Bad Behavior by Chair and Board

[Guest Shannen]

I am brand new on a board. I went to the first board meeting, as a member, today, although I have been to many meetings of this particular board in the past.

They follow RONR according to the bylaws, but not in practice. (I'm sure the readers of this forum are SHOCKED!--not.)

The agenda was not set by the board, but revisions are allowed by members (per their not following RONR, of course).

1) The Chair rejected my request to have an item placed on the agenda, unless there was "time left" after all guests, speakers, board members, etc--of course these things were drug out purposely it was clear.

2) When I attempted to address the issue I wanted on the agenda at 3 minutes before adjournment, I was verbally attacked by the chair. He yelled at me, accused me of attacking the board, and shouted "what do you really want?" Another board member then joined him. I was silent the entire board meeting, but had endured several snide comments to me by the Chair, which I ignored.

Questions:

I don't believe I have support from the members, nor educated members, with regards to raising a point of order, etc. Nevertheless, what course of action can I take according to RONR, with respect to:

a) the agenda;

the abuse by the Chair;

c) the abuse by the other board member;

d) not being allowed to speak?

[Trina]

I am brand new on a board. I went to the first board meeting, as a member, today, although I have been to many meetings of this particular board in the past.

They follow RONR according to the bylaws, but not in practice. (I'm sure the readers of this forum are SHOCKED!--not.)

The agenda was not set by the board, but revisions are allowed by members (per their not following RONR, of course).

Not quite sure what you mean by this. You may want to read this FAQ, to clarify thoughts about the agenda.

1) The Chair rejected my request to have an item placed on the agenda, unless there was "time left" after all guests, speakers, board members, etc--of course these things were drug out purposely it was clear.

The chair does not have unilateral control of the agenda, as you will understand after reading the FAQ.

2) When I attempted to address the issue I wanted on the agenda at 3 minutes before adjournment, I was verbally attacked by the chair. He yelled at me, accused me of attacking the board, and shouted "what do you really want?" Another board member then joined him. I was silent the entire board meeting, but had endured several snide comments to me by the Chair, which I ignored.

Questions:

I don't believe I have support from the members, nor educated members, with regards to raising a point of order, etc. Nevertheless, what course of action can I take according to RONR, with respect to:

a) the agenda;

the abuse by the Chair;

c) the abuse by the other board member;

d) not being allowed to speak?

Regarding points b and c, it is the chair's job to help help enforce rules of decorum during a meeting (the other members of the assembly share this duty also, if the chair is falling down on the job). Since the chair is the prime offender here, another member can raise a point of order about the rude behavior. If the chair ignores or dismisses the point of order, the member making the point of order can actually put the point of order to a vote (i.e. a vote by the assembly) directly -- see RONR (11th ed.) pp. 650-651 for more details. The same sort of thing applies (raise a point of order) if a member is denied the right to speak when properly requesting the floor. See also pp. 391-393 for a discussion of decorum -- perhaps some of the other members would find the information on those pages informative -- and you may not be the only member who doesn't care for the chair's lousy manners.

However, if no other members will actually offer any support, you can't get far with the point of order approach.