Motion to Table by the Chair

[Guest Susan]

During a stated meeting, there was motion to sign a contingent contract to put money down to buy a building. The motion was seconded however after that, the chair said he was going to "table' it.  Question is, can the chair table a motion that was 2nd and without any further discussion?  He did not make it as a "motion" but stated it would be tabled.   

[Bruce Lages]

One important factor in the answer is how large a group was present at this meeting. Under the small board rules described in RONR 49:21, which apply to groups of not more than about a dozen members present, the chair can participate fully in the proceedings, the same as any other member. Under these conditions, the chair could offer his own motion, which most likely should have been a motion to postpone to a certain time (RONR section 14), rather than the motion to lay on the table (RONR  section 17). But the chair can only offer that motion; the decision whether to adopt or reject the motion remains with the assembly.

If the group that was meeting was much larger than about a dozen members, then the chair should have allowed the motion to proceed through discussion and to some kind of disposition without inserting himself into the process at all, except to carry out the duties of a chair in handling a motion (described in RONR Section 4). in these circumstances also he has no right to impose an outcome on the assembly.