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David A Foulkes

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Everything posted by David A Foulkes

  1. Yes. Yes. No. In certain voting circumstances though, abstentions (which are not votes) will have the same effect as a no vote.
  2. In RONR, either you are a member or you are not. If the quorum were set at one third of the membership, that would mean at least one third of the total of members. If the membership totalled 120, then at least 40 members would need to be present at a meeting to validly conduct business. If, at a meeting, 30 more persons were accepted into membership (let's say by a motion to approve all 30 membership applications en masse), then the membership would instantly rise to 150, and the quorum would instantly rise to 50. As long as at least 10 of those new members were present at the meeting, th
  3. It seems what you're saying is it is on a case-by-case basis whether the minutes should reflect the lack of quorum, and only if doing so serves some useful purpose, so the next question is who decides to include it - the Secretary, or the assembly by motion or unanimous consent? If abailey's Chair had called the meeting to order at the appointed time, fully expecting Mr. Johnny-Come-Later to arrive shortly, and they sat there in stony silence doing and saying nothing until he appeared, then it might not bear mention in the minutes that a quorum was not present at the call to order. If every t
  4. Given that state (and possibly federal) statutes are involved, you might be best served by the advise of a lawyer familiar with those statutes. Yep, but if they won't, then nothing will change. Well, the Board is letting itself be controlled by the agency. They (the board) need to stand united and take back their meetings. What is it about all this that these "other members" don't understand? I believe you have enough citations from RONR to start the ball rolling, if only to gather support within the board. We can't help you with statute, or even your own bylaws, but as far as RONR is co
  5. Probably not. Although it would be unwise, the bylaws can indeed affect the voting structure, which is one of many reasons that they should be carefully crafted, precisely worded, and contain no more than what is absolutely necessary for them to be effective.
  6. Well, they could if the bylaws had no article on amendment whatsoever, it just takes a vote of a majority of the entire membership. Do your bylaws contain an article detailing how they can be amended? "The bylaws should always prescribe the procedure for their amendment, and such provision should always require at least that advance notice be given in a specified manner, and that the amendment be approved by a two thirds vote. If the bylaws contain no provision for their amendment, they can be amended by a two-thirds vote if previous notice (in the sense defined on page 121) has been given, o
  7. Where (i.e. in what governing document) is this "requirement" detailed?
  8. I think the footnote on p. 263 goes a long way towards this. "In contrast, the rules may be suspended to allow a nonmember to speak in debate." That is, the assembly must agree to Suspend The Rules to allow the nonmember to speak, therefore the rules must prevent it to begin with.
  9. But - - - is there any rule in RONR that says if Member A nominates Mr. X for office, and Mr. X declines (although we've gone around that bush a few times with some taking the position that the nomination is not Mr. X's to decline anyway), that it would be out of order for Member B to subsequently nominate Mr. X again, all for the same election? It may be a time-wasting practice, yes, but where is the rule that says it can't be done? Even if the candidate were to withdraw his name after the Nominating Committee reports, nothing would prevent a member from nominating him from the floor at the
  10. For future reference, it is the duty of the Chair to determine that a quorum is present before calling the meeting to order. If there is no quorum present, he should wait a "reasonable" amount of time before calling the meeting to order to see if enough members show up to make a quorum. At some point, if still no quorum is present, he should call the meeting to order anyway. In the absence of a quorum, there are four valid actions the assembly can take: adjourn, recess, create an adjourned meeting, or take steps to obtain a quorum. No other business can be validly conducted (approving minu
  11. They can ask, but no rule in RONR requires anyone to reveal how they voted in a (secret) ballot.
  12. Do your bylaws adopt RONR as the parliamentary authority? Is your quorum 40 members exactly, or is it that 40 were present, satisfying your quorum number?
  13. I wouldn't even say "win a vote". When the majority of active members acts on behalf of the assembly, they may vote in the negative.
  14. The point I apparently failed to make, based on my possible mis-reading between the lines of Guest_B_Babylon's minimalist posting, is that a member does not make a motion "to take the vote." Voting is one of the (potential) steps in consideration of a pending question. If a motion to paint the barn red is before the assembly, after debate has concluded no one should make a motion to take a vote on the question. Perhaps Guest_B_Babylon will return and provide some clarification.
  15. Ah yes. I see that now. Thanks.
  16. With the little bit you've given us to go on, I'd say the vote stands. As more information is made available, that may change.
  17. You don't make a motion to take a vote. You make a motion to take some action or make a decision (the motion requires a second, usually), the Chair "states" the question to place it before the assembly, you debate the motion (assuming it's debatable), and after everyone has spoken the Chair "puts" (calls for the vote on) the question. Until the Chair puts the question, no votes are cast.
  18. There is only the (current) board, and only members of the assembly that is meeting have the right to vote. People who were, and no longer are, members have no voting rights. No. Well, it starts with the Secretary not including it to begin with. After that, when the minutes are up for approval, a correction can be offered to strike the opinionated text before the minutes are announced "approved" by the Chair. After that, a motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted would be needed. (RONR 11th ed. Section 35)
  19. You might want to consider amending the Constitution to exclude minutes of Executive Session from being promulgated. Kind of defeats the purpose of going into Executive Session. Your (membership's) call.
  20. Whether a member turns in (casts) a blank ballot, or does not turn one in at all, he has not cast a vote, which is an abstention. It is to be ignored. 40 votes were cast, so you're looking for someone to receive at least 21 of those votes as a majority.
  21. 1. If you and/or your wife were members of the assembly that was meeting (board of directors?), no. What RONR says is that a member who has a personal or pecuniary interest not in common with other members, regarding the pending question, should refrain from voting, but cannot be compelled to abstain. You retain your right(s) to vote, although it might be a show of good faith not to. 2. If your bylaws do not specifically authorize absentee voting (by text, phone call, email, etc), no. 3. A tie vote defeats the motion. There is no need to "break" the tie. A vote of 4-4 defeats it just as we
  22. Yes. Do your bylaws contain an article on Amending the Bylaws? If so, that's how you do it. If not............. "The bylaws should always prescribe the procedure for their amendment, and such provision should always require at least that advance notice be given in a specified manner, and that the amendment be approved by a two thirds vote. If the bylaws contain no provision for their amendment, they can be amended by a two-thirds vote if previous notice (in the sense defined on page 121) has been given, or they can be amended by the vote of a majority of the entire membership." (RONR 11th E
  23. If the bylaws don't specify that the President-Elect takes the vacant office of President, then the (1st) Vice President does. A vacancy would then occur in the office of the (lowest ranking) Vice President. When the President-Elect has served his full term, he would then become the President. (RONR 11th ed., p. 257 ll. 22-28)
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