Lainie has asked this question: Is there a correct methord of keeping a members register? The Members Register is something that most voluntary organisations need to keep. The way they are constituted will normally dictate the method of keeping the register. For instance, if you are an incorporated association, you need to check the Associations Incorporations Act in your home state. Most will simply say that a “Register of Members” needs to be kept but not how. If you are ” company limited by guarantee” you need to keep... 

A question has been received from John of Ballajura in WA. We had a person who is unfinancial but used to be a member attend one of our meetings. The president let him speak but would not count his vote. What should the president have done? He has not been a member for a year and he acknowledged that he was no longer a member. Since the person acknowledged that he was no longer a member, that clears up one issue – whether he was financial or not. Technically, the president could have asked him to leave the meeting but in reality. most people... 

When is a member no longer financial?  This is a common question. I have seen legal advice which gives the following answer but you must not take this as advice for your situation – the following answer is general only, and gives a general guideline. If your constitution specifically says that membership fees are due by a specific date AND they say that if membership fees are not received by that date, membership lapses, then a person who has not paid by the due date is no longer a member and ceases to have any of the privileges of membership. If... 

A quorum is the minimum number of people who must be present for the meeting to transact any business. The quorum is normally in the constitution of an organisation or sometimes in the By-Laws. Traditionally it used to be one more than half of the possible membership but as organisations became bigger that became an unworkable number. For instance, if you had a sports club with 300 members, it meant you had to have 151 people at a meeting for it to be able to do anything. It is more common nowadays for a quorum to be a specific number. One of... 

A question has been asked by Helen in Western Australia: I recently attended a meeting where the required quorum wasn’t present – the 3 of us agreed that nothing could be passed but that the recommendations would go to the next meeting. Problem is the minute taker has written some recommendations in as being passed.  What can you say to the minute taker so that she understands how a meeting operates when there is no quorum present. This question is quite common – where the minute taker, in all good faith, does not understand the rules... 

This question has been asked by Amanda in Adelaide, South Australia. “We have a constitution for our organisation which says that a person can be appointed by the president to be the secretary. It also says in another clause the secretary is a director. In a third clause, it says that appointments made by the president can be removed by the president at any time. My question is, if the secretary becomes a director, does he or she stay a director if the president appoints a new secretary? We operate as a Company limited by guarantee” This... 

Peter has asked the following question: How do minutes become confirmed if the persons present at the meeting when a decision was adopted are no longer in attendance? This is a really common question and the answer sounds weird, but it is nevertheless the answer! The scenario is that at meeting1 certain people are in attendance and the minutes are written. At meeting 2, some (or possibly all) of the people who were at meeting 1, are absent. The minutes of meeting1 are to be confirmed at meeting 2. Anyone can in fact move or second the confirmation... 

Jackie has asked the following question: Last year’s agm mintues have been sent out for a meeting later this month.  My name has been used for proposing items when I did not.  What can I do about it? There are two things you can do. The first is attend the AGM and when the minutes are confirmed, stand and point out that you did not propose certain items and insist that the minutes be amended to reflect that. The problem that may cause, is that the meeting may not recall who did propose the items. If they cannot recall, then that is still... 

Lee has written the following question: What happens when the ‘status quo’ is ambiguous? In this example half of a committee thinks a committee member is not eligible (to attend) while half think they are. This is an interesting question. The issue is about what constitutes the status quo and the reason that is important is that it is always wise, when exercising a casting vote, to rule to preserve the status quo. In this case, I would consider, if I were in the chair, that the status quo would be to not allow the person to participate.... 

Tepora Wright has asked the following question: What is the difference between an ordinary meeting and a special meeting? The best way to think of an ordinary meeting is one which you have regularly, like a monthly meeting held on the 2nd Monday of the month for instance. These meetings are where the general running of the organisation takes place. A “Special Meeting” is usually one where there is an important issue to discuss which requires notice to be given to all the members. General  meetings are usually one of two types –...