Guest Mike Krenesky Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:51 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:51 PM When starting a public Meeting (Municipality), there is a Temporary Moderator. At what point is this moderator no longer leading the meeting. Case: our Public Town Meetings open Temp Moderator and Temp Clerk. The procedure has been, the Temp Moderator asks the Temp Clerk to read the ‘call’ for the meeting. Once read and voted on to accept, the Temp Moderator calls for the election of a Permanent Clerk. Upon electing this Clerk, the Temp Moderator turns over the meeting to the now elected Clerk. The Clerk then calls for a Permanent Moderator. At this point it is my belief that the Temp Moderator has completed his/her duties and the Clerk is now leading the meeting. The Temp Moderator has no further “authority” and must retire . In the case I am concerned about, the Temp Moderator ended up being one of two nominated. For the record I was the other. I was nominated first, there was a long pause, then the Temp Mod was nominated. A short time passed without a second to his nomination, he spoke out asking for a second to his nomination, which he then received. I believe this was inappropriate at best and downright wrong at the worst. Then during the vote of 25 people, the vote for myself was called and 13 people were counted. Seeing that the Clerk was voting for me, he turned to her and asked, “are you really voting for him?” , Then asked it a second time, whereby the clerk changed her vote from me to him, giving him the nod 13-12. Several issues here, but I am asking where the challlenges are related to the Temp Moderator speaking out asking for a second to his nomination, when the Clerk should have taken that action. His interference with an active vote/election is another matter. MAK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshua Katz Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:56 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:56 PM 1 minute ago, Guest Mike Krenesky said: A short time passed without a second to his nomination, he spoke out asking for a second to his nomination, which he then received. I believe this was inappropriate at best and downright wrong at the worst. Absolutely, because nominations do not require seconds. 2 minutes ago, Guest Mike Krenesky said: Then during the vote of 25 people, the vote for myself was called and 13 people were counted. Seeing that the Clerk was voting for me, he turned to her and asked, “are you really voting for him?” , Then asked it a second time, whereby the clerk changed her vote from me to him, giving him the nod 13-12. People can change their votes, but debate is out of order during voting - and insults are always out of order. Did you raise a point of order? 3 minutes ago, Guest Mike Krenesky said: When starting a public Meeting (Municipality), there is a Temporary Moderator. At what point is this moderator no longer leading the meeting. Case: our Public Town Meetings open Temp Moderator and Temp Clerk. The procedure has been, the Temp Moderator asks the Temp Clerk to read the ‘call’ for the meeting. Once read and voted on to accept, the Temp Moderator calls for the election of a Permanent Clerk. Upon electing this Clerk, the Temp Moderator turns over the meeting to the now elected Clerk. The Clerk then calls for a Permanent Moderator. At this point it is my belief that the Temp Moderator has completed his/her duties and the Clerk is now leading the meeting. The Temp Moderator has no further “authority” and must retire . Well, none of this is described in RONR, so it must appear in your rules. Do you know where those rules are found? Based solely on what you've said, it's not clear to me just when the "temporary moderator" finishes service. Is Clerk the equivalent of Secretary? Arguably, the Secretary presides over the election of a chair for the meeting, so by analogy, perhaps the Clerk should preside over the election of a Permanent (but apparently not all that permanent) Moderator. On the other hand, it seems rather wasteful to have two temporary chairs. Anyway, seeing the rules involved might help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atul Kapur Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:56 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 at 08:56 PM None of these titles and processes are in RONR, so you must have your own rules that you are following. The answers will be in there. Generally, the Presiding Officer should be impartial in presiding. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted March 28, 2019 at 10:37 PM Report Share Posted March 28, 2019 at 10:37 PM 1 hour ago, Guest Mike Krenesky said: Case: our Public Town Meetings open Temp Moderator and Temp Clerk. The procedure has been, the Temp Moderator asks the Temp Clerk to read the ‘call’ for the meeting. Once read and voted on to accept, the Temp Moderator calls for the election of a Permanent Clerk. Upon electing this Clerk, the Temp Moderator turns over the meeting to the now elected Clerk. The Clerk then calls for a Permanent Moderator. At this point it is my belief that the Temp Moderator has completed his/her duties and the Clerk is now leading the meeting. The Temp Moderator has no further “authority” and must retire . The closest analogy to this process in RONR is a mass meeting. In such cases, the temporary chairman presides until a chairman is elected - which is the very first item of business. The Secretary is elected second. The chairman may continue to preside even if he is a candidate, however, he should not speak in debate on the election, and no one should speak in debate during voting. It should also be noted that nominations do not require a second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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