General Discussion

[Guest Guest]

I am a member of a fraternal lodge. We rent our building to other clubs and organizations. Some of our Lodge members are also members of one of the club who rents our building. We are having some problems with this club. We are having a Lodge business meeting this week to discuss these problems. My question is: If they are members of the club who rents from us, do they have the right to vote as a member of the Lodge. It seems like a conflict of interest to me. Can anyone tell me what you think?

[Guest Edgar]

My question is: If they are members of the club who rents from us, do they have the right to vote as a member of the Lodge. It seems like a conflict of interest to me. Can anyone tell me what you think?

If they are members of your lodge then they have the same rights as any other member of your lodge, regardless of any other clubs they may belong to. The right to vote is a right. It can't be easily taken away.

By the way, you posted a topic in the General Discussion forum and you called your topic "General Discussion". You also posted as a guest and called yourself "Guest". Surely you could have thought of a better name for your topic (e.g. "Conflict of Interest") and a better name for yourself.

[George Mervosh]

Take a look at FAQ#9 http://www.robertsrules.com/faq.html#9

[Chris Harrison]

A member who has a personal or pecuniary interest not in common with the other members should not vote but cannot be compelled to abstain (RONR p.407 ll. 22-25). However, you say that "some" of the members are also members of one of the other clubs so that rule might not even be applicable in this situation.