Can we suspend this rule in our bylaws

[Guest Golden Retreiver Girl]

Our local dog club has the following rule. Are we able vote to not hold our June and July meetings? There is not other provision in our bylaws which supersedes this rule; is this vote, if adopted, improper (and not in order)?

"Regular meetings will ordinarily be held on the second Tuesday of each month but may be changed to conform with plans to hold the meeting in conjunction with puppy matches, lectures, social functions or other activites."

 

[jstackpo]

Voting not do do something is not proper.   Maybe you mean cancel the previously scheduled meetings.

The words "ordinarily" and "may be changed" sure sound as though you can.

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Ultimately it is up to your organization to interpret your bylaws. If your rules are not clear, they should be amended to remove the ambiguity.

[Richard Brown]

16 minutes ago, Guest Golden Retreiver Girl said:

Our local dog club has the following rule. Are we able vote to not hold our June and July meetings? There is not other provision in our bylaws which supersedes this rule; is this vote, if adopted, improper (and not in order)?

"Regular meetings will ordinarily be held on the second Tuesday of each month but may be changed to conform with plans to hold the meeting in conjunction with puppy matches, lectures, social functions or other activites."

 

 

8 minutes ago, jstackpo said:

Voting not do do something is not proper.   Maybe you mean cancel the previously scheduled meetings.

The words "ordinarily" and "may be changed" sure sound as though you can.

I agree with Dr. Stackpole.  It looks to me like the drafters intended that some meeting dates might be changed.  I also agree that it is probably better to "change" or "reschedule" a meeting than to vote not to have one.

I also agree with Mr. Huynh that if it is not clear to your members what your rules mean, they should probably be amended to make them clear.

[Guest Golden Retreiver Girl]

We're not changing the day or date for the June or July meetings, some members decided they just don't wish to meet in those months. My question is can the rule be suspended so the club may simply cancel the meetings?

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

I don't think that a provision for regular meetings is suspendable. But you could "change" the June and July meetings to occur 2 and 1 minutes before the August meeting.

[Guest Golden Retreiver Girl]

48 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

 

I agree with Dr. Stackpole.  It looks to me like the drafters intended that some meeting dates might be changed.  I also agree that it is probably better to "change" or "reschedule" a meeting than to vote not to have one.

I also agree with Mr. Huynh that if it is not clear to your members what your rules mean, they should probably be amended to make them clear.

Mr. Brown,

Given the wording I've provided, are we permitted to conduct a legitimate vote to "cancel" the June and July meetings?

 

[Bruce Lages]

Since the bylaws mandate that "Regular meetings will ordinarily be held on the second Tuesday of each month...", it seems to me that if you want to permanently eliminate meetings in June and July, the proper way to do that is to amend the bylaws. The provision in that same bylaw that grants the authority to change meeting dates stipulates that such change is for the purpose of holding meetings in conjunction with other activities. Simply eliminating certain meeting dates doesn't seem to conform to that purpose for a change of date. 

Why not just amend the bylaws to eliminate those June and July meetings?

[J. J.]

10 hours ago, Guest Golden Retreiver Girl said:

Mr. Brown,

Given the wording I've provided, are we permitted to conduct a legitimate vote to "cancel" the June and July meetings?

 

I think you could reschedule them.

[Richard Brown]

10 hours ago, Guest Golden Retreiver Girl said:

Mr. Brown,

Given the wording I've provided, are we permitted to conduct a legitimate vote to "cancel" the June and July meetings?

I agree with the previous responses.  Rather than simply canceling one or more meetings, I would suggest "re-scheduling" them to a date which coincides with other dog events as specifically permitted by your bylaws.  I would  use one motion to reschedule both the June and July meetings to a date that coincides with the desired event.  Or you can reschedule them separately.

[Shmuel Gerber]

14 hours ago, Guest Golden Retreiver Girl said:

Our local dog club has the following rule. Are we able vote to not hold our June and July meetings? There is not other provision in our bylaws which supersedes this rule; is this vote, if adopted, improper (and not in order)?

"Regular meetings will ordinarily be held on the second Tuesday of each month but may be changed to conform with plans to hold the meeting in conjunction with puppy matches, lectures, social functions or other activites."

This is not a suspendible rule, and a motion to suspend it would be null and void.

[Shmuel Gerber]

13 hours ago, Guest Golden Retreiver Girl said:

We're not changing the day or date for the June or July meetings, some members decided they just don't wish to meet in those months. My question is can the rule be suspended so the club may simply cancel the meetings?

No.

[Shmuel Gerber]

2 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

I agree with the previous responses.  Rather than simply canceling one or more meetings, I would suggest "re-scheduling" them to a date which coincides with other dog events as specifically permitted by your bylaws.  I would  use one motion to reschedule both the June and July meetings to a date that coincides with the desired event.  Or you can reschedule them separately.

The way I read this provision, I think it means that each month's meeting ("the meeting") may be changed to be held in conjunction with an event on a day of that same month that is not the second Tuesday.

Or, even if the meeting doesn't have to be held in the same calendar month, I think it would at least have to be held before the regular day of the next month's meeting.

In any event, I don't think it means that the June meeting can be held in August.

[J. J.]

2 hours ago, Shmuel Gerber said:

The way I read this provision, I think it means that each month's meeting ("the meeting") may be changed to be held in conjunction with an event on a day of that same month that is not the second Tuesday.

Or, even if the meeting doesn't have to be held in the same calendar month, I think it would at least have to be held before the regular day of the next month's meeting.

In any event, I don't think it means that the June meeting can be held in August.

The June meeting could be adjourned until July, and the July meeting adjourned until August (which would probably my preference for handling this).  It could be adjourned  even if there was no quorum.