Presiding at a meeting

[Guest Frances]

Due to the death of our President I've become a presiding officer much too quickly. I belong to several organizations all of which say they use Robert's Rules. One organization asks for a motion for the minutes to be accepted, another says the minutes are accepted as read or either corrected or amended. One organization asks for a motion for the Treasurer's report to be accepted, another says the Treasurer's report will be filed. None of the organizations ask for a motion to be adjourned, the presiding officer usually says is there anything else that needs to be discussed, thanks people, makes announcements and then says the meeting is adjourned. Last question. At the next meeting while I'm presiding, the nominating committee will report for officers for the next two years. I'm being presented as the nominee for President. Do I need to have the Chaplain, next officer in line, take the chair when the slate is presented and the vote taken? Thanks for all help.

[Gary Novosielski]

Most or all of your questions would be answered by getting a copy of Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief. (2nd Edition) It is a must-read for new presiding officers. For later study, get a copy of Robert's Rules of Order newly Revised (11th edition), which is the big book. It will answer those questions and hundreds of others that you haven't run across yet.

To answer your current questions:

No motion is required (or even desirable) for approval of minutes. If, when the question of approval of minutes comes up, there are no corrections offered, you may declare the minutes "approved as read". If any corrections are offered, no vote is needed on them unless there is disagreement over a particular correction (majority rules). Once all corrections are made, no final vote is required because the only way to object to the approval of minutes is to offer a correction. When the process is done, you simply declare them "approved as corrected".

Treasurers' reports are filed; only the (typically annual) report of the auditor (or audit committee) is accepted/adopted/approved.

A motion to adjourn is always in order but, if the order of business is completed, and nothing further comes before the assembly, the chair may declare the meeting adjourned without a motion.

No, there is no need (nor would it be proper) for you to step down during the election process.

[Guest RJ]

Regarding meeting adjournment, I had the same question regarding whether an approved adjourn motion is required to adjourn a meeting. If a Board Meeting Chairperson says "The meeting is adjourned" and another Board member is of the opinion that not all business has been completed, I question whether the meeting is really adjourned or not. If Board members were to then leave said meeting and there no longer being a meeting quorum, then maybe the meeting would be ended due to lack of a quorum. In this case, the minutes of said meeting might read: "The Chairperson said "the meeting is adjourned. The meeting ended due to Board Members dispersing and there no longer being a quorum." I couldn't find any reference in RONR, 11th ed., to a Meeting Chairperson having the authority to adjourn a meeting.

[Trina]

...

I couldn't find any reference in RONR, 11th ed., to a Meeting Chairperson having the authority to adjourn a meeting.

See p 86, the section on ORDINARY PRACTICE IN ADJOURNING, particularly ll. 26-30 regarding the rare circumstances under which the chair can unilaterally end the meeting.

[Guest RJ]

p. 86 ll. 14-16 reads "under certain conditions the chair can declare the adjournment without a motion, as explained on pages 240-241". P. 241 ll. 12-15 reads "the chair, instead of waiting or calling for a motion to adjourn, can ask, "Is there any further business?". If there is no response, the chair can then say "Since there is no further business, the meeting is adjourned."

So if the chair doesn't ask the question "Is there any further business?" then I would think that if the chair then said "the meeting is adjourned" that that statement would be out of order. If a quorum was then lost due to members leaving who are thinking that the meeting has been adjourned then the meeting would be ended due to no quorum not because the chair said the meeting is adjourned. I would think that a point of order could be raised also that the chair did not have the authority to adjourn the meeting withour asking if there is any further business.

[Chris Harrison]

So if the chair doesn't ask the question "Is there any further business?" then I would think that if the chair then said "the meeting is adjourned" that that statement would be out of order.

Yes, the Chair should not have Adjourned the meeting without making sure there was no further business but it was not out of order as RONR uses it (a member is out of order when their statement violated decorum).

If a quorum was then lost due to members leaving who are thinking that the meeting has been adjourned then the meeting would be ended due to no quorum not because the chair said the meeting is adjourned.

Meetings don't end automatically because there is no quorum (it must be Adjourned first). The meeting is over because the Chair (improperly) declared it Adjourned it and no one raised a Point of Order.

I would think that a point of order could be raised also that the chair did not have the authority to adjourn the meeting withour asking if there is any further business.

Yes it could but the Point of Order needs to be timely otherwise the YSYL rule applies.

[Guest RJ]

What if the Chairperson improperly says "the meeting is adjourned", and then a member immediately says "I rise to a point of order" and the Chairperson ignores the point of order, walks away, and the other members are already walking away. Yes, YSYL doctrine would apply if no point of order was raised but a point of order would be useless if no one hears it. If a tree falls in the forest, it may not make any noise because no one is there to hear it.

[Chris Harrison]

If folks are already walking away then it is very likely that the Point of Order wasn't timely (unless the members are capable of moving at warp speed). If the Chair ignores the Point of Order then the members can continue the meeting without him (the Vice Chair would preside or if he is absent or walks out as well the assembly can elect a Chair pro tem).