Board members refusing to adhere to time limits in a debate, board members insulting and ignoring the chair

[Guest jimbo]

I am the President of a nonprofit organization. When I took on my role board meetings were numerous, lengthy, and heated. I am trying to keep our meetings orderly.  I am learning Robert's Rules as I go.  Since this is a small group (15 board members) we are not perfectly rigid in our use of Robert's Rules, but when things get heated I try to rely on them as best as I'm able.

At the request of a volunteer I called a Special Meeting which occurred last night.  Proper notice and an agenda was provided.

At the start of the meeting a member moved to postpone the agenda to the Fall meeting, stating that the items on the agenda were not urgent nor worthy of a special meeting.  The motion to postpone was seconded.  I opened discussion and allowed debate.  I limited comments to two minutes each without objection from the board and asked the Secretary to keep track of who was next in line to speak and to alert speakers when they exceeded two minutes.

Debate on the motion wound down in about ten minutes.  I asked if there was any further interest in talking about the motion and no one spoke up.  At this point I asked for the Secretary to take a vote by roll call.

After asking for the vote a member asked if they could move to amend the previous motion.  I said "no" because debate had ended and we were now voting.

One member objected, stating that I did not have the authority to make that decision and cast aspersions on my person.  Another member repeated that sentiment and asked for discussion to continue on to the agenda items themselves.  They began addressing members and asking them to ignore my decision to proceed with the vote.  It became clear that I would not be able to maintain order so I allowed open discussion for a few minutes before restoring order and proceeding with the vote.  The motion to postpone failed as expected and debate on the actual agenda proceeded normally and, for the most part, respectfully.

Chime in on any aspect you like, but some specific questions:

1.  How should a motion to postpone made at the start of the meeting be handled?

2.  Is it correct that once the vote had been called that we could not amend the motion?

3.  What should a chair do when a member addresses the body to say disrespectful things about the chair?

4.  What should a chair do when a member takes over a meeting and begins leading discussion?

On the last two items I know I can call a meeting or a person to order but if that doesn't work, what is next?

Jimbo

 

[Rob Elsman]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

I am learning Robert's Rules as I go.

I would respectfully submit that you are not at all ready to take the chair.

[Josh Martin]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

1.  How should a motion to postpone made at the start of the meeting be handled?

As I understand the facts, the motion to "postpone" was not in reference to any particular motion, but was instead a request to "postpone" everything on the agenda "to the Fall meeting." If "the Fall meeting" is the assembly's next regular meeting, it seems to me that this should have been handled as a motion to adjourn the meeting, since (if adopted) that is effectively what it would do. A special meeting can only consider the items included in the call, so if all of these motions are postponed, the meeting would not have any business left to consider.

A convenient advantage of this is that the privileged motion to adjourn is not debatable, which would have saved everyone a lot of time.

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

2.  Is it correct that once the vote had been called that we could not amend the motion?

Yes.

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

3.  What should a chair do when a member addresses the body to say disrespectful things about the chair?

On the first offense, I would calmly say "The members shall refrain from making personal attacks against other members of the assembly." In the particular circumstances described above, I would add "Debate has ended on the question, and voting is in progress. Those members who wish to debate the agenda items may vote against the pending motion."

Further procedures for disruptive members, if needed, are discussed in RONR (12th ed.) 61:6-21.

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

4.  What should a chair do when a member takes over a meeting and begins leading discussion?

I think this is somewhat fact dependent and will vary based upon exactly what is happening when this occurs. As noted above, in the circumstances described, I would say "Debate has ended on the question, and voting is in progress. Those members who wish to debate the agenda items may vote against the pending motion."

On 9/9/2021 at 8:23 AM, Guest jimbo said:

On the last two items I know I can call a meeting or a person to order but if that doesn't work, what is next?

See RONR (12th ed.) 61:6-21.

I also have one question of my own - why did you request that the Secretary take a roll call vote? A roll call vote is taken only if required by the assembly's rules or if ordered by the assembly. The chair lacks the authority to order a roll call vote. In addition, the purpose of a roll call vote is to place the names of members who are responsible to an interested constituency on record, often for important votes. I am unclear on why a roll call vote would be used for a procedural vote in a nonprofit board.

[Guest JimBo]

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A convenient advantage of this is that the privileged motion to adjourn is not debatable, which would have saved everyone a lot of time.

Ah yes that would have made more sense.  Thank you.

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why did you request that the Secretary take a roll call vote? A roll call vote is taken only if required by the assembly's rules or if ordered by the assembly. 

I asked for a roll call vote because we were on a conference call and it seemed like the only way to count votes.

Thank you for the helpful reply!

[Josh Martin]

On 9/9/2021 at 8:14 PM, Guest JimBo said:

I asked for a roll call vote because we were on a conference call and it seemed like the only way to count votes.

Okay, that makes sense.

[Gary Novosielski]

Refer to RONR (12th ed.) 47:14-19, Suggestions for Inexperienced Presiding Officers.

I'll quote :14 here:

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47:14 Suggestions for inexperienced presiding officers. The larger the assembly, the more readily it will detect the slightest weakness in a presiding officer. Efforts to capitalize on any such failing may follow with sometimes disastrous results. It is often said that knowledge is strength, and certainly that is true in this case. The presiding officer should be thoroughly familiar with the duties of the presiding officer of an assembly, as stated in 47:7–10, and should have with him the documents listed in 47:8. There is no acceptable alternative to parliamentary procedure for the conduct of business in a deliberative assembly; yet many presiding officers try to get along with a minimum of knowledge. This approach inevitably results in signs of unsureness.