When is the proper time to make a motion?

[Gary D]

At our non-profit board meetings we have an agenda, and the last two items are Old Business and New Business.  We have a board member who likes to introduce motions at the beginning at the meeting, sometimes during the first agenda item - President's Report.  Is it proper to request the board member to wait until Old Business (or New Business) if their motion does not apply to the current item begin discussed?

[Josh Martin]

8 minutes ago, Gary D said:

At our non-profit board meetings we have an agenda, and the last two items are Old Business and New Business.  We have a board member who likes to introduce motions at the beginning at the meeting, sometimes during the first agenda item - President's Report.  Is it proper to request the board member to wait until Old Business (or New Business) if their motion does not apply to the current item begin discussed?

Yes. Specifically, the member should be requested to wait until New Business. The member should not be making motions during the President’s Report unless they are germane to the report (and even then, he should wait until after the report is given).

There is no such heading as “Old Business.” The name of this heading in RONR is “Unfinished Business and General Orders.” Due to the nature of this heading, all items of business under this heading will already be known in advance, so a member would never spontaneously make a motion under this heading.

[jstackpo]

And, although this is a tough educational chore to pull off (as the word "agenda" is very often misused), it would be best to refer the the "list-of-all-the-things-that-are-going-to-take-place-at-the-meeting" as simply the Schedule or Program for the meeting.

"Agenda", in RONR-land, has a very specific meaning, found on page 371:  it is simply a list of motions that are known about ahead of time which can be presented to the membership at the meeting.  If the membership adopts the agenda, they are simply agreeing to schedule those motions to come up as "General Orders" later on in the meeting.  Nothing more, nothing less.

The "Program" is typically a (printed) presentation of the Standard order of business (page 26), fleshed out with specific details.  The part of the order of business called "General Orders"  (and sometimes "special orders") is where the agenda items will be found.

[Sid Grice]

5 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

 

 

Edited November 15, 2018 at 05:13 AM by Sid Grice
Deleted

[Gary D]

Thank you very much for your comments!

[Gary Novosielski]

You might consider checking your bylaws to see if you really need an agenda.  Most organizations do not, and simply need to follow the Standard Order of Business as provided in RONR, which is:

 

Quote

 

1)  Reading and Approval of Minutes
2)  Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees
3)  Reports of Special (Select or Ad Hoc) Committees
4)  Special Orders
5)  Unfinished Business and General Orders
6)  New Business

In organizations that have adopted this book as parliamentary authority and that have not adopted a special order of business, this series of headings is the prescribed order of business for regular meetings, unless the periods intervening between consecutive regular meetings are usually more than a quarterly time interval (see pp. 89–90).