Guest Connie Posted February 1, 2016 at 03:42 AM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 03:42 AM Currently club bylaws state Parliamentarian will be appointed to the BOD by the President. It has been suggested that the Parliamentarian be elected instead. The Parliamentarian is supposed to be impartial and not engage in debate, make motions or vote. If elected he would be afforded all the rights of a board member. It would seem he would be unable to remain impartial and have the privileges of a board member at the same time. Opinions please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted February 1, 2016 at 03:49 AM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 03:49 AM By accepting the office of Parliamentarian the Board member is agreeing to voluntarily forgo the exercise of many of those rights (RONR p. 467 ll. 8-18). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted February 1, 2016 at 04:27 AM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 04:27 AM Since the duty of the parliamentarian is to advise the chair on matters of parliamentary procedure, it makes perfect sense that the chair should have the authority to appoint someone whose advice he trusts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:35 AM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:35 AM 3 hours ago, Guest Connie said: Currently club bylaws state Parliamentarian will be appointed to the BOD by the President. It has been suggested that the Parliamentarian be elected instead. [...] If elected he would be afforded all the rights of a board member. It would seem he would be unable to remain impartial and have the privileges of a board member at the same time. Wait a minute. Q. What makes you think that a parliamentarian who is "appointed by the President" will be "shorted" any of the rights than a parliamentarian who is "elected by the general membership"? Q. Did you think that "elected rights" and "appointed rights" for a sitting board member are different? -- That changing the mode of "how one gets to sit on a board" will alter the set of rights of that sitting member? Q. . . . that "the parliamentarian will be impartial" if the mode of sitting on the board was via Method M1, but "the parliamentarian will not be impartial" if the mode of sitting on the board was via Method M2? Q. What has one got to do with the other? Isn't a member a member? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Transpower Posted February 1, 2016 at 12:45 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 12:45 PM The parliamentarian is usually not a member of the organization. Therefore, "electing" one doesn't make sense. It's up to the chair to appoint one in which he has confidence. If the parliamentarian is a member, then he may vote on a motion--but only if the vote is by ballot. RONR (11th ed.), pp. 465-467. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Connie Posted February 1, 2016 at 05:00 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 05:00 PM Allow me to restate my original query. Club Parliamentarians are always appointed from the club membership per our bylaws Does a member of the organization who has been selected and appointed by the BOD president/chair and sits on the BOD have the right to make motions, debate and vote while sitting on the BOD? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted February 1, 2016 at 05:11 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 05:11 PM 8 minutes ago, Guest Connie said: Allow me to restate my original query. Club Parliamentarians are always appointed from the club membership per our bylaws Does a member of the organization who has been selected and appointed by the BOD president/chair and sits on the BOD have the right to make motions, debate and vote while sitting on the BOD? A member, while serving as parliamentarian, agrees to not exercise any of his membership rights. The exception being when a vote is being taken by ballot, in which case he can vote just like any other member. See Mr. Harris' citation in post #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted February 1, 2016 at 06:36 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 06:36 PM 1 hour ago, Guest Connie said: Allow me to restate my original query. Club Parliamentarians are always appointed from the club membership per our bylaws Does a member of the organization who has been selected and appointed by the BOD president/chair and sits on the BOD have the right to make motions, debate and vote while sitting on the BOD? No. But you seem to believe that how one becomes parliamentarian affects the answer. It does not. Even if you amend your bylaws to elect the parliamentarian (a bad idea in my view) that would not automatically confer any rights on that office that were not there before--unless of course that's what the amendment says. The proper way to select a parliamentarian is for the chair to appoint someone in whom he has confidence. Electing one is asking for trouble, and provides no benefits. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:04 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:04 PM Although I am far from being voiced in Roberts Rules, which I'm sure only took a second for you to recognize, I do have good instincts. Your repeated statements that a chair should appoint someone in whom she has confidence supports my view that to elect one is not a good way to proceed. Thank you all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:05 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:05 PM Guest Connie, I don't have time to research it now to give you a link, but there are a couple of very good threads in this forum about a member serving as parliamentarian. Depending on the exact wording of your bylaws, it is possible to get around the restrictions RONR imposes on a member parliamentarian through at least two measures: First is to not appoint an official parliamentarian at all, but to have an "experienced member" as discussed on page 254 who the chair can call upon for assistance with matters of parliamentary procedure. Here is the provision: "Before rendering his decision, the chair can consult the parliamentarian, if there is one. The chair can also request the advice of experienced members, but no one has the right to express such opinions in the meeting unless requested to do so by the chair." (Emphasis added). Therefore, if there is no official parliamentarian, the chair is free to call on any or more members of his choosing regarding questions of parliamentary procedure. The way I read the provision, the chair may do that even if there is a parliamentarian. Others may read it differently. A second method of dealing with the participation of a member parliamentarian is for the society to adopt a special rule of order which allows the member parliamentarian to participate to whatever extent the special rule allows. My own local NAP unit has adopted such a special rule. I'm not commenting on the advisability of such a rule, but rather just pointing out that your society is probably free to adopt one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:22 PM Report Share Posted February 1, 2016 at 07:22 PM Guest Connie, to supplement my response above, here are links to three good threads with discussions involving participation by a member parliamentarian: http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/13791-small-board-member-as-parliamentarian/ http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/26553-officer-making-a-motion/ http://robertsrules.forumflash.com/index.php?/topic/25816-is-the-parlamentarian-allowed/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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