Change of meeting time

[Guest Susie]

Can a time of  Board meeting of 7:30 be changed to 7:00 without consent

 

[Joshua Katz]

How was it set, and who is changing it?

[Transpower]

Whereas the day or days of meetings should be specified in the bylaws, the time should not be--it should be set in the standing rules, and these can be changed by a simple majority vote.  I suppose, though, that if there is an emergency, the time could be changed without a vote.

[Josh Martin]

29 minutes ago, Transpower said:

I suppose, though, that if there is an emergency, the time could be changed without a vote.

I would not suppose this (nor does it seem likely that there is an “emergency” which would necessitate moving a meeting up by a half hour).

Edited February 20, 2019 at 03:04 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest Zev]

So if an assembly of say one hundred with a quorum requirement of twenty meets at 7:00PM rather than 7:30PM as announced, the bare quorum present and within fifteen minutes this assembly makes several controversial decisions which the absent eighty members have some serious disagreement with. Seven thirty rolls around and the other eighty members show up. They are informed that the meeting has adjourned and the items were adopted. What do you think the reaction is going to be? And what if you were one of the eighty? Moving a meeting to a future time is one thing, but this is something else entirely.

[Josh Martin]

21 hours ago, Guest Susie said:

Can a time of  Board meeting of 7:30 be changed to 7:00 without consent

I hesitate to give a definitive answer without knowing all of the relevant facts (such as how the time was originally set, who is attempting to change it, how much notice is being given of the change, and what the organization’s rules say, if anything, on these subjects), but I would say that the answer to this question is generally “no.”

Edited February 20, 2019 at 10:21 PM by Josh Martin

[Transpower]

There does not appear to be an emergency here; rather, the chair started the meeting ahead of the announced time, which is not his right to do.   I therefore now think that the motions adopted are null and void.

[Gary Novosielski]

14 hours ago, Transpower said:

Whereas the day or days of meetings should be specified in the bylaws, the time should not be--it should be set in the standing rules, and these can be changed by a simple majority vote.  I suppose, though, that if there is an emergency, the time could be changed without a vote.

Without a meeting as well?  And by whom?

P.S.

This was stuck in the buffer.  If it appears to suffer from asynchronicity, it does.

Edited February 21, 2019 at 05:04 AM by Gary Novosielski
to add postscript

[Nathan Zook]

Without the bylaws, special rules, and relevant code, if applicable, (rules) there is no way to say.

1) What is the requirement for notice of the meeting?  Has the notice period passed?

2) Do the rules specify the time, has the assembly voted to meet at a specified time, or is that power vested in the person making the change?

3) Is this a custom which is being changed, or is there a rule specifying the time, or did a previous notice state the time?

 

In Texas, starting a convention before the time set by the rules was the most common way to get the convention proceedings thrown out entirely.

 

 

 

[Guest Susie]

The time of 7:30 is stipulated in the By-laws as well.  Thank you for your posts.  To better clarify:  the by-laws state  that the meetings will be called for 7:30 pm in Public Session unless otherwise determined by the appropriate Chair in consultation with the Director and with proper notification to members, the media, employee groups and the public.  No approval was sought by the members.  This change has happened twice now two meetings in a row.  I assume that the change is permanent.  Past practice and custom rule has been 7:30 for over 20 years  

 

[Guest Susie]

The change was made according to the Director so that the support team employees would not have to wait so long for the meeting to start after a long day at work. 

[Nathan Zook]

So the quoted rule does not require the approval of the members, but does require broad notice.  Interpretation of the word "proper" is going to fall to the organization, but if there are notice requirements elsewhere in the bylaws, I would expect that this would be used to interpret "proper."

[Joshua Katz]

2 hours ago, Guest Susie said:

To better clarify:  the by-laws state  that the meetings will be called for 7:30 pm in Public Session unless otherwise determined by the appropriate Chair in consultation with the Director and with proper notification to members, the media, employee groups and the public.

Yes, this changes most of the answers. Now the answer is: yes, so long as the chair "consults" (whatever that means) with the Director and notifies the members, the media, employee groups, and the public. Were those things done?

[Josh Martin]

2 hours ago, Guest Susie said:

To better clarify:  the by-laws state  that the meetings will be called for 7:30 pm in Public Session unless otherwise determined by the appropriate Chair in consultation with the Director and with proper notification to members, the media, employee groups and the public.

Were all of these criteria met?

2 hours ago, Guest Susie said:

This change has happened twice now two meetings in a row.  I assume that the change is permanent.  

I would not assume that. It seems to me that the change must be made for each meeting, with the required procedures followed each time. The change could only be made permanent by amending the bylaws.

[Transpower]

So the starting time was in violation of the bylaws!  Again, there is no way the meeting could be considered legal.

 

[Richard Brown]

9 minutes ago, Transpower said:

So the starting time was in violation of the bylaws!  Again, there is no way the meeting could be considered legal.

I'm not so sure, based on the latest post by Guest Susie:

3 hours ago, Guest Susie said:

The time of 7:30 is stipulated in the By-laws as well.  Thank you for your posts.  To better clarify:  the by-laws state  that the meetings will be called for 7:30 pm in Public Session unless otherwise determined by the appropriate Chair in consultation with the Director and with proper notification to members, the media, employee groups and the public.

Based on Guest Susie's posts, it seems that there can indeed be some latitude in the start time of meetings, provided certain specified criteria are complied with.

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Transpower said:

So the starting time was in violation of the bylaws!  Again, there is no way the meeting could be considered legal.

If the bylaws simply said the meeting time was at 7:30 PM, and nothing else, I would agree. We are told, however, that the bylaws provide that the meeting time is at 7:30 PM “unless otherwise determined by the appropriate Chair in consultation with the Director and with proper notification to members, the media, employee groups and the public.” It is not yet clear whether these requirements were met.

[Guest Susie]

Thank you for all the responses.  Even though the requirements have been met, there is no emergency for the change of time.  As a member it is hard to make the 7:00 new time because of late work days everyone else is retired.  Do I have any rights at all about objecting to this new time?  

[Joshua Katz]

24 minutes ago, Guest Susie said:

Thank you for all the responses.  Even though the requirements have been met, there is no emergency for the change of time.  As a member it is hard to make the 7:00 new time because of late work days everyone else is retired.  Do I have any rights at all about objecting to this new time?  

The bylaws quoted don't say anything about an emergency. It seems to me this was perfectly allowable. 

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Guest Susie said:

Thank you for all the responses.  Even though the requirements have been met, there is no emergency for the change of time.  As a member it is hard to make the 7:00 new time because of late work days everyone else is retired.  Do I have any rights at all about objecting to this new time?  

No, I don’t think so. The rule in question requires the chair to notify the members of the change, but it does not appear to require the consent of members, nor does the rule appear to place limits on the reason(s) why the chair may change the time.

I think your only recourse would be to attempt to amend the bylaws to change the rules on this subject.