board member

[Guest Member]

Our bylaw stated that Mr. Chairman have the right/authority to call an emergency meeting, but our bylaw doesn't state what type of emergency (none stated).  Can Mr. Chairman call any meeting he/she wishes and declare to be an emergency meeting?  Does Robert's Rule state such?

[Chris Harrison]

Absent language in your bylaws defining what constitutes an "Emergency Meeting" my suspicion is they are merely using another term for a Special Meeting (RONR pp. 91-93).  However, it is up to the organization to determine if the bylaws intended for a Special Meeting and "Emergency Meeting" to be synonymous (though if it is determined they are different the bylaws should be amended to make the clarification in order to avoid future confusion).

[Gary Novosielski]

As a member of an elected public board, we had rules that differentiated between a special meeting and an emergency meeting.  The difference was the amount of notice required.  Special meetings could be called with, I believe, 48 hours notice.  Anything that demanded a meeting with less notice was termed an emergency meeting, and the rule required that the first item of business would be a resolution stating that the meeting was an emergency and the reasons why it could not wait for the requisite period of a special meeting.  The resolution had to be approved by some high threshold, and the rule explicitly stated that poor planning was not an adequate reason.

In fifteen years on the board, we never had an emergency meeting.

Note well that none of these rules are in RONR;  I mention it only to suggest ideas on how you might wish to handle such matters in your own rulemaking, if situations like this are a concern for your organization.