Vote without opportunity for discussions

[Guest Linda]

I'm on a homeowner's board of directors of 5 members. A board member made a motion, via email, got another member to second and the voting began and passed. There was no opportunity for discussion and the president of the association wasn't even aware of the motion. The vote consisted of approving a proposal for $75,000 of work. There was no other bid. What can be done about this?

[hmtcastle]

I'm on a homeowner's board of directors of 5 members. A board member made a motion, via email, got another member to second and the voting began and passed. There was no opportunity for discussion and the president of the association wasn't even aware of the motion. The vote consisted of approving a proposal for $75,000 of work. There was no other bid. What can be done about this?

Firstly, unless your bylaws authorize conducting business via e-mail, the motion was never made.

If your bylaws do authorize "e-meetings" (RONR doesn't), I'm afraid you'll have to work out the details for yourselves.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

I'm on a homeowner's board of directors of 5 members.

A board member made a motion, via email, got another member to second and the voting began and passed.

There was no opportunity for discussion and the president of the association wasn't even aware of the motion.

The vote consisted of approving a proposal for $75,000 of work. There was no other bid.

What can be done about this?

Q. Do your own rules allow for such a outside-of-a-meeting process? Did you vote via e-mail?

Under Robert's Rules of Order, you have no quorum here, so the motion isn't validly adopted.

If your own rules allow for action without a quorum or without a meeting, then that is up to you to enforce and acknowledge.

Oh! - The fact that there was no other bid is not relevant. - No rule in Robert's Rules of Order requires competitive bidding.

And! - There is no rule in Robert's Rules which requires a president to be informed - about anything!

(There is supposed to be a quorate meeting going on, you know!)

[paulmcclintock]

And! - There is no rule in Robert's Rules which requires a president to be informed - about anything!

(There is supposed to be a quorate meeting going on, you know!)

Just to clarify, don't take Kim's comment above to the extreme. The chair is to be notified (informed) of all meetings, just as all other members. But sending a notice does not equate to being informed. Requirements for meeting notices is that they be sent, not received.