Pulling a motion

[Tomm]

Board of Directors meeting:

Director A is the Chair of a Standing Committee. Director B is the Co-chair.

Director B put a motion on the agenda (agendas are not approved at the beginning of the meeting) Director B was unable to attend the board meeting because of medical issues.

When the motion came-up, Director A pulled the motion because she said it didn't go thru the committee and the chair agreed.

Director C questioned the authority of Director A to pull the motion and offered to make the motion on behalf of Director B but it was not allowed and the motion was pulled?

Question: Does this seem correct or should the chair have allowed Director C to make the motion on behalf of Director B?

[Joshua Katz]

None of this bears any resemblance to RONR.

[Josh Martin]

On 5/27/2022 at 10:42 AM, Tomm said:

Board of Directors meeting:

Director A is the Chair of a Standing Committee. Director B is the Co-chair.

Director B put a motion on the agenda (agendas are not approved at the beginning of the meeting) Director B was unable to attend the board meeting because of medical issues.

When the motion came-up, Director A pulled the motion because she said it didn't go thru the committee and the chair agreed.

Director C questioned the authority of Director A to pull the motion and offered to make the motion on behalf of Director B but it was not allowed and the motion was pulled?

Question: Does this seem correct or should the chair have allowed Director C to make the motion on behalf of Director B?

So far as RONR is concerned, Director C is free to make the motion on his own behalf. There is no need or mechanism to make it "on behalf of Director B." Nothing in RONR requires that a motion must be on the agenda in order to be considered or that the motion must "go through" the relevant committee, and there is no mechanism for individual members to add or "pull" items from the agenda, so none of that information matters.

But your organization obviously has its own customized rules on these subjects, and I have no idea what those rules are, so I don't know what the correct answer is under your organization's rules.

Edited May 28, 2022 at 10:41 AM by Josh Martin

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/27/2022 at 11:42 AM, Tomm said:

Board of Directors meeting:

Director A is the Chair of a Standing Committee. Director B is the Co-chair.

Director B put a motion on the agenda (agendas are not approved at the beginning of the meeting) Director B was unable to attend the board meeting because of medical issues.

When the motion came-up, Director A pulled the motion because she said it didn't go thru the committee and the chair agreed.

Director C questioned the authority of Director A to pull the motion and offered to make the motion on behalf of Director B but it was not allowed and the motion was pulled?

Question: Does this seem correct or should the chair have allowed Director C to make the motion on behalf of Director B?

You should fire your dictator and replace them with a presiding officer.

Director C "questioned" something, but did not raise a Point of Order?  If a rule is broken, the point should be raised, the point should be ruled upon, and if the ruling is unsatisfactory, it  should be Appealed from. A "question" followed by an "Oh, okay."  if they're allowed to get away with it, has the results you're seeing.  Re§ad the section of RONR on Point of Order, §23, and be prepared to use it as soon as a violation occurs.

Directory C apparently "offered" to make the motion but never made it, and when told that they were "not allowed", said, "Oh, okay."  What Director should have done was make the motion and if necessary, look around for a second. 

In order to declare a motion out of order, the chair must give a reason, i.e., what rule would be violated. And that ruling is subject to Appeal (§24).

Edited May 28, 2022 at 01:33 AM by Gary Novosielski