Striking or Reversing a motion?

[Pension Maven]

Good morning;

I have a question concerning an event that came up during a meeting on a board where I'm the recording secretary. The board is a pension plan committee. There are items that the board itself can do that are administrative functions, and there are items which our commissioners have to approve as fiduciaries.

The board voted to procure a certain item. The motion was, "I move that the committee recommend that the commissioners purchase XYZ software." The motion was seconded and all approved. It was brought up during discussion that purchasing items is an administrative function of the committee and does not need approval, but one member could not find it in the bylaws at the time, so the chair called for a vote and the motion passed. The board went on to discuss some different items when another board member found the where in the bylaws it stated that the purchasing items is an administrative function. The person who originally did it the first time then motioned to "Strike the previous motion and to move forward with purchasing XYZ software."

My question is really two part: 1) can a motion that's already been voted on be "struck" later on; and 2) how do I reflect this in the minutes? Is it really rescinding the motion? I hope this makes sense. Basically, the board originally voted to recommend to the commissioners to buy software, and then later realized that they do not need commissioner approval, and voted to purchase the item themselves.

[Transpower]

They can pass a motion to reconsider the original motion, and then debate and vote on the original motion, again, defeating it.  Or, even simpler, a member can raise a point of order that the motion conflicts with the bylaws, and the chair can sustain the point (subject to appeal).

 

[Tom Coronite]

2) how do I reflect this in the minutes?

You should reflect it in the minutes simply the way that it happened: the first motion passing, then the second motion passing.

 

1) can a motion that's already been voted on be "struck" later on

It appears that the first motion previously adopted was amended by adopting the 2nd motion. Hopefully it was adopted by the necessary threshold.

[Tom Coronite]

4 minutes ago, Transpower said:

They can pass a motion to reconsider the original motion, and then debate and vote on the original motion, again, defeating it.  Or, even simpler, a member can raise a point of order that the motion conflicts with the bylaws, and the chair can sustain the point (subject to appeal).

 

Does a motion seeking approval of something that doesn't really need approval, by that fact alone, conflict with the bylaws?

[Pension Maven]

12 minutes ago, 1stChurch said:

Does a motion seeking approval of something that doesn't really need approval, by that fact alone, conflict with the bylaws?

That's a really good question, actually. I will bring that up to my manager. They do not typically bring these types of things up, but because of the dynamics of the board (it's comprised of two separate agencies) when there are major expenditures, they do bring them up for transparency's sake. 

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

4 hours ago, Pension Maven said:

My question is really two part: 1) can a motion that's already been voted on be "struck" later on; and 2) how do I reflect this in the minutes? Is it really rescinding the motion?

Yes; it's a motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted (RONR [11th ed.], §35). You should put it in the minutes exactly as the chair phrased it.