Exclusion of non-members from Board of Directors Meeting

[carlw1@earthlink.net]

Section 9.02 Board of Directors Meetings:

(a) Regular meetings of the Board of Directors shall be open to all members and shall be held every month on the first Thursday of each month.

Q1. In quote above from our Bylaws where it states "members" is it referring to the general members or to the Board of Directors? Which is the assembly holding the meeting.

Q2. If the Bylaw is referring to general members is it stating ONLY general members or can the public attend as well?

[David A Foulkes]

Q1. In quote above from our Bylaws where it states "members" is it referring to the general members or to the Board of Directors? Which is the assembly holding the meeting.

Q2. If the Bylaw is referring to general members is it stating ONLY general members or can the public attend as well?

Rough guess here (since bylaws can't be interpreted here, and yet....) - - - since meetings of the Board (of Directors) are always "open" to members of the Board, it would seem the reference is to general members of the society.

"Which is the assembly holding the meeting." Due to the absence of a question mark, I take it that is a statement, not a question, since it seems clear the assembly that is holding the meeting is indeed the Board of Directors.

Non-members (of whichever assembly is meeting, Board or general membership) have no rights nor are entitled to attend, although they may be allowed to if the assembly that is meeting allows it. The "public" not being members falls into the grouping of non-members. However, there may be other provisions (municipal or state laws, for instance) that do allow their attendance. You'll need to find that out for yourself though.

And others will undoubtedly add to this.

[Rob Elsman]

Q1. In quote above from our Bylaws where it states "members" is it referring to the general members or to the Board of Directors? Which is the assembly holding the meeting.

Q2. If the Bylaw is referring to general members is it stating ONLY general members or can the public attend as well?

Your questions more to do with your organization's rules than anything in RONR.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

Section 9.02 Board of Directors Meetings:

(a) Regular meetings of the Board of Directors shall be open to all members and shall be held every month on the first Thursday of each month.

Q1. In quote above from our Bylaws where it states "members" is it referring to the general members or to the Board of Directors? Which is the assembly holding the meeting.

Q2. If the Bylaw is referring to general members is it stating ONLY general members or can the public attend as well?

A1. The word "members" in the phrase "open to all members" with regard to BOARD meetings must refer to members of the whole organization.

That is, to say "Regular board meetings are open to all board members" is exceedingly redundant, and becomes a useless rule.

Analogy: Imagine a rule which says, "All meetings of the general membership are open to members."

Does this rule have any value? No. It is redundant, and so redundant as to be dead useless.

By definition, a body which meets (like a committee, like a board) is open to members OF THAT BODY.

"Which assembly is meeting?"

The "assembly" is the board.

It isn't everybody who shows up, if that is what you feared.

A2. The rule mandates [party X] are to be welcomed,

where X = members (of the whole organization).

The extra people, like parliamentarians, like consultants, like guest speakers, etc., are NOT to be excluded JUST BECAUSE one group (gen. mem.) is "welcomed".

A welcome rule does not necessarily exclude others.

It's just that there is no rule to "automatically" welcome the non-X kind of people.

A motion could be adopted, to welcome Mr. Mayor, Mr. Plumber, Mr. Accountant, etc., to a meeting, for a speech or for a consultation.