Right of Members to speak at Board Meeting

[Guest climber]

I have scoured the RONR and can not find a clear answer to the following:

During a Board Meeting, not a Membership Meeting, that the Members and Public are invited to attend, what rights do the Members of the association have to speak? I understand that at a Membership Meeting (annual meeting of the members) they have all rights. But during the monthly "Board Meetings" that are not closed, since they are not "members" of the board, are they considered "Public" and technically do NOT have the right to particpate? Please quote pages numbers in RONR 11th. Thank you!

This is a local sports Association that is governed by RONR. All members of the association are dues paying members. The monthly meetings are "Board Meetings" that are open to the public.

Thanks.

[jstackpo]

What RONR says, on p. 3, is that members have all rights, and non-members have none.

So if someone is not a member of the Board, he/she has no right to speak, or anything else.

Your bylaws might say something different, but I rather doubt it.

[Chris Harrison]

I'll also throw in p. 648 which says, "Any nonmembers allowed in the hall during a meeting, as guests of the organization, have no rights with reference to the proceedings "

[Gary Novosielski]

However, by majority vote. the board could decide to hear from guests if it wanted to. And it can also change its mind (by majority vote) at any time.

By a 2/3 vote it could Suspend the Rules and allow one, or some, or all of these guests to take part in debate.

(It cannot authorize any non-members to vote, however.)

[Trina]

I have scoured the RONR and can not find a clear answer to the following:

During a Board Meeting, not a Membership Meeting, that the Members and Public are invited to attend, what rights do the Members of the association have to speak? I understand that at a Membership Meeting (annual meeting of the members) they have all rights. But during the monthly "Board Meetings" that are not closed, since they are not "members" of the board, are they considered "Public" and technically do NOT have the right to particpate? Please quote pages numbers in RONR 11th. Thank you!

This is a local sports Association that is governed by RONR. All members of the association are dues paying members. The monthly meetings are "Board Meetings" that are open to the public.

Thanks.

Probably the reason the answer doesn't seem clear is that you are (quite naturally) confused about the meaning of the word 'member'. From a RONR point of view, a 'member' is a member of the body that is meeting. At a board meeting, only members of the board can possibly be members in this sense. Those members of the larger association who don't happen to be board members are not members of the body that is meeting.

Thus, it's not just a technicality that they have no right to participate at a board meeting; it's a simple statement of fact under the rules. If they are invited to attend (as you say), that does not automatically give them any additional rights (such as the right to speak).

[Shmuel Gerber]

I have scoured the RONR and can not find a clear answer to the following:

During a Board Meeting, not a Membership Meeting, that the Members and Public are invited to attend, what rights do the Members of the association have to speak? I understand that at a Membership Meeting (annual meeting of the members) they have all rights. But during the monthly "Board Meetings" that are not closed, since they are not "members" of the board, are they considered "Public" and technically do NOT have the right to particpate? Please quote pages numbers in RONR 11th. Thank you!

This is a local sports Association that is governed by RONR. All members of the association are dues paying members. The monthly meetings are "Board Meetings" that are open to the public.

Thanks.

Probably the closest thing to the type of clear statement you're looking for can be found in RONR, 11th edition, by reading the second paragraph under the heading "Executive Session" (which starts at p. 95, l. 31) in conjunction with the second paragraph under the heading "Public Session" (which starts at p. 96, l. 28).

Tangentially related to this is the paragraph that starts on page 487 at line 13, regarding the minutes kept by a board.

Also, although the members of the association do not inherently have any right to participate in board meetings, the board may certainly opt to differentiate between such members and the public at large if it chooses to grant any speaking privileges to non-boardmembers.

And the assembly of the full membership, being superior to the board, could also adopt rules instructing the board how to conduct board meetings.