Voting on issues

[Guest Kyle]

At our first Board Meeting for the season an issue was discussed by board memebers a motion was presented on the issue and seconded, the president then stated that a vote did not need to be done as the board only needed to vote on money issues. If the board discusses changing the speed limit in the park, this does not involve money, who is making the decision if the board does not vote on it?

[Robert B Fish]

The answer to your question - if there is one - will be found in your bylaws and not in RONR.

Your post seems to imply that your board is the governing authority of your organization. If so, it would be empowered to enact policies, whether monetary or not. If your board is limited to handling monetary issues, then other group would need to handle speed limits.

When faced with issues at this, ask the president to cite his source: bylaws, public laws, or RONR. Ask for a definite citation - page and line - and then double check it yourself.

-Bob

[Chris Harrison]

At our first Board Meeting for the season an issue was discussed by board memebers a motion was presented on the issue and seconded, the president then stated that a vote did not need to be done as the board only needed to vote on money issues. If the board discusses changing the speed limit in the park, this does not involve money, who is making the decision if the board does not vote on it?

Good question. Usually a decision is made by taking a vote (or getting unanimous consent on the motion). You should ask the President how he expects to know what the Board wants to do (and implement it) if no vote is taken to determine it.

[David A Foulkes]

At our first Board Meeting for the season an issue was discussed by board memebers a motion was presented on the issue and seconded, the president then stated that a vote did not need to be done as the board only needed to vote on money issues.

I personally am hard pressed to find anything in RONR that states that a motion that is seconded is equivalent to a decision in the affirmative in the absence of, at the very least, the chair asking for unanimous consent. If you have some such rule in force, or other governing principle that applies, it steps out of the manner as applied by RONR for handling motions.

Note that in small board meetings (about a dozen or fewer in attendance), motions do not require seconds, and the chair can even call for a vote in the absence of a motion if it is "perfectly clear to all present" what the proposal is. That means he can call for a vote, or unanimous consent, without a motion to change the speed limit having been made. But there must still be some decision process (voting or unanimously consenting) taken.

If the board discusses changing the speed limit in the park, this does not involve money, who is making the decision if the board does not vote on it?

Well, based on what you've given us so far, as long as someone makes a motion, and someone else seconds it, I'd say the President.