Session vs Meeting

[Tomm]

Big discussion on whether or not our Board meetings are individual monthly meetings or year-long sessions because some motions require 2 readings and 2 votes.

Question: If each meeting was to be considered as only one meeting in a year-long session, then would/should Unfinished Business be addressed at every meeting or only be addressed on or near the last day of the last meeting? 

Seems to me that you only go thru the items on an Agenda once and when you're done the meeting/session is over.

Each meeting currently has Unfinished Business which means to me, each meeting is in fact a separate session or else they would need to establish an Agenda as a special rule of order and a Bylaw that establishes that the session is one -year long. They currently don't Approve the Agenda's so I assume that they believe they are following the standard order of business but still claim it's a year-long session.

[Josh Martin]

On 11/16/2022 at 7:17 PM, Tomm said:

Big discussion on whether or not our Board meetings are individual monthly meetings or year-long sessions because some motions require 2 readings and 2 votes.

I have not read the rules in question, but I strongly suspect that they are individual monthly meetings. Year-long sessions are extremely unusual and are generally found only in state or national legislatures.

The fact that "some motions require 2 readings and 2 votes," in and of itself, does not change this.

On 11/16/2022 at 7:17 PM, Tomm said:

Question: If each meeting was to be considered as only one meeting in a year-long session, then would/should Unfinished Business be addressed at every meeting or only be addressed on or near the last day of the last meeting? 

Seems to me that you only go thru the items on an Agenda once and when you're done the meeting/session is over.

Again, I find it extremely unlikely that these are year-long sessions. But in the event that they are, Unfinished Business would not be addressed at every meeting.

On 11/16/2022 at 7:17 PM, Tomm said:

Each meeting currently has Unfinished Business which means to me, each meeting is in fact a separate session or else they would need to establish an Agenda as a special rule of order and a Bylaw that establishes that the session is one -year long. They currently don't Approve the Agenda's so I assume that they believe they are following the standard order of business but still claim it's a year-long session.

I think you have it right.

For what reason do they want it to be a year-long session? I'm not sure they fully understand the implications of what they're saying.

[Tomm]

On 11/16/2022 at 6:33 PM, Josh Martin said:

For what reason do they want it to be a year-long session? I'm not sure they fully understand the implications of what they're saying.

To manipulate the vote. At the last meeting a director voted on an issue and caused it to fail. After the meeting he was ganged-up on by several other members and was convinced to change his vote. They now want to Reconsider the motion so that he can vote for the motion.

[Josh Martin]

On 11/16/2022 at 7:50 PM, Tomm said:

To manipulate the vote. At the last meeting a director voted on an issue and caused it to fail. After the meeting he was ganged-up on by several other members and was convinced to change his vote. They now want to Reconsider the motion so that he can vote for the motion.

Oh, I understand now. It's your board's dumb rule that is causing problems again.

In the ordinary case, if a motion is defeated, the motion can simply be introduced anew at the new meeting. So it seems to me the board should look at amending the multiple reading rule rather than trying to create a year-long session, which will have broad implications for the board's business.

Edited November 17, 2022 at 02:03 AM by Josh Martin

[Atul Kapur]

On 11/16/2022 at 8:33 PM, Josh Martin said:

Year-long sessions are extremely unusual and are generally found only in state or national legislatures

Agree that its rare outside of government, but I've also seen some city councils (all in the US) explicitly define year-long sessions

Edited November 17, 2022 at 02:31 AM by Atul Kapur

[Gary Novosielski]

On 11/16/2022 at 9:30 PM, Atul Kapur said:

Agree that its rare outside of government, but I've also seen some city councils (all in the US) explicitly define year-long sessions

That doesn't seem to be outside of government.

[Atul Kapur]

"Agree that its rare outside of government" was a response to the entire statement "Year-long sessions are extremely unusual and are generally found only in state or national legislatures"

"I've also seen some city councils ..." was specifically in response to "are generally found only in state or national legislatures"

[Alicia Percell, PRP]

The fact that "some motions require 2 readings and 2 votes" is exactly what suggests that it's not a year-long session and instead each monthly meeting is its own session.  Otherwise, you're twice voting on the exact same motion in the same session, and 38:1 says it doesn't work that way.  It sounds like they're trying to make the year-long-session argument based on a particular outcome they want now and not based on looking at what a session actually is.  They can potentially get what they want a different way and not have to impose upon themselves all the side effects that come with year-long sessions.  If a motion is postponed indefinitely, it can't be renewed until the next session which could be a year later.  If a motion fails, it can't be renewed again until the next session, which could be a year later.  The only way around these limitations is by using reconsider/rescind/ASPA.  So for the benefit of trying to win this ONE issue, they'd be imposing upon themselves some higher hurdles for other things.  Maybe not the best strategy...

[Gary Novosielski]

<deleted>

Edited November 18, 2022 at 02:43 AM by Gary Novosielski
delete.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 11/17/2022 at 2:53 AM, Atul Kapur said:

"Agree that its rare outside of government" was a response to the entire statement "Year-long sessions are extremely unusual and are generally found only in state or national legislatures"

"I've also seen some city councils ..." was specifically in response to "are generally found only in state or national legislatures"

Got it.