Re: [adhoc] every beginning...

On Apr 15, 2005, at 8:33 AM, Lorna M Hughes wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> How about adding something in the sections on Steering Committee
> members (presently in II, 3 and 4). We should say something along the
> lines of "all members of the SC should be members of the Association
> that they represent, and able to participate in SC discussions and
> voting".

The first part of that is already covered, in II.3 ("All members of the
Steering Committee should be members of one (or more) of the
constituent organizations") -- though it doesn't explicitly say that
any SC member should be a member of the organization he/she represents.
  The second part could be added there, and we could further specify if
you like, so that section II.3, in its entirety, would read:

Classes of Members: The Steering Committee will include "voting
members" and "non-voting members." Each member of the Steering
Committee should be a member of (at least) the constituent
organizations he or she represents, and all members of the Steering
Committee should be willing and able to participate in Committee
discussions and voting. All terms, for both kinds of members, are for
three years, and all terms are renewable.

> I think the language that John has suggested on proxy voting is good:
> "by sending an email to the chair, one voting member can give his or
> her
> proxy to another voting member of the steering committee for a
> particular vote or a period of time"

That could be added to II.6, perhaps with a limit on the amount of time
for which you could deed your proxy to another member (I don't think we
want someone handing it over for the whole three-year term, for
example) so that this section would read, in its entirety, as follows:

Voting: Votes by the Steering Committee may be called by any voting
member, but will normally be called by the Chair. Under normal
circumstances, no vote will be called without at least a week for
online discussion and a further week for the actual vote. A simple
majority (for example, three out of five) of the voting members of the
Steering Committee will be required to decide a voting issue. By
sending an email to the chair, one voting member can give his or her
proxy to another voting member of the steering committee for a
particular vote or for a specified period of time, not to exceed three
months.

>
> To cover ourselves on issues such as tied votes, we could state that
> the chair has the casting vote, or that we will
> be observing some sort of standard committee rules, for example the
> ACH states that "the proceedings shall be
> governed by Roberts' rules of order". Just a thought.

We could say that a tie will be resolved according to Roberts'
Rules--or we could just say what Roberts' Rules says about ties, which
is that a tie is a defeat. IF the chair has not voted in the tie, then
s/he can cast a tie-breaking vote, but according to RR, the chair
cannot vote twice. Perhaps the simplest language would be to add,
above, after the sentence that begins "A simple majority..." a sentence
reading: "In the event of a tie, the question will be defeated, unless
the chair has not already voted and wishes to cast a tie-breaking vote
in favor of the question." That's in keeping with the letter and
spirit of Roberts.

Incidentally, since Roberts has come up, here's what it has to say on
matters relevant to our recent discussion of the 'majority of votes
cast' question:
>
> Two-thirds Vote. A two-thirds vote means two-thirds of the votes cast,
> ignoring blanks which should never be counted. This must not be
> confused with a vote of two-thirds of the members present, or
> two-thirds of the members, terms sometimes used in by-laws. To
> illustrate the difference: Suppose 14 members vote on a question in a
> meeting of a society where 20 are present out of a total membership of
> 70, a two-thirds vote would be 10; a two-thirds vote of the members
> present would be 14; and a vote of two-thirds of the members would be
> 47.
>
> There has been established as a compromise between the rights of the
> individual and the rights of the assembly the principle that a
> two-thirds vote is required to adopt any motion that suspends or
> modifies a rule of order previously adopted; or prevents the
> introduction of a question for consideration; or closes, or limits, or
> extends the limits of debate; or limits the freedom of nomination or
> voting; or closes nominations or the polls; or deprives one of
> membership or office.

As I read this, the vote on ADHO was conducted in the spirit of
Roberts' Rules. We can be more restrictive in the future, in our
bylaws, as Roberts' notes some organizations choose to be, but in the
absence of such language or an approved governance document, I hope
this lays to rest the question of whether the ADHO matter was settled
in a reasonable way.

John

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Received on Fri Apr 15 2005 - 12:57:15 EDT