Quorum of a body is present, but several members must recuse themselves from voting on a motion (losing quorum on the motion - not the meeting)

[OneBookToRuleThemAll]

As above.

I have a 10 member Task Force.  6 members are present, but 2 present members must recuse themselves from a motion.  What should happen?  The meeting has quorum, but only 4 can vote on the motion.  Can the motion proceed or must it be tabled?

 

[Dan Honemann]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:36 PM, OneBookToRuleThemAll said:

As above.

I have a 10 member Task Force.  6 members are present, but 2 present members must recuse themselves from a motion.  What should happen?  The meeting has quorum, but only 4 can vote on the motion.  Can the motion proceed or must it be tabled?

 

What rule says that the 2 members must "recuse" themselves? Please quote it exactly and tell us where it is found.

[OneBookToRuleThemAll]

The question at hand involves members who have an interest in the question.  For instance - the Task Force is voting to award funds to third-party organizations and the members who are recusing themselves serve on the boards of the third-party organization. 

So - Quorum is 6 (4 members are absent).  Motion (with 2 recusals) would have 4 members voting.

 

[Weldon Merritt]

On 2/14/2023 at 6:11 PM, OneBookToRuleThemAll said:

The question at hand involves members who have an interest in the question.  For instance - the Task Force is voting to award funds to third-party organizations and the members who are recusing themselves serve on the boards of the third-party organization. 

That's interesting, but you haven't properly responded to Mr. Honemann's request for the rule that says the members must "recuse" themselves. 

[Gary Novosielski]

On 2/14/2023 at 7:36 PM, OneBookToRuleThemAll said:

As above.

I have a 10 member Task Force.  6 members are present, but 2 present members must recuse themselves from a motion.  What should happen?  The meeting has quorum, but only 4 can vote on the motion.  Can the motion proceed or must it be tabled?

 

There is no such thing as quorum "on a motion".  If the requisite number of members are present, business can be conducted.  If all but four members choose to abstain, then the remaining four can vote, presuming a quorum is present.

However, we're still interested in seeing the rule that you believe requires two members not to vote.

[Richard Brown]

Is this "task force" by chance a public body of some sort, such as a city council, school board, zoning commission, etc?  If so, state laws may come into play and dictate when members must recuse themselves. 

Edited to add:  Unless your are bound by some superior rule to the contrary, even if two of the four members who are present abstain, a motion should still carry with a vote of 2 to 0 or even 1 to 0 if one of those two also decides to abstain.  The motion would fail on a tie vote and also if there are more no votes than yes votes, such  as 0 to 2.  Unless you have a rule to the contrary, the vote of a majority of those members PRESENT AND VOTING decides the issue.  You ignore absentees and abstentions. It is as if they don't exist.  You will, in essence, have a task force of two members for that vote if two members are absent and two abstain.

Edited February 15, 2023 at 03:18 AM by Richard Brown
Added last paragraph

[OneBookToRuleThemAll]

@Richard Brown Thank you.

The Task Force -- formed to appropriate Federal funds to community groups -- is a body formed by a Town Council (and subject to Maryland Open Meetings Act).  The recusals derive from ethics rules laid out by an Ethics commission and adopted by the Town Council. 

So - I think you answered the question very cleanly (and is backed up by Chapter XI, section 40: So long as a quorum is present, business may be conducted.  One could consider a recusal an abstention and the motion can proceed so long as a meeting quorum is maintained throughout.

I'm grateful for your expertise (and patience).

 

[Dan Honemann]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:46 AM, OneBookToRuleThemAll said:

The recusals derive from ethics rules laid out by an Ethics commission and adopted by the Town Council. 

Are you sure that these rules adopted by the Town Council say nothing about the effect of mandated recusals on the presence of a quorum?

[OneBookToRuleThemAll]

That's a good point, @Dan Honemann.  I will review those guidelines this afternoon.  Though not strictly related to RRoO, I will try to post an update to this post for the good of the order.  

NOTE - I find this forum incredibly useful (and powerful) as a resource.  Thank you to everyone who replied to this -- admittedly flawed --  thread.