charging a fee for a program which will be preceeded by a gen. membership vote of bylaws

[Guest karen]

we are holding a quick gen. membership meeting to vote on our bylaws which will then be followed by a program/speaker in which a small admittance fee will be charged. is there anything in roberts rules that says this can not be done?

please advise.

thanks

kc

[Chris Harrison]

All members have a right to attend meetings so you can't exclude them because they aren't willing to pay the admittance fee to hear the speaker. However, there is nothing in RONR preventing you all from having the meeting to vote on the bylaws (which all members have a right to attend whether or not they are going to pay to hear the speaker) then adjourn the meeting. After that you can allow the folks who are willing to shell out the bucks to stay and wish the others a good night/day.

[David A Foulkes]

we are holding a quick gen. membership meeting to vote on our bylaws which will then be followed by a program/speaker in which a small admittance fee will be charged. is there anything in roberts rules that says this can not be done?

Is this program taking place during the meeting (somewhere between bylaw amendments and other business)? And when you say "vote on our bylaws", you do mean amendments to the bylaws, yes? Not just voting on adopting bylaws for the first time, right?

[Tim Wynn]

we are holding a quick gen. membership meeting to vote on our bylaws which will then be followed by a program/speaker in which a small admittance fee will be charged. is there anything in roberts rules that says this can not be done?

please advise.

thanks

kc

If any member is prevented from attending, no business can be transacted. If any motion is adopted (including that bylaw vote) at a meeting where a member was prevented from attending, any such motion is null and void.

[Rev Ed]

If the meeting is adjourned prior to the speaker's presentation, then a charge would be up to the organization. Otherwise, if the speaker's presentation forms part of the meeting then members cannot be compelled to pay in order to attend.