Chair of the president's request and he said that it was all right with him. So I naively telephoned the President with some rather disturbing findings that the Assignor had committed two days before our scheduled meeting in which the Assignor was to be interviewed and questioned about the games he assigned himself. At this meeting wherein the Assignor was to answer questions the President "cut me off at the knees" and prohibited me from asking the Assignor questions involving the majority of his self-assigned games. I know now that his actions were out of order but at that time I didn't have the knowledge of the "Point of Order" and "Appeal" procedures available to me to correct the ruling error - my fault. However, there were several meetings after this meeting wherein I tried to re-open the subject and the President refused to even consider a Motion stating that the AAR Chair had given his report and that the matter was closed. I made numerous requests of the President to call a meeting as I pointed out that the AAR Chair's report was incomplete and therefore did not satisfy our Bylaws requirement. After several meetings the president finally reversed his original ruling (mind you no motion or related discussion/debate was ever heard on his unilateral and incorrect ruling regarding the Chair's report) and finally he decided to re-open the Assignor interview (Q&A) a full two months after the original deadline for when this was to be completed. Additionally, he somehow convinced the AAR Chair (who was recently elected to become the VP and eventual president) that I should be removed from the AAR Committee. The problem that I am seeking help with is this - I understand that the basic and most fundamental premise of Robert's Rules of Order is that the minority shall be heard but the majority rules, I completely agree. However, after out last meeting wherein I was removed from the AAR Committee, the Board held an unauthorized meeting wherein the AAR Committee Chair gave his final report stating that "all was good" with respect to the Assignor's self-assignments. He has full knowledge of the Assignor's deceptive assigning tactics but now has given his "blessing" via the Committee report. The problem with this meeting is that no "notice" of this meeting was ever given and according to our Constitution notice must be given. It is my understanding that if Notice is not given the this meeting and anything decided and/or approved in this meeting is "Null and Void". More importantly, since "Notice" was not given (a fact that our Secretary/Treasurer freely admits) this begs the question that "if no notice of this meeting was ever given, then how did the Officers and other Board members have knowledge of this meeting and were able to attend?" It appears that I was the only Board member not aware of this meeting in which they approved of the Assignor's self-assignments! I am basically the only Board member that has the documentation that shows "where all the bodies are buried!" I am assuming that the President wanted me removed from the AAR Committee because of this knowledge/documentation but knew that as a Board member he still couldn't prevent me from asking the Assignor questions. The only way to accomplish this was to have a meeting wherein I wasn't there to ask any questions. My problem is this - I have no faith in the Officers or the Board members that attended this "No Notice" meeting as I believe there exists the possibility of collusion. Please note that the Officers and the Board members (including myself) receive our game from the Assignor. I believe that this Board has substituted their duty of "executing the Association's will" in exchange for a personal agenda, although at this time I'm not exactly what that is for each of the members involved. I want to bring this matter to the Association and let the members decide what should be done regarding the Assignor. This is not a new matter as the Assignor was fired for similar problems years ago. How do I call a Mass Meeting so that I can present my findings to the Association and let them decide since all of their games are assigned to them by the Assignor? How do I disqualify or bring charges against the Officers and Board members that participated in the "No Notice" meeting? If my plan/strategy as outlined above is improper or out of order, what is the proper course of action that I should take with respect to the unauthorized meeting? In adavance, I thank you all for your time, cooperation and consideration of this matter. Sincerely,

I am on the board of a non-profit organization. The board has limited power and, according to by-laws, must get permission for various expenditures, as well as elections and by-law changes from the general membership. The quorum required for the general (annual) meeting is 40 (according to by-laws). The total membership is approximately 200. We have tried to have an annual meeting 4 times and have not received a quorum. What can be done properly to move business onward, expecially elections and quorum change.

Hi, how much notice to you need to give to call a board of directors meeting? I was notified with less than 24 hours notice that a meeting was being called, plus the meeting was being held on a legal holiday. Is this legal?

Our board has an ASIE that allows meetings to be public "with the exception of necessary interim business conducted via any electronic means available." If that's the case and all members are on the elist, doesn't that constitute a meeting of the board? What would be the procedure for excluding a board member from the elist?

Is the term "call to the meeting" as mentioned many times in RONR 11th edition considered the agenda?

Could you explain the different ways in which adjournment can be used in a meeting? I'm trying to understand the difference between an adjournment that concludes a meeting, and an adjournment that temporarily stalls a meeting (i.e. the business of that meeting will be continued where it left off at the next meeting). See: http://www.davis-sti...x#axzz31pEdM2jP

According to Robert's Rules of Order, what is the difference between adjourning a meeting vs. terminating a meeting?

We have an upcoming meeting of our board. This meeting occurs yearly. These meetings are held in person. We have a board member that cannot attend the meeting but wants to be able to vote on items that we will vote on during meeting via video chat. Our bylaws do not allow for proxy voting (although that is not what is being requested). The only thing that we have in our documents about these types of meetings is in the application for positions that state that there is an expectation that there will be travel involved while serving as board member and included in list of events is this specific meeting. The chair of the board has told this member that they will not be allowed to vote as they will not be physically present. The board member is wanting to challenge the chair's decision to the executive committee. The EC has very specific job descriptions and reviewing these requests is not among the responsibilities. Can the chair just tell the member no? Can the member appeal the chair's decision to the full board?