Remote meetings of membership

[Chuck]

The church for which I serve as a moderator needs to make a very important decision soon.  The constitution requires that an announcement of a meeting of the membership be announced on the 2 Sundays prior to the meeting.  Since our documents do not address remote meetings, it seems like we would be satisfying the requirements of the constitution if we contacted every member personally to announce the meeting (there are less than 50 members).  I think that should be adequate and more than meet the intent of the constitution.  Thoughts?

Since voting on the motion to be presented cannot be in person, if every member is aware of a ballot vote to be conducted by Postal Service mail, can we proceed with a majority vote?  or a unanimous vote? 

When we are able to meet in person again, should we ratify the ballot vote?  I'm not sure how that might look.

Thank you for your input during these challenging times.

[Josh Martin]

55 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Since our documents do not address remote meetings, it seems like we would be satisfying the requirements of the constitution if we contacted every member personally to announce the meeting (there are less than 50 members).  I think that should be adequate and more than meet the intent of the constitution.  Thoughts?

No. If remote meetings are not authorized by your constitution, you cannot have them.

55 minutes ago, Chuck said:

Since voting on the motion to be presented cannot be in person, if every member is aware of a ballot vote to be conducted by Postal Service mail, can we proceed with a majority vote?  or a unanimous vote? 

No.

55 minutes ago, Chuck said:

When we are able to meet in person again, should we ratify the ballot vote?

If you proceed with this vote and with the actions ordered by it notwithstanding that it is not in order to do so, you will indeed need to move ratify the vote (or perhaps more precisely, any actions taken pursuant to the vote) at an in-person meeting with a quorum present. Note that the consequences of the actions not being ratified can be pretty severe. So I would probably advise any of those responsible for carrying out those actions to consider, for their own safety, whether there is strong support for this motion and whether it absolutely must be done now.

55 minutes ago, Chuck said:

I'm not sure how that might look.

Maybe something like this: "I move to ratify the following emergency actions taken by the society's officers, taken pursuant to an informal poll of the membership conducted by mail: (description of actions)."

Edited April 26, 2020 at 05:08 PM by Josh Martin

[George Mervosh]

Will their required notice " The constitution requires that an announcement of a meeting of the membership be announced on the 2 Sundays prior to the meeting." also apply to the vote to ratify any actions taken?

[Chuck]

1 hour ago, George Mervosh said:

Will their required notice " The constitution requires that an announcement of a meeting of the membership be announced on the 2 Sundays prior to the meeting." also apply to the vote to ratify any actions taken?

We certainly can make that announcement regarding ratification 2 Sundays prior to the next in-person meeting. 

[Dan Honemann]

 

1 hour ago, George Mervosh said:

Will their required notice " The constitution requires that an announcement of a meeting of the membership be announced on the 2 Sundays prior to the meeting." also apply to the vote to ratify any actions taken?

Their constitution seems to require prior notice that a meeting will be held, not prior notice of the business to be conducted (but then again, I haven't read their constitution, so don't take my word for it).