LouiseD Posted February 12, 2020 at 12:35 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 12:35 PM Would anyone care to comment or offer verbiage to counter the following changes the board plans to impose immediately? This agenda was just issued Monday at 9pm for a meeting that takes place tonight. The General Business Meeting is always scheduled from 6pm-7pm including 30 minutes for speakers/activities. Unfortunately the bylaws are not much help in restricting their authority or requiring notice to members... Club Meeting begins at 6:00 pm There will be no VE testing session this month as we work to identify a new VE liaison to the ARRL. Due to a couple important meeting items at the last meeting (please see the minutes on the website), we were unable to actually work some satellite passes. We will be spending from 6:05 to 7:15 in the parking lot working both linear and FM satellites. These will include the CAS oscars as well as SO-50. New streamlined procedure for club business: at the last Executive Board Meeting we discussed how to reduce club business and focus more on amateur radio. As a result, the following new procedure will be used for all club matters. 1. Resolution or change is read at the General Club Meeting. 2. Comments/discussion are accepted via email or presented in person at the following Executive Board Meeting. 3. The Secretary will provide a verbal report of no more than 2 minutes at the following General Club Meeting. 4. Members who are yet to submit comments will have 30 seconds each to add a verbal comment before the vote is had, following the Secretary's summary. 5. Discussion on the subject will end and a vote will be had. General Club Meeting Agenda February 12th, 20202 6 PM EDT Call to Order (6 pm) Pledge of Allegiance Member Introductions Name, Callsign (if you have one) Work Satellite Passes (6:05 to 7:15 pm) This delays the NORMAL 6pm start time by 1:15 minutes without notice to members Secretary's Report (5 min) Minutes from last general club meeting Minutes from last executive board meeting Membership Applications Treasure's Report (5 min) Current club balance sheet Transactions since last general club meeting Old Business Brief updates on shack and vans (5 min) New Business FUN Net - February 26, 2020 at 7 PM Executive Board Meeting February 26, 2020 at 6 PM Reading of proposed Bylaws changes (10 min) Move fiscal year to July 1 to June 30. (FY21 starts July 1.) Require all officers, board members, and other appointed positions to use club-provided email for all club business Require all members to surrender all club records to Secretary within 30 days of the passage of this change for scanning into digital club storage. Records not provided by this time will be considered non-binding. Club members are required to complete a continuing membership form with the club Secretary each fiscal year. Club members who fail to complete this form are removed from the official club roster and are not considered for quorum or voting purposes. This amendment would commence with the 2021 fiscal year. Open Discussion (10 min) Adjourn (7:50 pm) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 12, 2020 at 02:26 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 02:26 PM 1 hour ago, LouiseD said: Would anyone care to comment or offer verbiage to counter the following changes the board plans to impose immediately? Raise a Point of Order that the board has no authority to adopt rules for meetings of the general membership, followed by an Appeal if necessary. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 247-260. Only the membership may adopt the proposed rules, and doing so would require a 2/3 vote with previous notice or a vote of a majority of the entire membership, since the rules are special rules of order. 1 hour ago, LouiseD said: Work Satellite Passes (6:05 to 7:15 pm) This delays the NORMAL 6pm start time by 1:15 minutes without notice to members Actually, it does not, because the Call to Order is at 6 PM. When the Call to Order occurs, the assembly is in session. Apparently, the intent is to recess from 6:05 to 7:15 PM, however, that decision is up to the membership. (Adopting the agenda is also up to the membership, and it is subject to amendment.) A majority vote is required to recess, or to adopt the agenda. So Points of Order and Appeals could be raised regarding those matters as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted February 12, 2020 at 02:36 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 02:36 PM Josh Martin posted his excellent comments just as I started typing mine. I concur with his comments. Unless your bylaws clearly provide otherwise, the membership, not the executive board, is in charge of Membership meetings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LouiseD Posted February 12, 2020 at 10:29 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 10:29 PM thank you both. what do you say about the proposal to restrict member discussion to email submissions or for 30 seconds ? I did notice Roberts rules that members should speak twice per subject up to 10 minutes, so can the board or membership vote to do differently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 12, 2020 at 10:51 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 10:51 PM (edited) 30 minutes ago, Guest LouiseD said: what do you say about the proposal to restrict member discussion to email submissions or for 30 seconds ? As noted above, the board has no authority to adopt such rules. Only the club itself may adopt these rules. They are special rules of order, so they require a 2/3 vote with previous notice or a vote of a majority of the entire membership for adoption. Whether the proposed rules are in the club’s best interest is up to the club to decide. 