Best way to address a common misperception regarding New Business as a vehicle for considering items not included in the notice for a special meeting

[Big George]

I appreciate the helpful comments that I received in an earlier post regarding the use of “New Business” on the agenda for a Special Meeting to impropriety permit the body to consideritems not included in the notice for a special meeting in this thread: https://robertsrules.forumflash.com/topic/41953-special-meeting/#comment-246361

I have been tasked with preparing draft rules for our organization’s next biennium.  I understand it is generally bad form to repeat things that are in RONR, or to makes things more detailed than necessary in our own bylaws, but there are many in our organization who continue to believe that putting New Business on the agenda for a special meeting opens the door for any member to bring up any topic and for the body to act on it.  I believe this mostly reflects the lack of planning by many of our members.  They have good intentions and don’t appreciate that others want time to consider a matter, or that in deciding whether to rearrange their schedule to participate in a special meeting, others rely on the agenda distributed with the call.

I have thought about adding to the section of our bylaws dealing with meeting calls, something like “The agenda for a Special Meeting must not include New Business or any other category that would permit the body to consider matters not included on the agenda provided with meeting notice.”

Is there a more effect of elegant way to do this?  I thought about referring to the relevant provisions of RORN, but it is my u derstanding that doing this in some places but not hers can lead to confusion.

Thanks for your thoughts.

[Weldon Merritt]

I think that rather than clutter your rules with matters already covered in RONR, your best course of action would be to elect a chair who knows and will enforce the rules.

[Atul Kapur]

Well, even an excellent chair can be overruled by the assembly who may be well-meaning but ignorant.

You may want to consider publishing -- along with the bylaws and special rules, but not a part of either -- important and relevant excerpts from RONR and any superior documents (e.g., from applicable law or the bylaws of a parent organization) so that members have them handy as a reminder. This document should be clearly marked as "For Information" and the source cited so that members don't get the impression that they can directly amend what is quoted within.

For this example, you could quote the first sentence of 9:15 "The only business that can be transacted at a special meeting 
is that which has been specified in the call of the meeting."

[Weldon Merritt]

On 5/21/2024 at 7:36 AM, Atul Kapur said:

Well, even an excellent chair can be overruled by the assembly who may be well-meaning but ignorant.

True. But that assumes that there can "be two reasonable opinions" [RONR 24"34(2)(b)] about the plain meaning of "[t]he only business that can be transacted at a special meeting is that which has been specified in the call of the meeting" [RONR 9:15].

On 5/21/2024 at 7:36 AM, Atul Kapur said:

You may want to consider publishing -- along with the bylaws and special rules, but not a part of either -- important and relevant excerpts from RONR and any superior documents ....

An excellent suggestion! But even then, some members may argue about the proper interpretation of some of those provisions. So I'm not sure that would entirely alleviate the problem.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:26 AM, Big George said:

I appreciate the helpful comments that I received in an earlier post regarding the use of “New Business” on the agenda for a Special Meeting to impropriety permit the body to consideritems not included in the notice for a special meeting in this thread: https://robertsrules.forumflash.com/topic/41953-special-meeting/#comment-246361

I have been tasked with preparing draft rules for our organization’s next biennium.  I understand it is generally bad form to repeat things that are in RONR, or to makes things more detailed than necessary in our own bylaws, but there are many in our organization who continue to believe that putting New Business on the agenda for a special meeting opens the door for any member to bring up any topic and for the body to act on it.  I believe this mostly reflects the lack of planning by many of our members.  They have good intentions and don’t appreciate that others want time to consider a matter, or that in deciding whether to rearrange their schedule to participate in a special meeting, others rely on the agenda distributed with the call.

I have thought about adding to the section of our bylaws dealing with meeting calls, something like “The agenda for a Special Meeting must not include New Business or any other category that would permit the body to consider matters not included on the agenda provided with meeting notice.”

Is there a more effect of elegant way to do this?  I thought about referring to the relevant provisions of RORN, but it is my u derstanding that doing this in some places but not hers can lead to confusion.

Thanks for your thoughts.

I don't know why an agenda is necessary in the case of a special meeting at all.  The order of business for a special meeting should not include New Business in the first place.

[Rob Elsman]

Special meetings do not have an order of business.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/21/2024 at 3:47 PM, Rob Elsman said:

Special meetings do not have an order of business.

Okay, strike the words "order of".  

On 5/21/2024 at 2:22 PM, Gary Novosielski said:

The order of business for of a special meeting should not include New Business in the first place.