anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:24 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:24 PM Is there anything that can be done if a minority group of members stop showing on purpose so that quorom can't be met? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:26 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:26 PM Yes, find out why the minority is doing that and sit down with them to get it worked out. Unless, of course, making no decisions sounds like a viable option for your group.(No citation) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:51 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 08:51 PM Is there anything that can be done if a minority group of members stop showing on purpose so that quorom can't be met? If it's a minority of members not showing up, that would ostensibly mean that a majority are showing up. So, either some of those members aren't showing up either (for whatever reason or purpose), or your quorum is higher than the RONR standard of a majority of the membership. Care to elaborate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:02 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:02 PM What is the quorum requirements for the group? Also, is this for meetings of the general membership or of the Board? If RONR's quorum default is used then it is a majority of members. So if there are 10 members, and 4 refuse to attend then the other 6 can plan meetings and make the decisions. Otherwise, ask the minority members why they refuse to attend.If it is an issue with the general membership, look at lowering the quorum to a number that can be reasonably expected to attend.If the issue deals with Board members then there are two options that come to mind:1) Look into disciplinary action. Chapter XX of RONR will suffice if the organization's By-laws do not state anything about disciplining Board members.2) If necessary, I have seen organizations have something like the following in their By-laws: "If a director or officer fails to attend three meetings in one calender year without appropriate reasons, then the Board declare the position vacant." Basically, if the minority members simply decide they wish not to attend then this clause would allow the majority of the Board to declare their positions vacant. While some people will have legitimate reasons for missing some meetings (i.e. illness or work commitments) if people simply do not bother to attend meetings then they shouldn't be serving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:03 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:03 PM Our quorom is 10. We voted to change that to 7 a few years ago while updated our by-laws and this was "forgotten" to be adjusted in the newest copy of the by-laws. Now there is a divide in the members.....some members have dwindled over the past year.....and a minority have decided to avoid coming to the meetings so that meetings can't be held.....it's an unfortunate situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:06 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:06 PM we hold monthly meetings....we are a non-profit group. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:07 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:07 PM . . . or your quorum is higher than the RONR standard of a majority of the membership.I think it's more of a default than a standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:10 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:10 PM Our quorom is 10. We voted to change that to 7 a few years ago while updated our by-laws and this was "forgotten" to be adjusted in the newest copy of the by-laws. Now there is a divide in the members.....some members have dwindled over the past year.....and a minority have decided to avoid coming to the meetings so that meetings can't be held.....it's an unfortunate situation.It doesn't matter what a "copy" of the bylaws says, it matters what the bylaws actually say. That can be determined by looking in the minutes of the meeting from a few years ago, when the bylaws were changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:13 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:13 PM i have all the minutes over the past few years, and there's no mention of the change. when we changed our bylaws a few years ago this was one of the aspects that was supposed to be updated....but it wasn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:18 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:18 PM Our quorom is 10. We voted to change that to 7 a few years ago while updated our by-laws and this was "forgotten" to be adjusted in the newest copy of the by-laws. Now there is a divide in the members.....some members have dwindled over the past year.....and a minority have decided to avoid coming to the meetings so that meetings can't be held.....it's an unfortunate situation.Is this in reference to the general membership, then? How many members do you have? How many are in this "minority"? How many usually attend?The "copy of the bylaws" you refer to is just that - a "copy". If the bylaws were properly amended to change the quorum at a previous meeting, the minutes of that meeting should (hopefully) detail what the actual quorum is. If that was changed from 10 to 7, then that is what your quorum is, regardless of what a "copy" of the bylaws says.-------------Edited to note the previous reply (while I was typing) re: absence of minutes including reference to quorum amendment. Oh, my. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:23 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:23 PM we have 15-20 members....usual attendance over the past years has been close 100% but since the divide things have fallen off. There are 12 active members right now and 4 of them are refusing to show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:26 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:26 PM we have 15-20 members....usual attendance over the past years has been close 100% but since the divide things have fallen off. There are 12 active members right now and 4 of them are refusing to show.Why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:42 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:42 PM we have 15-20 members....usual attendance over the past years has been close 100% but since the divide things have fallen off. There are 12 active members right now and 4 of them are refusing to show.With so few members you might want to consider starting a new club (unless there's a lot of money in the treasury or it's something like a homeowner's association that you can't easily undo). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:47 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:47 PM starting a new group isn't an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:50 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:50 PM we have 15-20 members....usual attendance over the past years has been close 100% but since the divide things have fallen off. There are 12 active members right now and 4 of them are refusing to show.If there's any chance of getting enough members (such as recruiting new ones?) at a meeting at which you can properly amend the bylaws, you might consider changing the quorum so it isn't a set number, but perhaps a percentage of "active members", or just leave it to the RONR default of a majority of members.. Of those 12, 7 would satisfy the RONR, and these 4 no-shows would not stop business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anthonyc76 Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:54 PM Author Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 09:54 PM but how can we recruit and add members if we can't even hold a meeting now? I'm afraid this is going to halt everything..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted December 12, 2011 at 10:04 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 10:04 PM but how can we recruit and add members if we can't even hold a meeting now? I'm afraid this is going to halt everything.....At least one regular here used to say that members who don't go to meetings are simply indicating that they like things just the way they are. Though in this case it might mean that they don't like the changes that the majority are likely to approve. In any case, they're using the only parliamentary weapon they have. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted December 12, 2011 at 11:15 PM Report Share Posted December 12, 2011 at 11:15 PM we have 15-20 members....usual attendance over the past years has been close 100% but since the divide things have fallen off. There are 12 active members right now and 4 of them are refusing to show.but how can we recruit and add members if we can't even hold a meeting now? I'm afraid this is going to halt everything.....Well, you mention you have 15-20 members, although you apparently only recognize 12 as "active." So, do you in fact have 15-20 members, or only 12? Are those other eight members simply "inactive" by not being involved yet still maintaining their membership, or are they actually no longer members, in which case you don't have 15-20 members? If their memberships are still valid, you only need two of those eight to show up and achieve a quorum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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