30 minutes ago, Guest LouiseD said: I did notice Roberts rules that members should speak twice per subject up to 10 minutes, so can the board or membership vote to do differently? Yes, by adoption of a special rule of order, which requires the vote noted above. Only the membership, however, can adopt such a rule for meetings of the membership. Adopting different rules for the number and length of speeches is such a common special rule of order that the text mentions such rules specifically, on multiple occasions. ”Special rules of order supersede any rules in the parliamentary authority with which they may conflict. The average society that has adopted a suitable parliamentary authority seldom needs special rules of order, however, with the following notable exceptions: ...• A rule relating to the length or number of speeches permitted each member in debate is often found necessary.” (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 16, emphasis added) “In a nonlegislative body or organization that has no special rule relating to the length of speeches (2), a member, having obtained the floor while a debatable motion is immediately pending, can speak no longer than ten minutes unless he obtains the consent of the assembly.” (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 387, emphasis added) “Unless the assembly has a special rule providing otherwise, no member can speak more than twice to the same question on the same day—except that in the case of an Appeal (24), only the presiding officer can speak twice (the second time at the close of the debate), all other members being limited to one speech.” (RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 388-389, emphasis added) ”ADOPTING A SPECIAL RULE. The rule allowing each member two speeches of ten minutes' length per day on each debatable question can be made either more restrictive or more liberal for all meetings of a society by adopting a special rule of order by a two-thirds vote after notice, or by a vote of a majority of the entire membership (2; see also pp. 121–24). An example of a more restrictive rule might be one setting a limit of not more than one speech of five minutes' length on the same question on the same day for each member.” (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 390) Edited February 12, 2020 at 11:00 PM by Josh Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atul Kapur Posted February 12, 2020 at 11:05 PM Report Share Posted February 12, 2020 at 11:05 PM 34 minutes ago, Guest LouiseD said: I did notice Roberts rules that members should speak twice per subject up to 10 minutes Can't help but comment that RONR says a member is allowed to speak twice per subject up to 10 minutes each, per day (as quoted above). Nowhere does it say that a member should do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LouiseD Posted February 13, 2020 at 12:13 AM Report Share Posted February 13, 2020 at 12:13 AM Sorry, correction- could not should thank you both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouiseD Posted February 13, 2020 at 05:29 PM Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2020 at 05:29 PM (edited) Follow-up FYI - no motion or request for one was made to adopt the agenda. I suggested they need a motion to recess or adjourn for the activity and the president said no, it was part of the meeting. they proceeded with the activity and meeting subsequently. they read through the proposed resolutions to be voted on in the next member meeting. i asked why they are making resolutions to vote on instead of submitting these requests to the bylaws committee currently in progress. The president then stated that they were going to recall the committee and proceeded with “I make a motion to recall... do I have a second”, 2nd by treasurer. so before you answer I know that he can’t make a motion from the podium, among other things, but there is no one to stop the errant board (3). so what is one to do? If it were a union we could address the DOL. but it’s a nonprofit, who do they report to- state, fed, parent corporation? Edited February 13, 2020 at 05:30 PM by LouiseD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted February 13, 2020 at 06:01 PM Report Share Posted February 13, 2020 at 06:01 PM (edited) 32 minutes ago, LouiseD said: Follow-up FYI - no motion or request for one was made to adopt the agenda. I suggested they need a motion to recess or adjourn for the activity and the president said no, it was part of the meeting. they proceeded with the activity and meeting subsequently. they read through the proposed resolutions to be voted on in the next member meeting. i asked why they are making resolutions to vote on instead of submitting these requests to the bylaws committee currently in progress. The president then stated that they were going to recall the committee and proceeded with “I make a motion to recall... do I have a second”, 2nd by treasurer. so before you answer I know that he can’t make a motion from the podium, among other things, but there is no one to stop the errant board (3). so what is one to do? If it were a union we could address the DOL. but it’s a nonprofit, who do they report to- state, fed, parent corporation? First, you might want to pursue all of your options within the society. See RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 247-260 regarding Point of Order and Appeal. A Point of Order can be raised when a rule is bring violated, followed by an Appeal if necessary. If this is insufficient, see RONR, 11th ed., pgs. 650-654 for information regarding abuse of authority by the chair during a meeting, and procedures for removing the officers from office. As to what remedies may be available outside of parliamentary procedure, that is beyond the scope of RONR and this forum. I would suggest consulting an attorney if it comes to that. Edited February 13, 2020 at 06:03 PM by Josh Martin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LouiseD Posted February 13, 2020 at 07:07 PM Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2020 at 07:07 PM Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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