Meeting to set an agenda of items to be voted on at a member meeting

[Guest The Pres]

Hello,

I've just been elected as president of a HS booster club. We currently have four officers total, president, vp, secretary, treasurer. I have no idea what I'm doing. Please help.

We need to set a budget, make a plan for the season and address various issues for the start of our season. I want to have a meeting with board officers and coaches to decide what needs to be addressed and in what priority. This will not be a meeting where we vote on these items but rather what items need to be put to a vote and in what order. Our bylaws don't specifically outline anything like this so I defer to the Rules for procedure on this.

First, does such a procedure exist? Second, what is it called? Third, would this be required to be an open meeting to the general membership or could it be just the board getting together to "set an agenda" for a general membership meeting? Fourth, am I correct in assuming we need to keep minutes?

Thank You all for any help.

[Dan Honemann]

Hello,

I've just been elected as president of a HS booster club. We currently have four officers total, president, vp, secretary, treasurer. I have no idea what I'm doing. Please help.

We need to set a budget, make a plan for the season and address various issues for the start of our season. I want to have a meeting with board officers and coaches to decide what needs to be addressed and in what priority. This will not be a meeting where we vote on these items but rather what items need to be put to a vote and in what order. Our bylaws don't specifically outline anything like this so I defer to the Rules for procedure on this.

First, does such a procedure exist? Second, what is it called? Third, would this be required to be an open meeting to the general membership or could it be just the board getting together to "set an agenda" for a general membership meeting? Fourth, am I correct in assuming we need to keep minutes?

Thank You all for any help.

Do you plan to have a meeting of your club's board? Just an informal meeting of some members? What?

Also, take a look at the answer to FAQ 14 for some information concerning the adoption of an agenda.

[Guest The Pres]

Well as I said; "I want to have a meeting with board officers and coaches to decide what needs to be addressed and in what priority." So Yes, I would refer to it as a more informal meeting of the officers and coaches so we can determine what issues need to be addressed, discussed and possibly voted on at a general meeting. Would this be allowed with just us trying to figure out what we want to do at the meeting or do the Rules require this type of meeting to be announced and open to the public? I guess I would characterize it as more of a planning session to set the general meeting agenda. (which I'm not even sure I'm using any of this terminology correctly). Thank You.

[Chris Harrison]

I don't see why you all can't get together informally and come up with what you want the agenda to look like at the meeting. However, subject to the bylaws limiting when certain items of business can be conducted, it is ultimately up to the General Membership to decide what business they want to have come before it (see FAQ #14 as Mr. Honemann suggested). In other words, you all can come up with what you think/want the Membership to consider but your desires aren't binding on them.

[jstackpo]

And, since you say you are new at this, get a copy of RONRIB (and read it) so you will be ready to go at the actual meeting. But you are to be commended for sitting down and planning things. A rare trait! Keep it up!

RONRIB:

"Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief", Updated Second Edition (Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group, 2011). It is a splendid summary of all the rules you will really need in all but the most exceptional situations. And only $7.50! You can read it in an evening. Get both RONRIB and RONR (scroll down) at this link.

[Guest The Pres]

Thank You. I will get the Rules editions you've suggested and read them.

I referred to this as a "planning session", are any of you familiar with something like this? I used that term as I have heard it used before with regards to our local school board but I have to admit I have no idea as to what it exactly means. Is there a common understanding of what is meant by "planning session"? I can always call the local school board and ask them what their use of the term means.

Anyway, Thanks again.

[Dan Honemann]

Thank You. I will get the Rules editions you've suggested and read them.

I referred to this as a "planning session", are any of you familiar with something like this? I used that term as I have heard it used before with regards to our local school board but I have to admit I have no idea as to what it exactly means. Is there a common understanding of what is meant by "planning session"? I can always call the local school board and ask them what their use of the term means.

Anyway, Thanks again.

There is no such thing as a "planning session" in RONR, and there apparently is no such thing in your bylaws.

In any event, for such a "session" to have any significance beyond chit-chat at an informal get-together, it would need to be something which occurs during a regular or properly called meeting of your club, board, or some other entity formally established by your club.

[Guest The Pres]

Your right. There is no mention of it in our bylaws thus my questions. I find it to only make sense to me that the board would meet in some fashion to determine which issues that the board is aware of need to be brought to the attention of the organization for discussion and possible vote. This would not be in place of the memberships right to bring up items for consideration as new business but just to give our meeting direction and understanding of the items on the agenda so when the membership has questions the board members can have answers for them.

