Contingency votes?

[Guest Erik]

Hi All,

Anyone know the proper procedure to take a vote by a board where the action only takes place if something else happens? For example a board needs to act quickly on a decision but their are two options. If the board is a farm group and they need to get water to their crops, how do they word a vote that says we want to buy irrigation equipment unless it rains on August 12th? If it does rain, no action is needed to be taken.

Thanks!

[Gerry4000]

Why not put the conditions in the motion? Or, have the motion authorize the action, unless some officer judges that, because of, say, rain, he/she judges it not necessary.

[Chris Harrison]

Hi All,

Anyone know the proper procedure to take a vote by a board where the action only takes place if something else happens? For example a board needs to act quickly on a decision but their are two options. If the board is a farm group and they need to get water to their crops, how do they word a vote that says we want to buy irrigation equipment unless it rains on August 12th? If it does rain, no action is needed to be taken.

Thanks!

I don't see why a proviso couldn't be added in the motion. Such as, "I move that we buy irrigation equipment provided that it does not rain on August 12." At that point the motion if adopted would be in a "holding pattern" until August 13 and if no rain fell on the 12th the motion would come into force and the equipment would be purchased. Of course you all probably would want to clarify on amounts since 1/100 inch of rain is still rain but I would suspect it would not be sufficient for your purposes.

[Gary Novosielski]

According to that proposal, if it rained from August 2nd through the 11th without stopping, you would still buy irrigation equipment.

[Guest Dianne]

Would this be the same way to elect someone to a position (someone who would not be eligible for election until having been a member for a specified length of time, but that time requirement is within a month of being met) by qualifying the motion to read that the person would assume the office on the date he/she becomes eligible?

[Chris Harrison]

Would this be the same way to elect someone to a position (someone who would not be eligible for election until having been a member for a specified length of time, but that time requirement is within a month of being met) by qualifying the motion to read that the person would assume the office on the date he/she becomes eligible?

I don't think that would be proper. Either you are eligible to hold the office or you are not. I seriously doubt that Barack Obama could get away with saying that he would be 34 years and 11 months old on January 20, 2009 and that he would let Joe Biden take the reins for that month and then he would take over.

[Josh Martin]

Would this be the same way to elect someone to a position (someone who would not be eligible for election until having been a member for a specified length of time, but that time requirement is within a month of being met) by qualifying the motion to read that the person would assume the office on the date he/she becomes eligible?

I think it depends on whether this is a regular election or an election to fill a vacancy. If it is a regular election, I do not believe there is a proper method to add a proviso to the election. If it is a motion to fill a vacancy, I believe such a proviso would be in order, although I would still advise against it.