motions

[Guest Susan Gaastra]

I am the treasurer's of an association and during my report, I provided a comment we are running in the red as our expenses are exceeding our revenue and we need to consider raising membership dues or decrease our costs.  During the report discussion a motion was made to increase dues, it was seconded and the motion passed.

A week later the president of the association sent an e-mail stating the motion that was made during the treasurer's report to increase dues, we did not follow proper procedure of follow Roberts Rules and he discussion should have been on the agenda under new business.  

Did we follow proper procedure as the motion was made under the treasurer's report or do we need a line item under new business regarding increasing dues or reducing expenses?

Thank you, Susan

[Joshua Katz]

As a general matter, topical motions are certainly in order during reports, when nothing else is pending.  Many organizations conduct most of their business under reports, only rarely dealing with new business - and often disposing temporarily of new business by referring it to a committee.  Of course, your own rules may apply, as may applicable laws (such as Sunshine Laws that may require certain sorts of motion have notice, or that all original main motions appear on an agenda).

On the matter of dues, however, dues ordinarily appear in the bylaws, and so changing them requires the procedure specified for amending your bylaws.  A standing rule establishing dues would be ineffective - it would propose to take away rights, contingent on paying a fee, already granted in a higher-level document.  (I suppose the bylaws could simply authorize the charging of dues, and leave the details to a standing rule.)  

Reducing expenses is, for the most part, a simpler matter, unless you are dealing with motions to rescind or amend something previously adopted (whether it be the budget, or an agreement with a vendor - the latter bringing its own set of problems).  

[Kim Goldsworthy]

2 hours ago, Guest Susan Gaastra said:

S1.) During the report discussion, a motion was made to increase dues, it was seconded and the motion passed.

S2.) . . . we did not follow proper procedure of follow Roberts Rules and he discussion should have been on the agenda under new business.  

Q. Did we follow proper procedure?

(a.) as the motion was made under the treasurer's report, or

(b.) do we need a line item under new business regarding increasing dues or reducing expenses?

Both #a and #b are correct.

   • You may move a motion which naturally arises out of a committee report or an officer's report.

   • You may move a motion under "new business".

Your president erred when your president assumed that "no motions are allowed following a report from an officer/committee."

***

You also would have been correct if the new motion had been explicitly postponed to the New Business section of the meeting.

While you could entertain the motion after a report, you don't have to. The motion could be moved, seconded, debated, and then postponed. No problem.

[Richard Brown]

Agreeing with both Godelfan and Mr. Goldsworthy, you would need to amend the bylaws to raise the dues only if they dues amount is specified in the bylaws.  Even if not specified in the bylaws, the bylaws might well prescribe the method of setting the dues. 

We are all assuming that your bylaws do authorize having dues,  If not, the organization does not have the authority to impose any dues.

[Guest Susan Gaastra]

Our bylaws state:  Dues shall be set by resolution of the board of directors, from time to time, and shall be paid by the Memberships as directed by the board.   We currently charge our members $25 annually and wanted to increase to $35 annual as we are running in the red.   Thank you all for your replies to my question. Very informative.  Appreciated.

Susan

[Gary c Tesser]

15 minutes ago, Guest Susan Gaastra said:

Our bylaws state:  Dues shall be set by resolution of the board of directors, from time to time, and shall be paid by the Memberships as directed by the board.   We currently charge our members $25 annually and wanted to increase to $35 annual as we are running in the red.   Thank you all for your replies to my question. Very informative.  Appreciated.

Susan

O Great Steaming Cobnuts.  (Pardon my extraneous language, Guest Susan, but I am driven to a frenzy of exorcism.)

[Clurichan]

34 minutes ago, Gary c Tesser said:

O Great Steaming Cobnuts.  (Pardon my extraneous language, Guest Susan, but I am driven to a frenzy of exorcism.)

Please project your Tesseract to 3 dimensions for us ordinary folk to understand

[George Mervosh]

12 minutes ago, Clurichan said:

Please project your Tesseract to 3 dimensions for us ordinary folk to understand

You'll understand after about 15 years.....at least that's how long it's taken me.

[Gary c Tesser]

20 minutes ago, Clurichan said:

Please project your Tesseract to 3 dimensions for us ordinary folk to understand

(LOL.  Old -- to me -- joke, but a fresh wrinkle, and you told it well.

( -- Oh, but kindly note that no one who reads and writes on The World's Premiere Internet Parliamentary Forum qualifies as ordinary. )

OK, kidding and frenzy aside for a moment (as the end of Robert Sheckley's delightful Dimension of Miracles points out, that's what moments are for)...

Guest Susan.  This is a new wrinkle.  It looks to me as if the quoted bylaw provision might be saying that only the board, and not the membership, may amend the bylaws. Was this a meeting of the membership, or of the board?

Edited December 19, 2016 at 04:54 PM by Gary c Tesser
Left something out.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 12/18/2016 at 6:09 PM, Guest Susan Gaastra said:

I am the treasurer's of an association and during my report, I provided a comment we are running in the red as our expenses are exceeding our revenue and we need to consider raising membership dues or decrease our costs.  During the report discussion a motion was made to increase dues, it was seconded and the motion passed.

A week later the president of the association sent an e-mail stating the motion that was made during the treasurer's report to increase dues, we did not follow proper procedure of follow Roberts Rules and he discussion should have been on the agenda under new business.  

Did we follow proper procedure as the motion was made under the treasurer's report or do we need a line item under new business regarding increasing dues or reducing expenses?

Thank you, Susan

You followed proper procedure perfectly.  

And even if the president was correct that it should have been handled under new business, since nobody (including the president) raised a point of order at the time, it's water under the bridge now.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Gary Novosielski said:

You followed proper procedure perfectly.  

I don't know that we can confidently say that until the OP answers Mr. Tesser's question.

[Gary Novosielski]

 

5 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

I don't know that we can confidently say that until the OP answers Mr. Tesser's question.

Well the OP knew that the board, by resolution, could change the dues, so I have no reason to doubt that this was a meeting of the appropriate body.

But to be clear, my comment on procedure was limited to the fact that motions can be made, pertinent to a report, while the report is being received, and to the untimeliness (at the very least) of a point of order to the contrary.