Motions made by members at annual meeting

[Guest confused]

At our annual meeting this year a member stood up during new business and tried to make a motion. The board chair told the member that there is a rule that the motion must be submitted 60 days prior to the annual members meeting in order to be on the agenda as new business. The member has asked to see this rule in writing and has received no answer. There is no By-Law, Policy or Procedure that requires a 60 day prior to annual member meeting for submittal of motions that us members can find published in the Corporate Documents available to us. To further complicate matters in the video recording of the 2014 annual members meeting members were allowed to make motions and vote on them. Thank you for any input on this matter. I have order the 11th edition of Roberts Rules of Order as it states in our By Laws that meetings will be held according to RRO.

[Gary Novosielski]

I can't find the question.

[Guest confused]

Does the 2014 meeting set a precedent that allows members to make motions and vote on them the day of the annual members meeting?

[Richard Brown]

There is certainly no such 60 day rule in RONR.  Good for you for ordering a copy of "The Right Book"!

 

Unless you have a written rule to the contrary, any new business may be introduced during the "new business" portion of the meeting.

 

If this was an annual members meeting, I'm curious as to why you referenced "the board chair" as apparently being the presiding officer.   Is the chairman of the board a different person from the president of the society?    If so, who was presiding?  If it was a membership meeting, it should have been the president of the organization unless your bylaws or special rules designate someone else.  As our member Mr. Guest likes to point out, the board is not even present, as a board, at a membership meeting.

 

Edited to add:  The member who wanted to make the motion was correct to ask to see the rule.  That is almost always the right approach when someone says "there is a rule that says you can't do that".   Or that "you must do this".   Just say, "show me the rule".   That is usually the end of it.

[Guest confused]

This is in an Electric Company Cooperative. The board chair ran the meeting.

[Richard Brown]

This is in an Electric Company Cooperative. The board chair ran the meeting.

Why was the board chair running the meeting?  Does the cooperative not have a president?   Is there a rule that says the board chairman presides at annual membership meetings?

 

Note:  The president of the organization and the chairman of the board are typically, but not always, the same person.

 

Having someone other than the designated official presiding would not invalidate anything done, but I'm curious as to why the board chairman, rather than the president of the cooperative, was chairing the meeting.

[Guest confused]

The general manager and the cooperatives attorney stepped in to council the board chair that motions could not be made at the meeting. I believe that our board Chairman would be considered the president in this case...as he is voted into the position of board member by members and then voted as board chair by the other board members.

[Guest confused]

I believe that it is a basic member right to have the rules supplied to them in writing when asked, correct? And, if no rule to support what happened can be produced then the members should be entitled to another member meeting, before the next annual one, to be allowed to present their motion that was denied.

[Edgar Guest]

I believe that our board Chairman would be considered the president in this case...as he is voted into the position of board member by members and then voted as board chair by the other board members.

 

Possibly. Perhaps even probably. But not necessarily.

 

You'd need some sort of rule that designates the chair of the board as the president of the cooperative (or at least says that the chair of the board presides at the annual meeting of the cooperative).

[Edgar Guest]

I believe that it is a basic member right to have the rules supplied to them in writing when asked, correct?

Perhaps not a right to a copy of the rules (though it's a very good idea and recommended by RONR), but certainly a right to see the rules. 

 

And, if no rule to support what happened can be produced then the members should be entitled to another member meeting, before the next annual one, to be allowed to present their motion that was denied.

That would only be possible if your bylaws (or other governing documents) provide for special meetings (i.e. meetings other than the regular annual, and any quarterly or monthly) meetings.

[Guest confused]

This conversation is good. It is making me look up the rules and think about how they are applied. I can't wait to get my RRO book.

There are rules in the By Laws that state that the Chairperson: (a) Shall preside at all meetings of the members and of the Board of Directors.

The By Laws do allow for special members meetings which may be called by the Board of Directors or upon a written request signed by at least ten per centum (10%) of all the members.

So, with this thought in hand; the members could, with 10% of the members signatures or by a board member, call a special meeting to allow the motions that were not allowed at the annual meeting to go forward based on the fact that no written rule supports the fact that they were denied, correct?

[Edgar Guest]

This conversation is good. It is making me look up the rules and think about how they are applied. I can't wait to get my RRO book.

While you're waiting, you might want to become a member of this humble forum. No salesman will call

 

So, with this thought in hand; the members could, with 10% of the members signatures or by a board member, call a special meeting . . . 

Well, not just "a" board member but "the board".

 

And you might want to amend your bylaws to get rid of the pretentious "ten per centum" (if that's what they actually say).