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Nonmembers attending committee meetings and confidentiality


JerryRig

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Please tell me if or where I am right or wrong.

 

RONR has been written for all types of groups and societies.  Societies such as HOAs and School Boards normally have the committee members sit up front and it is normal for nonmembers to sit and listen.  The nonmembers may not vote and may speak only if permitted by the committee or board.

 

If the committee wishes to discuss something in secrecy, they vote to go into executive session and if passes, the nonmembers must leave the meeting.

 

If the society wishes to have a specific committee always secret with no nonmembers attending (such as personnel committee), then the permanent confidentiality must be incorporated into the Bylaws.  If not in the Bylaws, not have a nonmember attend the committee meeting or operating the committee meeting in secrecy is a meeting by meeting voting process.

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If the society wishes to have a specific committee always secret with no nonmembers attending (such as personnel committee), then the permanent confidentiality must be incorporated into the Bylaws.  If not in the Bylaws, not have a nonmember attend the committee meeting or operating the committee meeting in secrecy is a meeting by meeting voting process.

I would say the first sentence in your statement above is not  true, but the second sentence is at least partially correct.

 

However, I'm not sure what you are asking.  And we need to know if you are talking about a public body, such as a city council or school board or one of their committees.  Such groups are usually subject to state open meetings laws that do not apply to private organizations.

 

As for ordinary organizations, non  members have no right to attend the meetings at all unless permission is granted.  There is no need for the bylaws to contain such a provision, although it is permissible to put such provision there.

 

Organizations handle this in various ways: by custom, by special rule, and some on a case by case basis.  In general, if there is no special rule on the subject, it takes a majority vote of the body which is meeting to allow non  members to attend a meeting.

 

Edited to add:  Here is a relevant provision from page 644 of RONR:

 

"PRINCIPLES GOVERNING DISCIPLINE AT MEETINGS. A society has the right to determine who may be present at its meetings and to control its hall while meetings are in progress; but all members have the right to attend except in cases where the bylaws provide for the automatic suspension of members who fall in arrears in payment of their dues, or where the society has, by vote and as a penalty imposed for a specific offense, forbidden attendance.

 

Nonmembers, on the other hand—or a particular nonmember or group of nonmembers—can be excluded at any time from part or all of a meeting of a society, or from all of its meetings. Such exclusion can be effected by a ruling of the chair in cases of disorder, or by the adoption of a rule on the subject, or by an appropriate motion as the need arises—a motion of the latter nature being a question of privilege [page 645] (19). A motion to exclude all nonmembers (except absolutely necessary staff, if any) is often referred to as a motion to "go into executive session" (see 9)."

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