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Regular and General Monthly Meeting


Guest J. Roberts

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We currently hold a regular monthly meeting of our Board of 9 members the first part of every month. The following week a General Meeting is held for our residents to allow them to learn what has been approved by our Board Members. Is there anything that requires us to hold 2 meetings or could we hold just one meeting to go over all items on the monthly agenda? An open forum is held following the General Meeting, but at the Regular Board Meeting there is no open forum. Thank you for any help on this subject.

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Is there anything that requires us to hold 2 meetings or could we hold just one meeting to go over all items on the monthly agenda?

Do your rules specify how often the board and the general membership must meet? If they're both required to meet monthly, you'll still need to have two meetings each month... but you could hold them back-to-back unless your rules provide otherwise.

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Is there anything that requires us to hold 2 meetings or could we hold just one meeting to go over all items on the monthly agenda?

RONR distinguishes between regular (e.g. monthly) and special ("called") meetings.

Your bylaws should establish the schedule of regular meetings and make provisions for calling special meetings. There are likely to be different schedules and provisions for meetings of the general membership and meetings of the board. But keep in mind that, at a meeting of the general membership, the board, as a board, won't be present. The board can only act as a board at a board meeting.

But if the two meetings you're referring to are both meetings of the board, one where non-board members are invited and one where they're not, that's entirely up to the board (subject to any rules your organization has adopted). The general principle is that only members of the body that is meeting have a right to attend and/or speak at that meeting. All others are invited guests.

QBMRng

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Our current by-laws note that the Board will meet monthly to act on items on the agenda. The following week the general meeting is held to present the Board's action to the entire community. Since we are having a difficult time meeting the quorum requirements already established, we are looking for a way to have possibly only one meeting. The back to back suggestion is a good one, but it would make the meeting quite lengthy. Keep your suggestions coming.

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The following week the general meeting is held to present the Board's action to the entire community

Assuming, again, that this second meeting is (also) a board meeting, you might first want to stop referring to it as a "general" meeting (which is usually taken to mean a meeting of the general membership, as opposed to a meeting of the board).

Secondly, if all you want to do is "present the Board's action to the entire community", a newsletter (either in print or online) might do the trick.

Finally, you asked if "there anything that requires us to hold 2 meetings". Well, not in RONR but your reference to "the entire community" suggests that this may be a school board (or similar public body) which almost certainly is subject to a whole host of rules regarding its meetings.

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The problem of lengthy meetings can be substantially resolved by sticking strictly to the rule found on p. 34: "discussion ... is permitted only with reference to a pending motion".

Switching your meeting practice to follow that rule can be quite wrenching, but the poayoff is great - short meetings.

The only non-discussion talk in a meeting would be summaries of (committee) reports and detailed questions, as necessary, about the content of those reports. And the reports should be written, printed, and distributed well ahead of time.

Good luck!

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Our current by-laws note that the Board will meet monthly to act on items on the agenda. The following week the general meeting is held to present the Board's action to the entire community. Since we are having a difficult time meeting the quorum requirements already established, we are looking for a way to have possibly only one meeting. The back to back suggestion is a good one, but it would make the meeting quite lengthy. Keep your suggestions coming.

Is the "general meeting" a meeting of the general membership, or is it just a board meeting that you invite general members to? If the former, you can't combine the meetings into one. If the latter, you could.

If the "general meeting" is a meeting of the general membership, what do your Bylaws say about meetings of the general membership? You might be able to hold them less frequently than monthly. In some organizations, the general membership only meets annually.

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