Amending an agenda if a new motion is made at a meeting

[Patty PTA]

During our recent Executive Committee meeting, the discussion of a report resulted in the request for a motion to take an action. The agenda was adopted at the start of the meeting. Is it necessary to amend the agenda to include the new motion that was requested?

[Guest Zev]

If the subject had not been taken up then I can see the necessity of an updated agenda. However, once discussion has started it makes no difference to me whether the agenda included that item or not. Perhaps some others in this forum would feel differently.

[Shmuel Gerber]

On 2/7/2022 at 5:12 PM, Patty PTA said:

During our recent Executive Committee meeting, the discussion of a report resulted in the request for a motion to take an action. The agenda was adopted at the start of the meeting. Is it necessary to amend the agenda to include the new motion that was requested?

No. The whole purpose (or the main purpose) of receiving and discussing a report in a deliberative assembly is to enable the body to intelligently take action on the topic.

A similar question is addressed in Robert's Rules of Order with respect to the standard order of business: "A motion arising out of an officer’s, a board’s, or a committee’s report is taken up immediately, since the object of the order of business is to give priority to the classes of business in the order listed." RONR (12th ed.) 41:14

[Patty PTA]

Thank you! I will enjoy sharing this with our Executive Committee!

[Rob Elsman]

While you're on a roll enjoying sharing, share with the executive committee that they likely should not be using an agenda at all, but should use the standard order of business discussed in RONR (12th ed.) 41:5 as the established order of business.  See RONR (12th ed.) 41:6, 60.