General monthly meeting

[Guest Susan Arnold]

I am a fairly recent Board member of our local Chamber of Commerce. Board meetings are held monthly and seem to follow RR although there currently is no Bylaw requiring us to follow RR. (I am submitting a Bylaw change proposal today). We hold monthly general membership luncheon meetings with guest speakers, but I have never observed the Chair calling the meeting to order or anything that would resemble a Parliamentary type meeting. At the last meeting, the County Judge gave his State of the County address wherein he personally (by name) attacked another local elected official who was not present and read a law that he "thinks" the other official may have broken. Could or should the Chair have stopped the speaker? I am trying to suggest Bylaw changes that might allow the Chair to prevent or interrupt this type of conduct in the future as the current Chair doesn't think she had the right to do so. My opinion is that freedom of speech is one thing but using our forum to possibly defame another individual is another. I am also concerned about our Board members being personally liable for allowing this to take place during our meeting. I may be off base, but I'm hoping to make changes that will provide a more civil environment in which to share information and promote business in our community. I would greatly appreciate guidance in this regard.

[Chris Harrison]

The Chair could have called the speaker to order for having breached decorum by his comments. If he had persisted under RONR pp. 648-649) the Chair could have ordered a disruptive non-Board member (which I assume the Judge is not a Board member) removed from the meeting (that order would be subject to Appeal by a Board member).

[Trina]

I am a fairly recent Board member of our local Chamber of Commerce. Board meetings are held monthly and seem to follow RR although there currently is no Bylaw requiring us to follow RR. (I am submitting a Bylaw change proposal today). We hold monthly general membership luncheon meetings with guest speakers, but I have never observed the Chair calling the meeting to order or anything that would resemble a Parliamentary type meeting. At the last meeting, the County Judge gave his State of the County address wherein he personally (by name) attacked another local elected official who was not present and read a law that he "thinks" the other official may have broken. Could or should the Chair have stopped the speaker? I am trying to suggest Bylaw changes that might allow the Chair to prevent or interrupt this type of conduct in the future as the current Chair doesn't think she had the right to do so. My opinion is that freedom of speech is one thing but using our forum to possibly defame another individual is another. I am also concerned about our Board members being personally liable for allowing this to take place during our meeting. I may be off base, but I'm hoping to make changes that will provide a more civil environment in which to share information and promote business in our community. I would greatly appreciate guidance in this regard.

Are you sure these monthly meetings are meetings in the parliamentary sense (i.e. can business be conducted at these meetings)? If this is simply a monthly get-together to enjoy lunch and listen to a guest speaker, then the rules in RONR will not apply. That's not to say that you shouldn't observe some standards of civility; just that those standards might not come from RONR.

[J. J.]

Unless the other local poliitican was a member, technically this was not a violation of decorum.