board of governors with committee chairs in attendance - motion rights

[Guest morgan]

hello all.  new here. first post. can't find what i'm looking for anywhere as everyone says "it depends."

organization has members, and general meetings.  Then there are board of governor's meetings.  the BOG is made of 10 people to decide and debates things pertaining to the whole membership.  many of the BOG sit on committees and other committees have chairs that are not voting BOG members.

so the question comes up too often -- at a specific BOG meeting, where only up to 10 people have a vote.  Are they considered the "members" and the committee chairs are then "ex-officio" without motion / voting / speaking rights.  unless called upon by the president to give their reports?

we have a major issue at this small conference of people talking over one another.  and committee chairs (or co chairs, or just committee members) speaking up and discussing topics that are in motion /second phase.

i could be dead wrong, but i am all for the entire group discussing topics not put to motion/second.  after a motion and second is made then only the BOG voting members should be called upon?

and is a committee chair - or say like your friend or your mother or your kid who is just visiting - are they able to make a motion?  what if it's just a general assembly member at at board of governors meetings, just passing by.  They technically "shall not be entitled to voting rights at such meetings" - being BOG meetings.  So I would then assume they are not considered "members" by RROO of the BOG meeting (though general meetings of course), and thus cannot motion or discuss during a motion/second question on the floor.

 

thoughts?  thank you in advance.

[Gary Novosielski]

RONR  uses member to refer to the people who make up a particular body (board, committee, general assembly) with full rights to attend, make motions, speak in debate, and vote.  These are the people who count toward a quorum.

Other people are non-members, or guests. They may attend with the majority permission of the members, and might also be given permission to speak, as long as no motion is pending.  They may not make motions, or speak in debate without a 2/3 vote to suspend the rules.  And they may not vote under any circumstances.

[Bruce Lages]

Since you say that your board of governors "is made of 10 people", presumably your bylaws or other governing documents specify which ten people are included as members of the board of governors. At a BOG meeting, it is only those ten people who have all the rights of membership, which include the right to attend, to make motions and speak in debate, and to vote. Anyone else should be considered a guest, i.e., they are present only at the request of the BOG. Such guests can be granted the right to speak when no motion is pending by a majority vote of the BOG, and can also be granted the right to debate a pending motion by a 2/3 vote to suspend the rules. Non-members of the BOG can never be granted the right to vote at BOG meetings.

One note of caution: if this organization is a civic one or even an association such as an HOA, there may be applicable laws that grant the right to attend BOG meetings to certain non-members. You will need to consult legal advice to determine if any such laws apply in your case.

Edited July 26, 2019 at 07:23 PM by Bruce Lages

[Guest morgan]

ok gary and bruce. that is how i understood it as well.  because our by laws specifically says "committee chairs invited to BOG meetings at request of only the president, shall not be entitled to voting rights at such meetings" this makes me understand them as guests, and not Members at all.  for all of the reasons you mentioned and i am assuming.

interesting 2/3rd tid bit there with suspending rules.  

we are all volunteer.  and so by nature those volunteers are all vocal.  far too often in debate non members (non voting bog members) are discussing their opinions during the motion.

so follow up question - if motions are being whipped up by these committee chairs without speaking or voting rights - and they are adding their opinion during the discussion - would i have some recourse to call that those motions which were passed, are not valid because of external influence and not following the rules?

(whipped up as in "hey lets have a motion, who's ready to vote, here's my opinion" - the guests are adding comments and suggestions and prompting things all the time.  i think this is not appropriate, but how do i handle the motions which were influenced by them already passed?

[Atul Kapur]

You can move to Rescind or Amend Something Previously Adopted. There are some restrictions on what can be rescinded. 

 

Edited July 26, 2019 at 11:52 PM by Atul Kapur

[Atul Kapur]

3 hours ago, Guest morgan said:

would i have some recourse to call that those motions which were passed, are not valid because of external influence and not following the rules?

"External influence" by having the non-members speaking is not reason to declare the motion invalid at this time. Be more vigilant in the future and raise a Point of Order when it happens.

If non-members voted and their votes could have changed the results, that could be the basis of a Point of Order to declare the motion null and void.