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Advisory or straw vote


shrb

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Our bylaws allow the amending or repealing of the bylaws by a unanimous vote of the board of directors. The bylaw then states any bylaw made, amended or repealed by the board of directors must be approved by 2/3 of the members present or by proxy at the next annual general meeting.

One of our bylaws was less restrictive than county code and the board of directors amended the bylaw to conform to county code. At our annual general meeting, the membership insisted they had the right to vote on this change but the only 'vote' the membership could provide would be an advisory vote because if the membership vote caused the amended bylaw to fail; our governing documents would not be in compliance with the county law.

How does RONR procedure handle or stand on advisory or straw votes?

swan

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the membership insisted they had the right to vote on this change but the only 'vote' the membership could provide would be an advisory vote because if the membership vote caused the amended bylaw to fail; our governing documents would not be in compliance with the county law.

How does RONR procedure handle or stand on advisory or straw votes?

There's nothing "advisory" about the vote at all.

The membership is free to reject the proposed amendment leaving your bylaws in conflict with the county law. You'll still have to (presumably) obey the superior (county) law which (presumably) supersedes your bylaws.

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There's nothing "advisory" about the vote at all.

The membership is free to reject the proposed amendment leaving your bylaws in conflict with the county law. You'll still have to (presumably) obey the superior (county) law which (presumably) supersedes your bylaws.

It would seem an amendment to the bylaws is in order then to allow changes to conform to the 'superior' laws without requiring the 2/3 vote from the membership?

Good luck getting that to pass.

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It would seem an amendment to the bylaws is in order then to allow changes to conform to the 'superior' laws without requiring the 2/3 vote from the membership?

A better approach would be to delete anything in the bylaws that is already covered by any superior laws since, regardless of what the bylaws say, you'll have to obey them. And, this way, you won't need to amend the bylaws every time the superior law changes.

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If the county code has jurisdiction, why not amend the bylaws to remove the less-restrictive (and perhaps non-compliant) bylaw section completely? That way, there is no question of what the rule is, no conflict in applicability, and in the case you decide to amend it to come into compliance and then the county changes its code in the future, you don't have to worry about amending the bylaws again. (As Mr. Mountcastle less-ruminatively proposed only seconds ahead of me)

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