Robert's Rules (for Small Assemblies)

Once upon a time I was the President of a 5-member HOA Board, and I presided over an Open Meeting.

Afterwards, one of the attendees (not on the Board)(call him “G”) gave me a bunch of grief because I made several motions{1} during the course of the meeting, and according to him, Robert's Rules says it is A Very Bad Thing for the President to make a motion.

I responded “Thank you for your input. I’ll look into it.”

And I actually did look into it, and

a) I couldn’t find anything that required that we follow Robert’s Rules of Order.

b) I couldn’t find anything that required us to use any form of parliamentary procedure at all.

b) I ran across something called Robert’s Rules of Order for Small Assemblies{2}, which appears to allow Presidents to make motions (and other things to streamline meetings outside of the Palace of Westminster).

I’ll readily admit to my own rather shabby use of Robert’s Rules, which might make some people cringe the way I cringe when an actor in a Police Procedural looks at a crime photo on a computer and says “enhance!”{3}. I simply wanted to move through the agenda. I’m inclined to think that “G” brought home a trophy from his 8th grade Model United Nations and never passes up an opportunity to re-live that triumph. For what little it’s worth no-one else on the Board seems to know jack about about Robert’s Rules, either.

I really don’t have a specific question; mostly I’m curious about anything y’all might have to say about Robert’s Rules of Order in the HOA meeting environment: Love it? Hate it? Am I missing out on some subtle but awesome aspect? Tales of derring-do where someone used RRoO to rock the house? This "Small Assemblies" version seems like it would be a Big Deal, but from my reading I get the idea it isn't well-known.

Or am I incorrectly equating "Board President" with "Board Chairman"?

Thank you.

Bill

{1} ala “… thank you for that presentation! And now I’ll move that we proceed to the next item on the agenda …”

{2} 49:21 in Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised 12th edition. “Small” means “12 people or less”. Please see {4} below.

{3} Harrison Ford in Bladerunner can do this, but no-one else.

{4}

49:21 Procedure in Small Boards. In a board meeting where there are not more than about a dozen members present, some of the formality that is necessary in a large assembly would hinder business. The rules governing such meetings are different from the rules that hold in other assemblies, in
the following respects:

1) Members may raise a hand instead of standing when seeking to obtain the floor, and may remain seated while making motions or speaking.

2) Motions need not be seconded.

3) There is no limit to the number of times a member can speak to a debatable question.3 Appeals, however, are debatable under the regular rules—that is, each member (except the chair) can speak only once in debate on them, while the chair may speak twice.

4) Informal discussion of a subject is permitted while no motion is pending.

5) When a proposal is perfectly clear to all present, a vote can be taken without a motion’s having been introduced. Unless agreed to by unanimous consent, however, all proposed actions must be approved by vote under the same rules as in larger meetings, except that a vote can be taken initially by a show of hands, which is often a better method in small meetings.

6) The chairman need not rise while putting questions to a vote.

7) If the chairman is a member, he may, without leaving the chair, speak in informal discussions and in debate, and vote on all questions.*

* Informal discussion may be initiated by the chairman himself, which, in effect, enables the chairman to submit his own proposals without formally making a motion as described in 4:4–8 (although he has the right to make a motion if he wishes).

Robert’s rules is very popular, but it’s not the only thing people can or should use when it comes to meetings. There’s Riddick’s Rules of Procedure and Demeter’s Manual of Parliamentary Law and procedure, and something called Martha’s Rules of Procedure. I haven’t looked up the others (you can do that), but an article on Martha’s rules showed up in a Google search and it actually sounds rather workable that going back and forth over what’s in Robert’s Rules.

chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1825&csociologyfacpub#:~:text=Martha's%20Rules%20involves%20a%20five,to%20what%20others%20are%20saying.

I find that people often get hung up on nuances of Roberts Rules, and although there are books that do a good job in explaining the major points, the bottom line for me is to run meetings in some sort of order so you aren’t there all day or night, get through everything on the agenda and don’t wind up with a free for all, with fists, chairs and/or bullets flying all over the place. Board meetings are business meetings and the people attending and running the show are supposed to be grown-ups and act accordingly. It’s not complicated – establish an agenda, make copies available so attendees can follow along, and provide some basic rules:

• Show up on time and prepare to discuss the issues. That means reading the management report and whatever else you were given before the meeting. In my community we received the management report three days in advance.
• If you were put in charge of following up on something, be prepared to stand up and provide your update. If it didn’t get done and you’re still working on it, apologize, explain the delay and when you’ll have it done. We understand there are emergencies and life happens, but simply saying “I forgot” is an excuse.
• Raise your hand to speak instead of jumping in
• Be clear and don’t get personal. Act like an adult when you make your case for whatever, and then sit down and shut up so others can have a turn
• Listen to what’s being said and take notes if you like so you’ll understand the issues. If you need clarification on something, raise your hand and ask (after the person finishes speaking)
• If you get outvoted, don’t pout or undermine the board. Do what you can to make the decision work – time will reveal if you were right. If you’re really bugged, you could prepare a one page summary explaining your concerns and ask that it be attached to the minutes.

In your case, I thought you said you were voted out as president, so if this is a recent conversation, why the hell did this person bring it up now? I would leave the comment where it is – the guy could always volunteer to serve as parliamentarian (some HOA boards have them so he or she can review any questions on motions, votes or whatever comes up during the meeting). If the board and everyone else wants to use Robert's Rules and needs some education on what it entails, why not check out the national association of parliamentarians website and see if there's someone in your area you could hire to do a presentation? That person could also sit in on a few meetings and talk to the board later about her/her observations and suggestions on how to make the meetings run more efficiently

If you did make a motion during the meeting, it was still up to your colleagues to second it and then vote for or against it, or you could have withdrawn the motion. In any event, I don’t see anyone having you arrested over it.