Phone Calls

[Guest Dennis Prather]

I belong to a social club that has bylaws and follows RRO. We have had several occasions where other board member and the President have tried to drive policy by phone calls they have received from other members. I think this is just hearsay because they could be just making it up.  I have asked several times where the member or members  are, and why they are not at the meeting. All that got me was ridicule.

What is the proper way to handle this situation?

[Gary Novosielski]

I assumed you asked it rhetorically during debate, in which case any ridicule would be a breach of decorum, and the chair should call those members to order. 

 

If he does not, you should raise a point of order.

 

Rather than asking the question, it might be more effective to simply make the statement in debate, such as, "It seems to me that if these members were truly concerned, their proper course of action would be to come to this meeting and express those concerns so everyone can hear them, and not to make private phone calls to individual officers.  I urge my colleagues to dismiss these claims as hearsay."

 

There is no rule here that will help you (except the rules of decorum).  What you need is to be more persuasive than the other side, and get people to vote your way.

[Timothy]

Whether the board member is making it up or not, the phone call amounts to one or two people with an opinion. Greasing the noisiest wheel is not proper, rather decisions should be made based on the will of the majority.

[Dan Honemann]

Whether the board member is making it up or not, the phone call amounts to one or two people with an opinion. Greasing the noisiest wheel is not proper, rather decisions should be made based on the will of the majority.

 

I'm not sure what is meant by this. Certainly there is nothing improper about a board deciding to do something (which it is authorized to do) based upon information, or a request, which one of its members says he received from someone else (during a telephone call or otherwise).