Guest Teresa Posted January 9, 2017 at 01:07 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 01:07 PM Our by-laws state you are eligible to vote if you "made 8 out of the 12 meetings during the year". We only had 7 meetings in the year; due to not meeting a quorum, 5 meeting were not counted (although we did take attendance via sign in sheet and know who attended the uncounted meetings). According to Robert's Rules, how do we calculate the list of eligible voters using only 7 meetings? Can we use the same percentage or could we count the attendees who showed up for the uncounted meetings? What can we do? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted January 9, 2017 at 01:41 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 01:41 PM (edited) The point of the rule is probably, in part, to get your meetings to make quorum, so it seems kind of silly to exclude meetings that don't get quorum. The key here is that you write "we only had 7 meetings this year," but, in fact, the correct procedure when there is no quorum is to call the meeting to order and note the absence of quorum, which avoids your situation and also keeps you in compliance with your bylaws. As to what to do about it now, that seems like a question of bylaw interpretation, which only your organization can decide. If I were a member of your organization, I'd want to count all 12 meetings. People who bothered to show up for those 5 meetings deserve some recognition, don't they, under your rules? Edited to add: Suppose someone only attended a couple of quorate meetings, but every inquorate meeting, while someone else attended 5 quorate meetings but only a couple inquorate meetings. If the inquorate meetings are excluded, one of these people gets to vote and the other doesn't, purely because other people didn't show up at certain meetings. That seems illogical. Edited January 9, 2017 at 01:43 PM by Godelfan Added final paragraph Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted January 9, 2017 at 03:29 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 03:29 PM Perhaps the bylaws could be amended to address this matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:04 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:04 PM Even if a quorum is not present, the proper procedure, as noted by Godelfan, is to call the meeting to order, note the absence of a quorum, and then adjourn, unless action is going to be taken to obtain a quorum or to schedule an adjourned meeting. You technically still hold the meeting. You are simply limited as to what actions you can take at such a meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:35 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:35 PM 2 minutes ago, Richard Brown said: Even if a quorum is not present, the proper procedure, as noted by Godelfan, is to call the meeting to order, note the absence of a quorum, and then adjourn, unless action is going to be taken to obtain a quorum or to schedule an adjourned meeting. You technically still hold the meeting. You are simply limited as to what actions you can take at such a meeting. Suppose the reason that a quorum is not present at a meeting may be because, in determining the number of members who must be present to constitute a quorum, members who may not have attended "8 out of the 12 meetings during the year" are being counted. Would it be in order to raise points of order concerning the eligibility of such members to vote, and thus perhaps reduce the number of members who must be present to the point where a quorum is present? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:54 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 04:54 PM 10 minutes ago, Daniel H. Honemann said: Suppose the reason that a quorum is not present at a meeting may be because, in determining the number of members who must be present to constitute a quorum, members who may not have attended "8 out of the 12 meetings during the year" are being counted. Would it be in order to raise points of order concerning the eligibility of such members to vote, and thus perhaps reduce the number of members who must be present to the point where a quorum is present? You've obviously had your necessary amount of coffee to think clearly, but I ain't there yet. Off the top of my not yet fully functioning head, I don't see anything in your post that I can argue with unless just to add that this might be a bylaws interpretation question as to whether such members should be counted for quorum purposes since they aren't voting members. Wish I had thought of the question you raised. Hmmm . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeresaG Posted January 9, 2017 at 06:22 PM Report Share Posted January 9, 2017 at 06:22 PM Thank you very much for the advice. I agree Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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