Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Quorums


Guest Tyrone Kalogeresis

Recommended Posts

Guest Tyrone Kalogeresis

I need a little help here. My club held a special meeting this past weekend to discuss and approve changes to our bylaws. We didn't have a quoru no we couldn't make motions to approve the any changes but we were able to discuss possible bylaw changes. Now I find out that the president and other board members are planning to proceed witht he chnages and have a full vote on the chnages at our next general club meeting. I told the other members that this would be illegal to do because we didn't have a quorum at the special meeting on Saturday. There reasoning is that it was only a discussion and that they didn't need to have motions made to approve the changes. I say they are wrong. Can someone help me out here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Now I find out that the president and other board members are planning to proceed with the chnages and have a full vote on the changes at our next general club meeting.

You'll need to follow the amendment process as described in your bylaws. This will typically mean previous notice is required.

Any discussion at the special meeting is irrelevant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Tyrone Kalogeresis

Does that mean what was discuss at the special meeting can go forward without any motions made?

You'll need to follow the amendment process as described in your bylaws. This will typically mean previous notice is required.

Any discussion at the special meeting is irrelevant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does that mean what was discussed at the special meeting can go forward without any motions made?

It means that what was discussed doesn't matter one way or the other. It doesn't help. It doesn't hurt. Since there was no quorum it's as if a bunch of members met at a bar and talked about . . . anything at all.

You'll still need to make a motion to amend the bylaws. And, before that, you still may need to give notice of the proposed amendment.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does that mean what was discuss at the special meeting can go forward without any motions made?

Do you have your bylaws handy? They should detail the process you need to abide by to amend them. Typically, it requires that the membership is made aware of any suggested bylaw changes in advance, by a reasonable number of days (it's called "notice") and may even restrict the amending to take place only at certain meetings, such as the annual meeting. There is also typically a higher voting threshold (2/3 as opposed to a majority) to pass any amendments.

This "should" all be in your bylaws, and that's where you want to look first, in case your leadership is not following the rules. Or in case they are.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I need a little help here. My club held a special meeting this past weekend to discuss and approve changes to our bylaws. We didn't have a quorum so we couldn't make motions to approve the any changes but we were able to discuss possible bylaw changes.

Actually you weren't. Formally speaking it was not appropriate to hold any discussions without a quorum, at least not during the meeting. You're beginning to see why.

Now I find out that the president and other board members are planning to proceed with the changes and have a full vote on the changes at our next general club meeting. I told the other members that this would be illegal to do because we didn't have a quorum at the special meeting on Saturday. There reasoning is that it was only a discussion and that they didn't need to have motions made to approve the changes. I say they are wrong. Can someone help me out here?

Yes, they're wrong.

One of the many things you're not allowed to do at an inquorate meeting is to give previous notice. So if your bylaws require previous notice for their amendment, you haven't got it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Formally speaking it was not appropriate to hold any discussions without a quorum, at least not during the meeting.

I trust you're not suggesting some sort of "no talking" rule. The members are perfectly free to discuss anything they want while they wait for more members to show up, or figure out what to do next. In fact, if there's some disagreement about whether to adjourn or fix the time to which to adjourn, discussion is darn near inevitable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I trust you're not suggesting some sort of "no talking" rule. The members are perfectly free to discuss anything they want while they wait for more members to show up, or figure out what to do next. In fact, if there's some disagreement about whether to adjourn or fix the time to which to adjourn, discussion is darn near inevitable.

But discussing bylaws amendments would not be germane to those motions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I trust you're not suggesting some sort of "no talking" rule. The members are perfectly free to discuss anything they want while they wait for more members to show up, or figure out what to do next.

If the members wish to have free discussion at an inquorate meeting in order to stall for more members, the appropriate course of action would be to move to recess.

The rules of debate do not fly out the window simply because a quorum is not present. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...