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committee meetings/open or closed to the public/membership


Guest celia

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According to Robert's Rules who is allowed to attend a committee meeting? I am the chair of a committee and the question has come up. Our Bylaws doesn't address who can be present. IT does state that the board shall appoint the committee members from the board or from other persons as the board may see fit.So can people just come and sit in if they want to or do they have to be invited. Or are they to be allowed in at all if they are not part of the committee? Personally I like just the committee to be present less interuptions and speeds up getting the work accomplished.

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According to Robert's Rules

who is allowed to attend a committee meeting?

That is easy.

Only MEMBERS of the body in question (e.g., committee; board; general membeship; etc.) have the RIGHT to attend.

Any non-member of that body is not allowed to see or hear the deliberations, except as that body may grant permission so.

So can people just come and sit in if they want to,

or do they have to be invited?

Neither.

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Neither.

If you mean that the committee is under no obligation to allow or invite non-members to attend, I concur. But I think in centext that Celia means, "Must non-members be invited before thay may attend?" The answer to that is "yes." No admittance without an invitation (unless, or course, the organization's own rules provide otherwise).

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So can people just come and sit in if they want to or do they have to be invited. Or are they to be allowed in at all if they are not part of the committee? Personally I like just the committee to be present less interuptions and speeds up getting the work accomplished.

I think what Mr. Goldsworthy might have been saying was that non-members (and those are the people to whom you are referring) are not entitled to attend, so yes they would have to be invited to the meeting if the committee wanted them there, but they don't have to be invited at all.

As for limiting the interruptions and speeding up the process, any non-member in attendance has no right to do anything more than sit quietly and observe. Non-members can be allowed (with the committee's approval) to speak in debate, but have no right to, nor can they vote at all, ever. So, there should be NO interruptions. Barring approval by the committee, it's "sit down and shut up" time for the invited guests.

See page 625, and pages 628-629 for more on this.

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Can you tell me where to find this in Robert's Rules so I can have facts to back me up when I exclude visitors?

“When a committee is to make substantive recommendations or decisions on an important matter, it should give members of the society an opportunity to appear before it and present their views on the subject at a time scheduled by the committee. Such a meeting is usually called a hearing. During actual deliberations of the committee, only committee members have the right to be present." RONR, p. 483, ll. 30-36 (emphasis added)

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