Guest NBT Posted October 14, 2010 at 03:57 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 03:57 PM If members of the group have moved away (thereby never attending a meeting) but are financial, can the number of voting members be reduced to not include them in regards to the quorum? Example, we have 34 paid members but 3 are out of State and would never attend meetings. Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:00 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:00 PM If members of the group have moved away (thereby never attending a meeting) but are financial, can the number of voting members be reduced to not include them in regards to the quorum? Example, we have 34 paid members but 3 are out of State and would never attend meetings. Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34?The quorum is based on the number of members with the right to vote. It doesn't matter if they live next door or on the other side of the Earth.After all, how far "away" would you think they could be? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdave Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:14 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:14 PM If members of the group have moved away (thereby never attending a meeting) but are financial, can the number of voting members be reduced to not include them in regards to the quorum? Example, we have 34 paid members but 3 are out of State and would never attend meetings. Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34?Yes.The quorum can be anything specified in the bylaws."a provision of the bylaws should specify the number of members that shall constitute a quorum, which should approximate the largest number that can be depended on to attend any meeting except in very bad weather or other extrememly unfavorable conditions."So, you just have to amend the bylaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:27 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 04:27 PM Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34?Yes.The quorum can be anything specified in the bylaws.I'm afraid that answer's misleading (at best). The quorum is based on the number of members, regardless of where they live. Yes, you can amend the bylaws to reduce that number but, unless you amend the bylaws to exclude out-of-state members, they still count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted October 14, 2010 at 05:37 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 05:37 PM If members of the group have moved away (thereby never attending a meeting) but are financial, can the number of voting members be reduced to not include them in regards to the quorum? Example, we have 34 paid members but 3 are out of State and would never attend meetings. Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34?"... but are financial ..."?What does this mean?To answer your question: "Moving away" does not reduce your quorum. The person is a member, I presume, and is one part of the total membership. If you had 34 members before your three members moved, the you STILL have 34 members. They never STOPPED being members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdave Posted October 14, 2010 at 05:37 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 05:37 PM I'm afraid that answer's misleading (at best). The quorum is based on the number of members, regardless of where they live. Yes, you can amend the bylaws to reduce that number but, unless you amend the bylaws to exclude out-of-state members, they still count.Certainly they still "count" - but you needn't depend on their presence to have a quorum. If you can realistically only count on 10-12 members to be present for meetings - out of 31, 34, or 340 - then it would be proper to establish 10 or 12 as the number needed to constitute a quorum - providing of course that this can be inserted into the bylaws.In the present example, it should be possible to amend the bylaws to require 16 members to constitute a quorum - or 15 or whatever other number the society feels is appropriate. To be clear, the quorum would not then be based on 31 instead of 34 - it would be based on the bylaws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weldon Merritt Posted October 14, 2010 at 06:38 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 06:38 PM The quorum is based on the number of members, regardless of where they live.Not necessarily. It can be a fixed number, in which case it is not based at all on the number of members. But I agree that if the quorum is defined as some fraction of the membership, then all voting members count, unless the bylaws specify otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:07 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:07 PM I'm familiar with one organization that has a quorum based on a percentage of members living within a 100 mile radius of the home office. Don't know how they determine that with any accuracy when in question, but I'm not a member anyway so I'm not sweatin' it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:16 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:16 PM I'm familiar with one organization that has a quorum based on a percentage of members living within a 100 mile radius of the home office. Don't know how they determine that with any accuracy when in question, but I'm not a member anyway so I'm not sweatin' it.I suppose, with GPS, anything's possible. Maybe there's an app for that.Maybe something for the 12th Edition? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:26 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:26 PM Maybe something for the 12th Edition?Temptful of the Wrathful one you are. (Channeling Yoda am I) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:54 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 07:54 PM Temptful of the Wrathful one you are.Quite the contrary. I simply don't see anything like GPS-based voter eligibility entering the canon anytime soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Elsman Posted October 14, 2010 at 08:01 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 at 08:01 PM If members of the group have moved away (thereby never attending a meeting) but are financial, can the number of voting members be reduced to not include them in regards to the quorum? Example, we have 34 paid members but 3 are out of State and would never attend meetings. Can our quorum be based on the 31 or must it be based on the 34?No and no--not as far as the general parliamentary law is concerned, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcdave Posted October 15, 2010 at 02:01 PM Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 at 02:01 PM Not necessarily. It can be a fixed number, in which case it is not based at all on the number of members. But I agree that if the quorum is defined as some fraction of the membership, then all voting members count, unless the bylaws specify otherwise.Exactly right.I'm a member of an organization with just under 5,000 members - at our AGM 30, constitutes a quorum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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