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members not noticed of bylaws amendments


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If the bylaws require members to be noticed of bylaws amendment vote, then can the Board decide prior to that membership vote that they are not going to allow the bylaws to come for a vote, because not all members were properly noticed of the vote.

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If the bylaws require members to be noticed of bylaws amendment vote, then can the Board decide prior to that membership vote that they are not going to allow the bylaws to come for a vote, because not all members were properly noticed of the vote.

No. However, when the motion is introduced in the general membership assembly, any member of that assembly, whether or not a member of the executive board, can make a Point of Order, RONR (10th ed.), §23, pp. 240ff, that the motion is inadmissible on account that the required previous notice has not been validly given, pp. 116-118.

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The Board has no power to decide what comes before the Membership (unless the bylaws give that power). However, at the Membership meeting a member can raise a Point of Order at the time the bylaws are up for consideration that proper notice wasn't given and so the bylaws cannot be considered at the meeting. The Chair's ruling can be Appealed.

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IF the bylaws state that notice must be GIVEN to the members 30 days in advance, does that mean mailed out 30 days or received by the members in 30 days?

Thanks to all who are replying to help us out!

That is for you all to decide. See RONR pp. 570-573 for some principles to help with that. However, just to be safe you should make sure the notice is received by the members at least 30 days in advance.

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Does RONR actually say that notice is from the viewpoint of the sender?

Chris - see p. 89 ll. 5-9 for a reference to this, at least as it applies to notice of special meetings, which I suspect follows through to all notice. The inference would be drawn that you start counting on the day of the mailing itself, although the meeting day itself is not included in the count of days. One can never know when a member will receive notice, for a variety of reasons inherent in the postal service.

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Chris - see p. 89 ll. 5-9 for a reference to this, at least as it applies to notice of special meetings, which I suspect follows through to all notice. The inference would be drawn that you start counting on the day of the mailing itself, although the meeting day itself is not included in the count of days. One can never know when a member will receive notice, for a variety of reasons inherent in the postal service.

After puzzling over the referenced lines on p. 89, I turned to p. 90, and voila (or 'viola', as I've seen people say so often on Internet forums lately, God only knows why)...

Totally off-topic, David, but that is a pretty creepy composite (?) photo you have on your profile page. :P

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Chris - see p. 89 ll. 5-9 for a reference to this, at least as it applies to notice of special meetings, which I suspect follows through to all notice. The inference would be drawn that you start counting on the day of the mailing itself, although the meeting day itself is not included in the count of days. One can never know when a member will receive notice, for a variety of reasons inherent in the postal service.

Gotcha. That makes sense.

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