motion

[Guest daltonsavwoirjr@gmail.com]

If a quorum is not made at a meeting, can a motion be made and approved by consensus?

[Joshua Katz]

No. No business can be conducted without a quorum.

[Richard Brown]

Agreeing in part with Mr. Katz, there are actually four motions which may properly be taken up at a meeting without a quorum:

1. A motion to adjourn

2. A motion to recess

3. Take action to obtain a quorum, such as calling absent members

4. Fix the time to which to adjourn (which, in simple terms, means to set a time for an "adjourned meeting" which is a future meeting that is a continuation of the current session).  An example would be to set an adjourned meeting for tomorrow or next week at the same time and place, with the hope that a quorum will then be present.

Under some circumstances, it is also possible for the members present to agree to take emergency action, such as authorizing roof repairs after a tornado, with the hope that the action taken will be ratified by the assembly at a future meeting with a quorum present.  However, if the assembly refuses to ratify the action, the officers or others who undertook the emergency action without proper authorization might find themselves personally liable for any resulting damages or cost to the organization.  If you take action at a meeting without a quorum, you are assuming the risk of your actions not being ratified. See §41:9 in RONR (12th ed.).

[Joshua Katz]

5 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Agreeing in part with Mr. Katz, there are actually four motions which may properly be taken up at a meeting without a quorum:

 

In context, I didn't take the question to be asking about these sorts of things, but rather original main motions. I can be wrong; it's happened before.