Quorum confirmation

[Guest Cheryl]

If there is not a quorum at a meeting, can business be conducted anyway if no one specifically asks if there is a quorum?

[hmtcastle]

If there is not a quorum at a meeting, can business be conducted anyway if no one specifically asks if there is a quorum?

No. And it is the chair's responsibility to ensure that a quorum is always present. It's every member's obligation as well. You can't simply pretend not to notice.

[Guest Gil]

What will happen if the meeting does not meet the quorum requirement? Will the meeting be cancelled due to the quorum failure?

[jstackpo]

The things that can be done at an inquorate meeting are very limited - see p. 336-337.

[hmtcastle]

Will the meeting be cancelled due to the quorum failure?

No, the meeting can, and should, be held as scheduled. As Mr. Stackpole notes, very little can be done without a quorum so the meeting, and the required minutes, should be brief.

[David A Foulkes]

What will happen if the meeting does not meet the quorum requirement? Will the meeting be cancelled due to the quorum failure?

You can't actually be sure there is no quorum until you gather for the meeting anyway. And if the meeting is a regularly scheduled meeting (as specified in the bylaws perhaps) or a special (called) meeting, you still must at the very least hold the meeting to satisfy the requirement that it be held accordingly. Once called to order, you do have an option to create an adjourned meeting (adjourning to another date and time) when perhaps the quorum will exist. At that point (the adjourned meeting called to order as a continuation of the inquorate session, now quorate) you can "pick up where you left off" and conduct your business.

[hmtcastle]

if the meeting is a regularly scheduled meeting (as specified in the bylaws perhaps) or a special (called) meeting, you still must at the very least hold the meeting to satisfy the requirement that it be held accordingly.

Is there a third kind of meeting?

[jstackpo]

A "third kind" (sorta) would be a meeting that the assembly schedules during a regular meeting (not via FTTTWTA) -- the "next" meeting -- when there is no schedule set in the bylaws. P. 87

[David A Foulkes]

Is there a third kind of meeting?

I went under the dangerous assumption that the meeting our guest Cheryl was referring to likely fell into one of the two types mentioned. I suppose any meeting, including the adjourned meeting, would still fall under the requirement to convene "as ordered", quorate or not, to meet the requirement(s) set forth previously (bylaw, notice, motion) in some fashion.

There is another kind of meeting at which the quorum is not an issue, but I didn't believe it was this type of meeting about which Cheryl was referring, so I did not include it.