Which comes first

[Guest Melanie]

In a city council meeting which comes first, call to order or certification of a quorum?

[Edgar Guest]

While the chair might wait for a few minutes until a quorum is present before calling the meeting to order, at some point he has to call the meeting to order, quorum or not.

 

So my answer is (a).

[Timothy]

By RONR pg. 348 line 34, the chair should determine if there is a quorum before he calls the meeting to order. It also notes that he doesn't have to announce it. The fact that the phrase "certification of a quorum" is used seems to imply that this is an official action. So I would expect that the chair looks around the room to see if there is a quorum, at some point, he calls the meeting to order, and then the people assembled go through there quorum certification process. Up until the meeting is called to order, people may be talking, so it would be difficult to go through the certification process.

[David A Foulkes]

An internet search for "certification of a quorum" would lead most readers to believe the call to order comes first.  The "certification of a quorum" (by that terminology) is not part of RONR, however.

[Gary Novosielski]

In a city council meeting which comes first, call to order or certification of a quorum?

The call to order actually takes place before the meeting starts, so if there is any formal "certification" of a quorum (which RONR does not deal with) it would have to take place after the meeting begins.

[Rev Ed]

I would say that the first thing to do is to call the meeting to order.  If there is a 'quorum test' then it would happen immediately after this.   I know some organizations will have a 'registrar' to check off the membership list as members arrive.  Then after the meeting is called to order, the Chairman will ask the Registrar for his/her 'report' to confirm how many members are actually present at the meeting.  Either way, if the Chairman feels that quorum is present, then he/she should call the meeting to order.  What happens afterwards would be up to the organization.