Guest Cedarhollow Posted July 29, 2015 at 05:36 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 05:36 PM Our club is a national club with members all across North America. Meetings are conducted via a secure online chat room. How much notice is required to be given to Board Members and/or General Members prior to a meeting taking place? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 29, 2015 at 05:41 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 05:41 PM How much notice is required to be given to Board Members and/or General Members prior to a meeting taking place? Well, the first thing to determine is whether you're referring to a meeting of the board or a meeting of the general membership. Nothing in RONR requires notifying the general membership of board meetings. The next thing to determine is whether you're talking about regular meetings or special meetings. There's usually no requirement to provide notice of regular meetings (e.g. those held on the third Tuesday of each month) since, presumably, members are aware of the schedule. Special meetings can only be held if the bylaws provide for them and, if they do, the bylaws should also specify the required notice (e.g. ten days). If your bylaws provide for special meetings but fail to specify the required notice then what's required is "reasonable" notice. Obviously, what's reasonable for one organization might not be reasonable for another. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarhollow Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:17 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:17 PM Let's start with the Board Meeting. They are required quarterly but not on a specific date (third Tuesday). Just in general date range. They are required to be posted to the membership as the members are allowed to attend. (No mention of notice in the bylaws to either Board or General members.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:28 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:28 PM Let's start with the Board Meeting. They are required quarterly but not on a specific date (third Tuesday). Just in general date range. They are required to be posted to the membership as the members are allowed to attend. (No mention of notice in the bylaws to either Board or General members.) The more notice, the better. At one end of the spectrum, the board might establish and post the schedule of quarterly meetings at the start of the year. At the other end, the board might give notice today that the next quarterly meeting will be . . . tomorrow. What you want to avoid is a claim that the notice wasn't reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarhollow Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:37 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:37 PM Well, and that is the problem...reasonable notice. There is a Code of Ethics revision in the works and one side was away at an event so a meeting was called and held while those were away. Was the notice given reasonable? That is the question. 5 days notice was given...after those that were in disagreement had left home and didn't have access to email, etc for the notice to be received. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edgar Guest Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:42 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 06:42 PM Was the notice given reasonable? That is the question. 5 days notice was given...after those that were in disagreement had left home and didn't have access to email, etc for the notice to be received. I think the long-term solution is to amend the bylaws to make the dates of the quarterly board meetings more predictable. Or, at least, to specify how much notice is required. In the meantime, if there's enough support, the "short-notice" board members could be removed and replaced with "long-notice" board members. The whole point of having regular meetings is that the members know when they will be held. if the first "regular" quarterly meeting of the year is held on January 1 in 2014 and on March 31 in 2015, that's not very regular. Especially if the next quarterly meeting is held on April 1, 2015. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted July 29, 2015 at 07:00 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 07:00 PM Well, and that is the problem...reasonable notice. There is a Code of Ethics revision in the works and one side was away at an event so a meeting was called and held while those were away. Was the notice given reasonable? That is the question. 5 days notice was given...after those that were in disagreement had left home and didn't have access to email, etc for the notice to be received.The organization will need to decide for itself what constitutes "reasonable" notice. As noted, in the long term, the bylaws should be amended to provide how much notice is required so that there is no question on the subject. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cedarhollow Posted July 29, 2015 at 10:43 PM Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 at 10:43 PM Thank you for the help. It is much appreciated. I agree that it should be spelled out in the By-Laws...We have been working for 4 years on a Code of Ethics revision...I can only imagine the what it will take for a By-Law revision! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted July 30, 2015 at 01:30 PM Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 at 01:30 PM Thank you for the help. It is much appreciated. I agree that it should be spelled out in the By-Laws...We have been working for 4 years on a Code of Ethics revision...I can only imagine the what it will take for a By-Law revision! Those of us who are members of NAP can tell you it's nearly unimaginable what it will take. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.