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Recognizing a motion


Guest Kyle J

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I am a Trustee on a Fire Dept. that has adopted Roberts Rules of Order. Recently a member of the body during a general business meeting brought a motion to the floor under expenditures. He presented his motion and waited for a second, but the Chair stated that it was not a motion since he did not recongnize that there was a motion on the floor. My question is, does the Chair have this power and is there a way to over rule this power?

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He presented his motion and waited for a second, but the Chair stated that it was not a motion since he did not recongnize that there was a motion on the floor. My question is, does the Chair have this power and is there a way to over rule this power?

The chair certainly does not have the power to simply refuse to recognize a motion. If the chair felt the motion was in violation of some rule of the assembly, the proper procedure was to rule the motion out of order, and such a ruling may be appealed.

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I am a Trustee on a Fire Dept. that has adopted Roberts Rules of Order. Recently a member of the body during a general business meeting brought a motion to the floor under expenditures. He presented his motion and waited for a second, but the Chair stated that it was not a motion since he did not recongnize that there was a motion on the floor. My question is, does the Chair have this power and is there a way to over rule this power?

See RONR (11th ed.), p. 39, ll. 8-11.

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I am a Trustee on a Fire Dept. that has adopted Roberts Rules of Order. Recently a member of the body during a general business meeting brought a motion to the floor under expenditures. He presented his motion and waited for a second, but the Chair stated that it was not a motion since he did not recongnize that there was a motion on the floor. My question is, does the Chair have this power and is there a way to over rule this power?

Did anyone attempt to second the motion?

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Would he actually be refusing to recognize the motion or would the proper approach be ruling the motion out of order as being dilatory?

At a certain point, it becomes correct to simply refuse to recognize the motion, since even acknowledging its existence and ruling it out of order repeatedly would itself be conceding time to the dilatory motion (RONR 11th. ed., p. 343, l. 2).

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At a certain point, it becomes correct to simply refuse to recognize the motion, since even acknowledging its existence and ruling it out of order repeatedly would itself be conceding time to the dilatory motion (RONR 11th. ed., p. 343, l. 2).

In this case, the chair is refusing to recognize the member, not the motion. :)

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To answer some questions: 1.Any voting member of the body has the right to make a motion as long as it falls under the category that the motion applies too. 2. In my opinion the Chair did not recognize the motion simply because he does not like the person that presented the motion. 3. The motion was not out of line and the motion was presented with information on the motion.

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In my opinion the Chair did not recognize the motion simply because he does not like the person that presented the motion.

Well, the chair most certainly does not have the authority to refuse to recognize the motion simply because he does not like the motion maker. The appropriate course of action in such a case is described in RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 650-651. This is such an egregious violation of the trust placed in the presiding officer that replacing him may be appropriate. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 651-654.

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