voting

[Guest Sylvia Lynn]

Is it proper for members of a council to vote on item at a special budget meeting tasked with creating a budget for the coming year for which there was no agenda. Shouldn't all items be voted on at a regularly scheduled council meeting? Or is it acceptable for an item to be discussed and voted on as tho we were seated at a regularly scheduled meeting?

[Chris Harrison]

At a regularly scheduled meeting everything is fair game unless the bylaws or an adopted Special Rule of Order limits when a particular item of business can be conducted. A Special Meeting on the other hand can validly conduct only the items of business included in the call of the Special Meeting (RONR pp. 91-93) assuming that your bylaws specifically permits the calling of Special Meetings (if they don't you can't validly call them).

[Trina]

Is it proper for members of a council to vote on item at a special budget meeting tasked with creating a budget for the coming year for which there was no agenda. Shouldn't all items be voted on at a regularly scheduled council meeting? Or is it acceptable for an item to be discussed and voted on as tho we were seated at a regularly scheduled meeting?

RONR has no rule against making decisions at a special meeting. Quite the contrary -- the assumption is that a properly called meeting of a deliberative assembly can conduct business (i.e. vote and make decisions). The business of a special meeting does have to stay within the confines of the purpose of the meeting, as described in the call; however, if the members voted on items that were part of creating a budget, presumably that's within those confines. Is there something else that happened here, that makes you think the members were enjoined from making decisions (making motions and voting)?