Meeting Quorum Bylaw Interpretation

[M Goodman]

The following is the from our club bylaws. I read it as the annual meeting requires a quorum but other general meeting do not because it follows the explanation of the annual. I admit I may be wrong.  Could a parliamentarian please inform me of the correct interpretation? Or their opinion? Thanks in advance.

SECTION I. Club Meetings. The Club shall have three general meetings during the year. The meeting in the
4th quarter shall be for the purpose of Election of Officers and Directors. This meeting shall be held during the
month of October. This meeting shall be held within the greater Chicago area at such hour and place
designated by the Board of Directors. Written notice of each such meeting shall be mailed by the Secretary at
least 10 days prior to the date of the meeting. The quorum for such a meeting shall be no less than 20% of
the voting members in good standing.

[Richard Brown]

31 minutes ago, M Goodman said:

The following is the from our club bylaws. I read it as the annual meeting requires a quorum but other general meeting do not because it follows the explanation of the annual. I admit I may be wrong.  Could a parliamentarian please inform me of the correct interpretation? Or their opinion? Thanks in advance.

SECTION I. Club Meetings. The Club shall have three general meetings during the year. The meeting in the
4th quarter shall be for the purpose of Election of Officers and Directors. This meeting shall be held during the
month of October. This meeting shall be held within the greater Chicago area at such hour and place
designated by the Board of Directors. Written notice of each such meeting shall be mailed by the Secretary at
least 10 days prior to the date of the meeting. The quorum for such a meeting shall be no less than 20% of
the voting members in good standing.

Your membership will have to interpret its own bylaws, including the strangely worded quorum requirement.  In my opinion, it is ambiguous and the 20 percent quorum requirement can be interpreted as applying to all meetings or to just the "annual" meeting.  My personal opinion, for whatever it is worth, is that it is intended to apply to all meetings.  It seems unlikely that the people who drafted intended to insert a quorum requirement for only the annual meeting and I find it especially hard to  believe that they intended that there be no quorum requirement at all for the other meetings.  Ultimately, however, your membership must decide this issue.

However, if the bylaws are silent as to the quorum requirement for the other meetings, and if RONR is your parliamentary authority, the default quorum requirement when the bylaws are silent is "a majority of all the members".   Section 40:2 (4) of RONR (12th ed.).