keefe Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:47 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:47 AM Our church has two kinds of general business meetings: the Annual Meeting (in January) and Special Meetings. Special Meetings are held quarterly (often referred to as quarterly business meetings) and the date for the Special Meetings is set at the previous business meeting. Any other special meetings may be held when the Board of Elders deems it necessary or when desired by two-thirds of the confessing membership. All meetings shall be announced at least one Sunday prior to their occurance Apart from the meetings listed above we have a monthly Board of Elders meeting and Trustee Meeting which occur on the same night, once we are done meeting as individual boards we meet as the Church Council. Now with that background out of the way I will get to the main topic. Our bylaws indicate (above) how a Special Meeting of the Congregation is to be called and who can call it but they do not indicate how a Church Council Special Meeting is to be called. We have a member of the Congregation that is asking for a Church Council Special Meeting to be called to discuss some financials for a project we have going on. Does RR speak to this? Our bylaws seem not to or should we follow the same protocol as we would for a Special Meeting of the Congregation? Thank you in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:54 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:54 AM Our bylaws indicate (above) how a Special Meeting of the Congregation is to be called and who can call it but they do not indicate how a Church Council Special Meeting is to be called. Then you can't have special meetings of the Council. But, to paraphrase Inigo Montoya, your bylaws may not say what you think they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefe Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:59 AM Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:59 AM Then you can't have special meetings of the Council.Edgar, thank you. So by that you are also saying that RONR doesn't say anything about the situation? This is interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:14 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:14 AM So by that you are also saying that RONR doesn't say anything about the situation? I'm saying that RONR says that if your bylaws don't provide for special meetings, they can't be held. The fact that your bylaws authorize special meetings for some bodies (e.g. the board) doesn't mean they authorize special meetings for all bodies (e.g. the council). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:17 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:17 AM Edgar, thank you. So by that you are also saying that RONR doesn't say anything about the situation? This is interesting.What Edgar is saying is that RONR says your council cannot have special meetings unless it is authorized in the bylaws. Edited to add: See pages 92 and 576 of RONR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefe Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:20 AM Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:20 AM Gentlemen,Thank you for your responses. I have been looking through our Constitution and am unable to find anything on it. I can also find nothing on the regular meeting times of our Elder Board, Trustee Board and jointly the Church Council. This should be indicated in the bylaws correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:24 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:24 AM This should be indicated in the bylaws correct? Or the constitution (since you refer to both documents). Or, perhaps, in a Special Rule of Order. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted January 30, 2015 at 04:38 AM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 04:38 AM ... Special Meetings are held quarterly (often referred to as quarterly business meetings) and the date for the Special Meetings is set at the previous business meeting... I think it is confusing to refer to these periodic business meetings as "Special Meetings". They seem to fit the definition of regular meetings in RONR (p. 89). Unless they truly are special meetings and that the only business that is conducted at a meeting is what has been specified in the call of the meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefe Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:54 PM Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:54 PM Hieu, I agree with you and am going to recommend that the name be changed to something more fitting such as "Quarterly Business Meeting" which is what they are typically referred to currently. It looks as if we will have to do some work on our bylaws in the near future. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:56 PM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 02:56 PM I agree with you and am going to recommend that the name be changed to something more fitting such as "Quarterly Business Meeting" which is what they are typically referred to currently. Well, all meetings are supposed to be "business" meetings. If there no intent to conduct business, there's no reason to meet. Keep it simple: monthly meetings, quarterly meetings, annual meeting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary c Tesser Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:30 PM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 03:30 PM Well, all meetings are supposed to be "business" meetings. If there no intent to conduct business, there's no reason to meet. O Ed. And you were doing so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted January 30, 2015 at 04:08 PM Report Share Posted January 30, 2015 at 04:08 PM If there no intent to conduct business, there's no reason to meet.O Ed. And you were doing so well.Well, I didn't mean to suggest that a scheduled meeting shouldn't be held. Just that there's no reason to add the modifier "business" to the noun "meeting" since the purpose of a meeting is to conduct business.Apart from my inartful wording, I'm not sure what your objection is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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