Definition of "present"

[mcfarland]

Our bylaws read:  "All questions and business at every meeting at which a quorum is present, shall be determined by a majority vote of members present."

 

Our Chairman refused to recognize and count the vote of a member "attending" the meeting via telephone.  Our bylaws do not provide for attending meetings via telephone.

 

It was argued that the bylaws do not specifically disallow attendance by telephone, and that "present" can be interpreted to include attendance by telephone.

 

Please advise.  Can "present" by defined to include attendance by telephone?  Do the bylaws need to specify if attendance is allowed by telephone?

 

Thanks. - Bob 

[Gary c Tesser]

RONR doesn't define the word (although you might find the last sentence on p. 1 illuminating, or, as I do, confusing, in this context).  Your group itself is the best, and only authoritative, entity qualified to interpret its own bylaws.

 

Let me ask you this:  what 's the difference between this idea of what "present" means, which your president is resisting, and, say, "absent and telephoning"?

 

(Perhaps I've given myself away....)

[Transpower]

See RONR (11th ed.), p. 97, ll. 20-30:  "...some or all of them communicate with the others through electronic means such as the Internet or by telephone.  A group that holds such alternative meetings does not lose its character as a deliberative assembly (see pp. 1-2) so long as the meetings provide, at a minimum, conditions of opportunity for simultaneous aural communication among all participating members equivalent to those of meetings held in one room or area.  Under such conditions, an electronic meeting that is properly authorized in the bylaws is treated as though it were a meeting at which all the members who are participating are actually present."  But, unfortunately, your bylaws do not provide for electronic meetings, and so your chairman ruled correctly.

[Gary Novosielski]

Our bylaws read:  "All questions and business at every meeting at which a quorum is present, shall be determined by a majority vote of members present."

 

Our Chairman refused to recognize and count the vote of a member "attending" the meeting via telephone.  Our bylaws do not provide for attending meetings via telephone.

 

It was argued that the bylaws do not specifically disallow attendance by telephone, and that "present" can be interpreted to include attendance by telephone.

 

Please advise.  Can "present" by defined to include attendance by telephone?  Do the bylaws need to specify if attendance is allowed by telephone?

 

Thanks. - Bob 

 

If the member were "present", the telephone would have been unnecessary.  And yes, the bylaws would have to authorize it, and you'll need to figure out a way to provide the "simuntaneous aural communication" among the members, and other things such as how a person on the phone seeks recognition or responds to a rising vote or show of hands, or casts a written ballot..

[Bruce Lages]

One other thing - has your organization adopted RONR as your parliamentary authority?  If it has, I recommend you delete that sentence you quoted from your bylaws as soon as possible. It is unnecessary and in some instances could lead to confusion about what voting threshold is required for certain actions.

[Gary Novosielski]

Yes, that's a very poorly worded and completely unnecessary bit of language. RONR contains appropriate vote thresholds for a variety of types of motions under a variety of conditions.  A flat majority of those present is not appropriate at all for many types of motions.