New Bylaws, Board Review, and Approval

[SummerJay]

Over the past year, a complete rewrite of our Bylaws & Standing Rules has been undertaken. This was due to the many changes in the last 3 years as to updating operating procedures and board member duties. A workshop (unofficial meeting) was held over 45 days ago, where each Board member received a copy of the rewritten Bylaws & Standing Rules draft for review. In the preceding time since the workshop, a new president has stepped in and arbitarily removed, for personal reasons, any discussion of this new Bylaws/Standing Rules draft from the agenda.

Question 1: Since the current bylaws call for the written draft, such as this, to be presented to the Board for review, and the draft has not made it onto the agenda, would a call for it to be inclused in the upcoming meeting's agenda fall under New Business?

Question 2: Can the earlier disbursement be considered review time as stated in our current Bylaws (see Q1), therefore not delaying discussion and vote?

Question 3: With 2/3 of the current board willing to vote to approve/recommend the new Bylaws be forwarded to the general membership for approval, is it within parlarmentary rule to "Move Previous Question" and call for a vote?

Thx in advance for your suggestions.

[hmtcastle]

In the preceding time since the workshop, a new president has stepped in and arbitarily removed, for personal reasons, any discussion of this new Bylaws/Standing Rules draft from the agenda.

For starters, he can't do that. See FAQ #14

[Josh Martin]

Question 1: Since the current bylaws call for the written draft, such as this, to be presented to the Board for review, and the draft has not made it onto the agenda, would a call for it to be inclused in the upcoming meeting's agenda fall under New Business?

The agenda may be amended when it is pending for approval.

Question 2: Can the earlier disbursement be considered review time as stated in our current Bylaws (see Q1), therefore not delaying discussion and vote?

It's up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws.

Question 3: With 2/3 of the current board willing to vote to approve/recommend the new Bylaws be forwarded to the general membership for approval, is it within parlarmentary rule to "Move Previous Question" and call for a vote?

The motion for the Previous Question is generally not permitted in small boards.

[David A Foulkes]

Don't overlook the obvious.

[SummerJay]

It's up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws.

If the Bylaws Draft was placed on the agenda and presented to the Board, as per the current Bylaws, and since the "review" is left up the Board for interpretation, would it be proper that a motion be made to accept the "45+ days" (exact days to be included in the motion) since the draft was distributed as being an acceptable review period? Then see what happens from there

The motion for the Previous Question is generally not permitted in small boards.

Aside from using the motion for the Previous Question, as the one opening the discussion, is there anything that would preclude making a motion to approve and "Consider as a whole" the rewritten draft of Bylaws and Standing Rules immediately?

Last but not least...Would it be proper to combine, into one motion, the "review" interpretation, Board approval to "Consider as Whole" the New Bylaws & Standing Rules, and recommend they be presented to the general membership at the next monthly business meeting? What I'm trying to get around to is "one" vote of 2/3 of the Board to move it forward and clear this up once and foreall.

Don't overlook the obvious.

Chapter XX is never far from my mind.

[Josh Martin]

If the Bylaws Draft was placed on the agenda and presented to the Board, as per the current Bylaws, and since the "review" is left up the Board for interpretation, would it be proper that a motion be made to accept the "45+ days" (exact days to be included in the motion) since the draft was distributed as being an acceptable review period?

It is up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws. See RONR, 10th ed., pgs. 570-573 for some Principles of Interpretation.

Aside from using the motion for the Previous Question, as the one opening the discussion, is there anything that would preclude making a motion to approve and "Consider as a whole" the rewritten draft of Bylaws and Standing Rules immediately?

The motion to Consider as a Whole would be in order, but it doesn't do what you seem to think it does. The proposals to amend the Bylaws and Standing Rules will still be debatable, it will just mean the debate will jump all over the place rather than handling each section in order. This is unlikely to be wise unless you do not anticipate much debate or amendment.

All motions which limit debate are generally not permitted in small boards.

Last but not least...Would it be proper to combine, into one motion, the "review" interpretation, Board approval to "Consider as Whole" the New Bylaws & Standing Rules, and recommend they be presented to the general membership at the next monthly business meeting? What I'm trying to get around to is "one" vote of 2/3 of the Board to move it forward and clear this up once and foreall.

You'd be combining two completely different motions into one, so you would need a motion to Suspend the Rules to accomplish this. A 2/3 vote would be sufficient to accomplish such an objective. Once again, the motion to Consider as a Whole doesn't do what you seem to think it does.

[SummerJay]

It is up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws. See RONR, 10th ed., pgs. 570-573 for some Principles of Interpretation.

The motion to Consider as a Whole would be in order, but it doesn't do what you seem to think it does. The proposals to amend the Bylaws and Standing Rules will still be debatable, it will just mean the debate will jump all over the place rather than handling each section in order. This is unlikely to be wise unless you do not anticipate much debate or amendment.

All motions which limit debate are generally not permitted in small boards.

You'd be combining two completely different motions into one, so you would need a motion to Suspend the Rules to accomplish this. A 2/3 vote would be sufficient to accomplish such an objective. Once again, the motion to Consider as a Whole doesn't do what you seem to think it does.

Thanks Josh...This has been valuable if not timely information.

[Dan Honemann]

Thanks Josh...This has been valuable if not timely information.

We keep telling Mr. Martin that he needs to respond more quickly to all questions posted.

[Josh Martin]

Thanks Josh...This has been valuable if not timely information.

I dunno, I think a turnaround time of just over 10 hours is pretty good for Memorial Day weekend. I know it's not the service we usually offer, but even parliamentarians take a break now and then.

[SummerJay]

We keep telling Mr. Martin that he needs to respond more quickly to all questions posted.

I dunno, I think a turnaround time of just over 10 hours is pretty good for Memorial Day weekend. I know it's not the service we usually offer, but even parliamentarians take a break now and then.

Sorry that the "if not timely" comment was miscontrued...it in fact was very timely given that the information was put to the test this morning at our monthly meeting.

Thx again for the help.