Missing in action

[Tomm]

The Boards parliamentary authority is RONR. 

Question:

If the typical monthly meeting agenda for Board Meetings has no "New Business" listed as an item, does that specific agenda format (excluding New Business) have be specified in the Bylaws or other Special Rules of Order? 

Without specific recorded documentation of this exclusion is this a violation of RONR? 

[Joshua Katz]

No, but the assembly is free to not adopt the agenda. (RONR suggests that, typically, an organization meeting monthly does not have any need for an agenda at all.) And new business can still be introduced by amending the agenda to include it, either before or after adoption (but the threshold differs) or by suspending the rules.

[Dan Honemann]

10 hours ago, Tomm said:

The Boards parliamentary authority is RONR. 

Question:

If the typical monthly meeting agenda for Board Meetings has no "New Business" listed as an item, does that specific agenda format (excluding New Business) have be specified in the Bylaws or other Special Rules of Order? 

Without specific recorded documentation of this exclusion is this a violation of RONR? 

Is this the same Board as the one to which you refer in your previous thread? If so, you have advised us that the bylaws provide as follows:

"At least seven (7) days prior to all Board meetings, excluding Executive and Special Sessions, an agenda, subject to amendment, shall be posted in XXXX Facilities and/or on the XXXX website"

Is this absolutely all that the bylaws say concerning agendas for meetings of this Board? Isn't there something more somewhere which would shed some light upon who is responsible for preparing and posting this agenda, and what, exactly, is meant by "subject to amendment"?

You have further advised us that "The Articles also gives the Board the power to amend, modify, revise, or revoke the Bylaws on their own, so if it was ever possible to actually hold a General Membership meeting with a quorum, it appears that anything the General Membership does can be revoked by the Board." It would appear, therefore, that this is an instance in which full power and authority over the conduct of Board meetings is vested solely in the Board".

If this is the same Board as the one to which you refer in your previous thread, and if what you posted is absolutely all that the bylaws (or the "Articles" you mentioned) say concerning agendas for meetings of this Board, then it would appear that the Board has the power, at its meeting, to adopt an agenda for its meeting which precludes the introduction of New Business, but to do so will require a two-thirds vote. Even if it does this, the board, later on during its meeting, may, by a two thirds vote or the vote of a majority of its entire membership, amend the agenda it adopted to allow for the introduction of New Business (or, by a two-thirds vote) agree to suspend the rules to allow for the introduction of an item of New Business).

In other words, if all of these assumptions I have made are correct, I think the short answer to your question is "no".  🙂

 

 

 

[Tomm]

I understand that the agenda can be amended at the beginning or during the meeting but was wondering that since RONR states that "New Business" is part of the "standard" order of business and is the prescribed order of business (pg 353) that it's elimination would require some sort of special rule of order or documentation?    

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, Tomm said:

I understand that the agenda can be amended at the beginning or during the meeting but was wondering that since RONR states that "New Business" is part of the "standard" order of business and is the prescribed order of business (pg 353) that it's elimination would require some sort of special rule of order or documentation?    

If the organization desired to permanently adopt a special order of business which did not include New Business, that would require a special rule of order. If this was done, the organization could subsequently adopt agendas without New Business by a majority vote.

The organization could, however, adopt an agenda for the current meeting which does not include New Business by a 2/3 vote (the same vote required to suspend the rules). This would, however, need to be done at each meeting. (Technically, each session). In my view, it would be preferable to adopt a special rule of order (since it seems the board desires this to be a permanent rule), but the board could continue to adopt such an agenda at each meeting by a 2/3 vote if it prefers.

It should be noted that adopting an agenda which does not include New Business, in and of itself, would not prevent members from introducing items of New Business after all items listed on the agenda had been completed (at least, not due to any rule in RONR - the rule in your bylaws might be interpreted as providing otherwise). The assembly could, however, adjourn immediately after completing all items on the agenda, either by adoption of a motion to do so or by specifying as much on the agenda.

"At a session that already has an order of business, an agenda can be adopted by a majority vote only if it does not create any special orders and does not conflict with the existing order of business; otherwise, a two-thirds vote is required (see also p. 264, ll. 14–28)." (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 372)

Edited June 27, 2020 at 02:53 PM by Josh Martin