Withdrawn agenda business item back on future agenda

[Wild Dunes]

We are a small HOA board. We have Unfinished Business and New Business on our agenda and we number those items. At our last meeting our agenda was approved with New Business item I'll call 322. 322 was withdrawn later in the meeting without any discussion or motion. If the author changes mind and wants to bring it to the next board meeting (or perhaps the May or June meeting), does it return to the agenda as a New Business item with a current number or does it go under Unfinished Business?

[Rob Elsman]

I take it that item of business 322 was withdrawn by unanimous consent--right?  If so, the item of business may come again before the board at the same meeting or any future meeting by way of a member making an appropriate main motion during the handling of new business.

Having said that, a homeowner association's board almost always meets frequently enough not to observe the custom of adopting an agenda at the beginning of each meeting.  If Robert's Rules is the board's parliamentary authority, the board already has an established order of business.  The board should follow the standard order of business at its meetings instead of adopting an agenda.

[Atul Kapur]

I take it that item 322 was never even moved, which is allowed. So business was never even started, and cannot be considered "unfinished."

So this would be New Business.

By the way, if it had been moved and then withdrawn, "the situation is as though it had never been made" RONR (12th ed.) 33:18. So, again, it would be New Business.

[Wild Dunes]

On 3/21/2022 at 12:00 PM, Rob Elsman said:

I take it that item of business 322 was withdrawn by unanimous consent--right?  If so, the item of business may come again before the board at the same meeting or any future meeting by way of a member making an appropriate main motion during the handling of new business.

Having said that, a homeowner association's board almost always meets frequently enough not to observe the custom of adopting an agenda at the beginning of each meeting.  If Robert's Rules is the board's parliamentary authority, the board already has an established order of business.  The board should follow the standard order of business at its meetings instead of adopting an agenda.

Many years ago our board adopted the rule of having a new agenda approved at each meeting. I understand Robert's Rules on the subject, but it is what it is.  Thank you.

[Wild Dunes]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:16 PM, Atul Kapur said:

I take it that item 322 was never even moved, which is allowed. So business was never even started, and cannot be considered "unfinished."

So this would be New Business.

By the way, if it had been moved and then withdrawn, "the situation is as though it had never been made" RONR (12th ed.) 33:18. So, again, it would be New Business.

True, the item was never moved. Thank you for the additional reference to 33:18. Your help is appreciated.

 

[Gary Novosielski]

On 3/21/2022 at 2:25 PM, Wild Dunes said:

We are a small HOA board. We have Unfinished Business and New Business on our agenda and we number those items. At our last meeting our agenda was approved with New Business item I'll call 322. 322 was withdrawn later in the meeting without any discussion or motion. If the author changes mind and wants to bring it to the next board meeting (or perhaps the May or June meeting), does it return to the agenda as a New Business item with a current number or does it go under Unfinished Business?

First, RONR does not number items, especially items of New Business, because if an agenda is used, all known items would be on the agenda prior to New Business.

But in any case, if an item was never moved at one meeting, it does not count as unfinished business for the next.  It would be moved as New Business, if at all.   But, as I said, numbering is something RONR does not address.