motions

[marie123]

can we have an "if" statement in a motion?

example:

Motion - If the Executive director feels the above noted task is a conflict of interest and chooses to recluse herself, the Board hereby agrees to have the governance committee address the issue.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

I suppose it could be done. Wouldn't it be better to find out if the "if" statement was true and then make the motion afterward?

[marie123]

I would like to say yes, but it is an extremely time sensitive matter, and we would then have to wait until our next board meeting in 4 weeks. 

[Richard Brown]

Yes, you can do what you want to do, but the wording you suggested in your example sounds like it can be improved upon.  For example, what does it mean to "have the governance committee address the issue"?   Who shall the executive secretary notify if he or she concludes that there is a conflict of interest? 

[Kim Goldsworthy]

8 hours ago, marie123 said:

can we have an "if" statement in a motion?

example:

Motion - If the Executive director feels the above noted task is a conflict of interest and chooses to recluse herself, the Board hereby agrees to have the governance committee address the issue.

Yes, but your formation is not the best.

Instead of using the conditional "if", make a statement of the action, only then add the condition(s).

E.g.,

• "The board agrees to have the governance committee address the issue, provided that that the Executive director judges [insert the "above noted task" here?] represents a conflict of interest and the Executive director recuses herself."

So, you have:

• STATEMENT + CONDITION 1 + CONDITION 2 + ... + CONDITION N

. . . where the conditions may be prefaced:

. . . "provided that" or "except that" or "under the condition that", or "only if".

[marie123]

Thank you.