parliamentary procedure
When confronted with the book, Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th edition, readers sometimes falter in their enthusiasm. The bulk and heft of this book are daunting to anyone—they certainly were to me when I was getting started in the study of parliamentary procedure. If you hesitate to plunge into the official book, start…
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One of the useful techniques to add to your voting toolkit is “unanimous written consent in lieu of a meeting.” If allowed by state law, you can use this approach when it’s not feasible to hold a live board meeting. In order to do this, prepare a written motion proposing the action that you would…
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Dear Dinosaur: At our church council meetings, the chair calls for the vote by saying, “All those in favor, please raise your right hand.” One of our members raises his left hand, upon which the chair refuses to count his vote. Is this correct? Answer: It seems as if your chair is a pedantic stickler…
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At a recent council meeting I attended, the city issued a proclamation honoring efforts to assist the homeless. In responding to the proclamation, a local pastor asked the council to provide extra funding for their project. Before the mayor could move on to public comment, a council member made a motion to provide the funding.…
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Dear Dinosaur: A secretary forwarded a board member’s question: “I have always been told that we could not take an official vote in committee. Can you find anything about this?” This came up in a governance committee where members were “voting” to move a policy change to the whole board for vote. Is this straw…
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A client is running Zoom meetings for 300-400 members. Not surprisingly, the meetings are challenging! People fail to follow common courtesy, Points of Order are rife, sometimes discourse collapses. It doesn’t have to be that way. Jurassic Parliament has developed a set of “sample Zoom rules,” based on Robert’s Rules of Order and adapted to…
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We’ve had inquiries recently about elected officials who lost a vote, and then actively worked against the outcome. This amounts to trying to sabotage the council. It is wrong, wrong, wrong. Download PDF The majority rules General Henry Martyn Robert, the original author of Robert’s Rules of Order, expresses it this way: The great lesson…
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A married couple, or other closely related persons, can serve together on a nonprofit board provided that no higher authority prevents it. However, you will want to think deeply before proceeding to do this. Here are some considerations to take into account. Does a higher authority prevent married couples from serving together? If you are…
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Dear Dinosaur: During our consent agenda vote, we have a board member who often votes nay. After their vote, they always feel the need to interrupt our process to give an explanation as to why they voted against the agenda Item. My question is, does a board member have a right to explain their vote…
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A reader contacted us with some concern because a member of her local government body had changed their vote in order to be able to move reconsideration at the next meeting. Was this legitimate? A note about “reconsideration” First off, readers should know that ordinarily, the motion “to reconsider” can be made only during the…
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