Anyway, as I said, I have no idea of what I'm doing but I'm trying to learn and do it in a proper way the best I can. Believe me, the previous board was more informal than this. We were lucky to get any info. about any meeting at all. So again I thank you for the direction.

[Gary c Tesser]

If you're still reading, Guest The Pres ... I trust you have read your RONR - IB by now, two whole days later? It only took an hour or so, maybe two, your first time, right? Any questions yet? (If not, what's taking you?) If somehow your copy is still sitting there unopened, read it now. At once. If you're driving, pull over and park, but for that matter, why are you reading the Internet while operating a motor vehicle?

And feel free to ask questions here, as they come up. (If you don't develop questions, you're probably doing something wrong.) And you should find it much easier to post if you register with the website than to continue as a Guest.

[Guest Guest]

Hi,

2 questions,

 

1.  I have a secretary that has indicated she won't be able to attend the next meeting, and I can't seem to find the how, why, when of electing a "secretary pro-tem" in the elections section of the RONR-IB for this meeting.

 

2.  What is the procedure if the secretary does NOT supply the minutes of the previous meeting?

 

I generally have to ask, cajole, beg, etc. to get the minutes prior to the next meeting.  I ask for them in advance and use the info to help set the next agenda.  But as her and I are at odds, she seems to purposely be attempting to delaying their availability.  It's been 3 weeks since the last meeting and she say's "I'll get you the minutes when I finish them".  So in the event their not available to be submitted into the record at the upcoming meeting, what is the procedure on how to handle this both for the upcoming meeting and for the meeting they do become available for and can be submitted into the record?

 

I guess that's three questions, sorry.

[Gary Novosielski]

Ask for volunteers; failing that, ask for nominees.  Once you get someone willing, you can hold a brief voice vote to elect Mr. Patsy as secretary pro-tem.

 

If the secretary does not supply the minutes, you can't very well approve them, so just approve them at the following meeting.

 

But bear in mind that the secretary is under no obligation to supply minutes in advance of the meeting, unless you have some rule that says so.  It does save time to print and distribute draft minutes, but it's not required by RONR

 

In the future, ask questions by starting a New Topic.

[Gary c Tesser]

A few thoughts.

A. (I like to follow previous poster's numbering, for clarity, as I appreciate when subsequent posters do for me. So 1 and 2 will follow the numbering of the poster of post #10 here.) Please post with a name. There are too many Guest_Guests to keep track of. And it's easier just to register with the website. They won't give your fingerprints or retina scans to Homeland Security. I'm sure.

1. O, Gracious (not my customary personal language, but it's a public website). Not in my copy, either, which is doubly or triply embarrassing. But we must recognize that the brevity required of -In Brief's briefness necessitates leaving stuff out. Some of us were distressed ten years or so ago when RONR-IB's first edition came out, and not a word about disciplinary procedures. But a 190-page book representing an 800-page book perforce must leave some things out.

(Now, oddly, I don't see "pro-tem" in the index of RONR 11th Ed. I see it here in the index of the 10th. I might remark on this elsewhere in a day or so, but in the meantime, let's make do.) RONR, 11th Ed., says, p. 459 on the bottom, "in the absence of the secretary, a secretary pro tem should be elected...." Which implies a simple, straightforward acknowledgement that the secretary is absent, and just elect the pro tem. That's what Gary Novosielski said in his first paragraph, I now notice, which might be embarrassing too, except no.

2. Mr Novosielski's second paragraph is true. But if it is known in advance that the secretary cannot attend, and if she makes no effort to get (her draft of) the previous meeting's minutes available to someone who will be in attendance -- not necessarily the president, although that would be the common-sense go-to-guy -- I, for one, would think her behavior clearly negligent. If officers have their differences, they can screw around with each other however they will; but not to the detriment of the interests of the organization. RONR says the president and secretary should confer before the meeting about what to expect and how to handle it (citations on request, 25 cents each).

-- 2 (a). If someone else had happened to have taken notes at the previous meeting, and cares to draft them, they can be submitted as the minutes, since the secretary has not supplied a version of her own. Should the membership consider this draft and approve them, then that's that.

3. What is the third question? (Maybe it's what I see as 2 (a).)

4. GPN is right about posting new questions. The Internet has fulsome piles of discussion-thread numbers.