Who sets date for meeting?

[Guest Peter Belden]

Who has the power to change the date for the next meeting? I'm wondering about a small board. This is an interesting case where an election takes place in Nov/Dec and newly elected members, constituting a new majority on the board, take office during the first meeting of the calendar year. The newly elected majority would prefer an earlier meeting date. The group follows Robert's Rules. So the question is does the outgoing chair set the date for the Jan meeting even if the chair is not going to be on the board at all for that Jan meeting? Seems strange for a meeting date to be set by someone who won't be on the board when a majority would want it on a different date. 

[Joshua Katz]

What do the rules say about changing the dates for meetings? If the bylaws give the meeting date and do not contain a way to change them, they generally cannot be changed. 

[Eye Love RR]

Thanks for such a fast reply Joshua. The boards bylaws make no mention of particular meeting dates, who sets them nor how they are changed. Given that lack of guidance I was wondering if Robert's Rules has a generic provision on how meeting dates are set. 

 

[Joshua Katz]

Not really. How do they typically get set? And if nothing sets them, why do you need to move the January meeting, as opposed to setting it?

[Bruce Lages]

If the bylaws do not specify the dates for meetings, these dates are usually set by vote of the body that is meeting. For your board, the board itself would decide by majority vote at each meeting to set the date for the next meeting, or the board could also decide to set the schedule for its meetings for several months or an entire year in advance.

Alternatively, the board could decide to allow their meetings to take place 'at the call of the chair', thus giving the board chair the authority to set the date for the next meeting.

In any event it is the current board itself, or the current board chair, who sets the date for a future meeting. There is no mechanism in RONR that allows a non-member - even if that person will be a board member at the future meeting -to set a meeting date (unless your rules would permit such a scenario). But nothing prevents the current board or current board chair from discussing the meeting date with the future board members to allow an agreeable date to be set.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 11/15/2023 at 1:52 PM, Eye Love RR said:

Thanks for such a fast reply Joshua. The boards bylaws make no mention of particular meeting dates, who sets them nor how they are changed. Given that lack of guidance I was wondering if Robert's Rules has a generic provision on how meeting dates are set. 

 

Well, then how in the world do you have meetings now?  They must be getting set somehow.