wfd086 Posted October 27, 2020 at 12:28 PM Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 at 12:28 PM There have been a few times in one of the organizations I belong to where we did not have a quorum at the time that a meeting was scheduled by the by-laws to start. I have a couple questions on this. When these instances have arrived we simply didn't even call the meeting to order. My first question is, should the meeting be called to order even though we do not have a quorum? My second question is, since our by-laws state a time for the meeting is the meeting required to start at that time or does that basically mean that the meeting cannot start before the set time? I have put the text of the by-law below. The regular meetings of this Company shall be on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7:00 pm, except when the same falls on a legal holiday. Then said meeting will fall on the following night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted October 27, 2020 at 01:01 PM Report Share Posted October 27, 2020 at 01:01 PM 26 minutes ago, wfd086 said: There have been a few times in one of the organizations I belong to where we did not have a quorum at the time that a meeting was scheduled by the by-laws to start. I have a couple questions on this. When these instances have arrived we simply didn't even call the meeting to order. My first question is, should the meeting be called to order even though we do not have a quorum? My second question is, since our by-laws state a time for the meeting is the meeting required to start at that time or does that basically mean that the meeting cannot start before the set time? I have put the text of the by-law below. The regular meetings of this Company shall be on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7:00 pm, except when the same falls on a legal holiday. Then said meeting will fall on the following night. Yes, The meeting should be called to order regardless of whether a quorum is present. The absence of a quorum does not prevent you from having a meeting, it just prevents you from taking any sort of substantive action. if a quorum is not present, RONR says the assembly may do any or all of these four things: recess, take action to obtain a quorum (such as calling absent members), set an adjourned meeting (Fix the time to which to adjourn), and adjourn. A meeting cannot be called to order prior to the time set in the notice or by the rules. Although it should be called to order at the scheduled start time, calling the meeting to order may be delayed for a few minutes to see if other members arrive. calling the meeting to order in the absence of a quorum satisfies the bylaw requirement of having the meeting. The minutes should reflect that the meeting was called to order and that it was adjourned. The minutes may also state that the chair noted the absence of a quorum Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted November 2, 2020 at 01:14 AM Report Share Posted November 2, 2020 at 01:14 AM On 10/27/2020 at 8:28 AM, wfd086 said: There have been a few times in one of the organizations I belong to where we did not have a quorum at the time that a meeting was scheduled by the by-laws to start. I have a couple questions on this. When these instances have arrived we simply didn't even call the meeting to order. My first question is, should the meeting be called to order even though we do not have a quorum? My second question is, since our by-laws state a time for the meeting is the meeting required to start at that time or does that basically mean that the meeting cannot start before the set time? I have put the text of the by-law below. The regular meetings of this Company shall be on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month at 7:00 pm, except when the same falls on a legal holiday. Then said meeting will fall on the following night. The chair may wish to delay somewhat the start of the meeting if it is likely that a quorum will be achieved. Certainly if Ms. T's car can be seen entering the parking lot, it would be appropriate to wait. If it is or becomes apparent that a quorum is uncertain, the chair should call the meeting to order so that one or more of those motions allowable in the absence of a quorum¹ might be considered. Since the bylaws require that the meeting be held, it would violate the bylaws not to call the meeting to order. ____________ ¹ See RONR (12th ed.) 40:7-9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Geiger Posted November 10, 2020 at 01:02 AM Report Share Posted November 10, 2020 at 01:02 AM On 11/1/2020 at 8:14 PM, Gary Novosielski said: The chair may wish to delay somewhat the start of the meeting if it is likely that a quorum will be achieved. Certainly if Ms. T's car can be seen entering the parking lot, it would be appropriate to wait. Would it be better to call the meeting to order and have the members stand at ease (or request unanimous consent for Recess) until Ms. T can arrive? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted November 10, 2020 at 01:33 AM Report Share Posted November 10, 2020 at 01:33 AM 21 minutes ago, Benjamin Geiger said: Would it be better to call the meeting to order and have the members stand at ease (or request unanimous consent for Recess) until Ms. T can arrive? "Before the presiding officer calls a meeting to order, it is his duty to determine, although he need not announce, that a quorum is present. If a quorum is not present, the chair waits until there is one, or until, after a reasonable time, there appears to be no prospect that a quorum will assemble. If a quorum cannot be obtained, the chair calls the meeting to order, announces the absence of a quorum, and entertains a motion to adjourn or one of the other motions allowed, as described above." RONR (12th ed.) 40:11 So there certainly is no doubt that the chair may wait "a reasonable time" for a quorum to appear. Whether or not it is better to wait or to call the meeting to order in a particular case will, I expect, depend on the preferences of the chair, the customs of the assembly, and the circumstances of the particular case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted November 12, 2020 at 03:10 AM Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 at 03:10 AM On 11/9/2020 at 8:02 PM, Benjamin Geiger said: Would it be better to call the meeting to order and have the members stand at ease (or request unanimous consent for Recess) until Ms. T can arrive? I don't know if it's "better". It is certainly more complex, and I'm not sure I see a benefit. It might depend on how long it takes Ms. T, to find a parking spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmuel Gerber Posted November 12, 2020 at 03:36 AM Report Share Posted November 12, 2020 at 03:36 AM I don't understand why there are so many opinions being bandied about on this. Isn't the passage that Mr. Martin quoted explicit about what the procedure is according to RONR? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted November 19, 2020 at 10:52 AM Report Share Posted November 19, 2020 at 10:52 AM On 11/11/2020 at 10:36 PM, Shmuel Gerber said: I don't understand why there are so many opinions being bandied about on this. Isn't the passage that Mr. Martin quoted explicit about what the procedure is according to RONR? With the exception of my most recent post, all the other opinions were bandied about prior to Mr. Martin's apt citation. My opinion, if anything, supported Mr Martin's and I bandied it about because the OP seemed unwilling to take Yes for an answer. Even if undesirably bandied, I don't think it can fairly be called very many. And In my own defense, I must point out that I was left unsupervised. 😜 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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