Membership agenda

[Guest Carol]

Can "old business" and "new business" be removed from an agenda permanently? I've run into this situation where the president of the organization isn't comfortable answering questions so those two items have been removed from the agenda to try and quiet the group from asking questions.

[Robert B Fish]

Odd.

"Old business" isn't used anymore. Unfinnished business has replaced it to be more descriptive of the business that falls in this part of the meeting.

Yes, I guess you can leave new business off the agenda if that's what your organization wants but your post suggests several other issues. If the president doesn't want questions from guests at the meeting, then don't allow non members to speak during debate. (He/she probably cannot prevent board members from asking questions during a meeting of the board; I assume you are asking about visitors who are no board members.)

The problem comes up when the board members have new business to introduce. How does he plan to handle that?

-Bob

[Guest Carol]

Odd.

"Old business" isn't used anymore. Unfinnished business has replaced it to be more descriptive of the business that falls in this part of the meeting.

Yes, I guess you can leave new business off the agenda if that's what your organization wants but your post suggests several other issues. If the president doesn't want questions from guests at the meeting, then don't allow non members to speak during debate. (He/she probably cannot prevent board members from asking questions during a meeting of the board; I assume you are asking about visitors who are no board members.)

The problem comes up when the board members have new business to introduce. How does he plan to handle that?

-Bob

[Guest Carol]

Robert,

Thanks for responding.

It isn't a board meeting but a membership meeting. The current board is not operating in the best interest of the organization and there are a number of concerned members who are asking questions about different things that are going on. This is the president's way of curtailing questions from members. I'm not familiar with RRO that's why I asked if that can be done.

[David A Foulkes]

I'm not familiar with RRO that's why I asked if that can be done.

Carol, it just may be time to get familiar! And maybe not just you, but as many of those members who are asking questions. Whether they are onto something or not, I can't say of course, but if your President's approach to dealing with this is to enforce censorship, it might be time to get a new President. Your rules may have something to say about all that, but you might take a look at FAQ 20 on this site, and then a careful read of Chapter XX in RONR (10th Ed. - I hope you have one??)

By the way, if you were to permanently remove Unfinished and New Business from the agenda, not much would get done, since those are really the times when most of the action items are brought up and voted on.

[Rob Elsman]

Odd.

"Old business" isn't used anymore. Unfinnished business has replaced it to be more descriptive of the business that falls in this part of the meeting.

Yes, I guess you can leave new business off the agenda if that's what your organization wants but your post suggests several other issues. If the president doesn't want questions from guests at the meeting, then don't allow non members to speak during debate. (He/she probably cannot prevent board members from asking questions during a meeting of the board; I assume you are asking about visitors who are no board members.)

The problem comes up when the board members have new business to introduce. How does he plan to handle that?

-Bob

Nothing about the adoption of an agenda precludes the introduction of items of new business. Indeed, no rule in RONR requires the inclusion of items of new business on an adopted agenda; rather, after the orders of the day have all been gone through, items of new business can be introduced in the order that members are able to obtain the floor and make the appropriate main motion.