The Motion was NOT Adopted.
There were 14 votes. Those in favor: 4; Those opposed: 10; Those with no opinion: 0. The motion received 29% in favor. As to a Town Hall discussion, 13 members voted. 7 said yes, 6 said no. While that may not actually meet the 50%+1 threshold for having a Town Hall discussion, it may be best to offer the opportunity to the author of the motion.
Motion 24 – 3: Business Meeting Procedures
This motion is being recommended by Clara T
Issue: This is a motion to adopt a method for conducting old and new business in our business meetings. These procedures will promote unity while we achieve a Group Conscience.
Background: This is based on Robert’s Rules of Order.
Please offer comments below – pro or con, questions or suggestions or personal experience. The comments will comprise our discussion of the issue and will include any type of Minority Opinion. If the motion has not been seconded already in the comments, please note if you would second this motion. The comment period will be open for 3 weeks. Return to the Business Meeting Practices page for additional clarity.
Comments closed on April 30th and are availabe to read below.
Now, Offer Your Vote! – The polling will be open until May 14th.
Thank you for participating in reaching a Group Conscience. (NOTE: It may take a day or two for your comments to appear on the webpage.)
Isn’t this pretty much what we used to do when nothing got accomplished, it took a year or more to get anything passed, and whatever did get passed was voted on by the 18 people who could manage to tolerate contentious wrangling the longest? It was never a group conscience, because 18 out of 300 does not constitute a representative survey. This would be a giant step backwards.
This was the process in use when I attended my first business meetings here at ACA SMR, and it consistently led to a disastrous outcome (I heard someone label these as “food fights” – which felt apt). I was pretty horrified by the behavior of many people at these meetings… I was not observing people learning how to be in healthy-family-relations, but instead observed many bringing their most out-of-control inner children to really let loose.
The new process adopted in January, 2024, addresses many of these deficiencies plus adds some incredible benefits to a worldwide fellowship, in terms of the opportunity to participate, and so would not like to take this step backwards.
I do believe that motions could be raised at the business meetings, and may arise out of looking at the fellowship needs, but I would then like to see these motions go through the hybrid Online/Townhall approach described in Motion 24-2.
This is a thoughtful outline for conducting in-person (on Zoom) meetings that are looking for resolution. It is based heavily on Robert’s Rules of Order, with which many members have some familiarity. It provides a pretty good set of steps from which our group could fashion/edit our own workable version.
And, if we do have Town Hall gatherings to discuss issues, as called out in the other process being reviewed, those meetings will have to be conducted in some orderly fashion. Ideally we could have a simpler, gentler script to follow on those occasions. The document here could be adapted to lead us through Town Hall discussions. In those instances the group would be looking at an issue/motion that did not get adopted initially, but was asked to be discussed. We would likely be amending the original issue/motion or proposing something as an offshoot. The issues would likely be:
– Who is making the proposal?
– Would it be best to have an open discussion before suggesting amendments?
– How often and for how long would a member be allowed to speak?
– What percentage would be required for adopting an amendment or bringing an alternative motion back to the Proposal Process?
According to the other proposal, after a Town Hall, the resultant issue/motion would be posted once more for a final vote, if there was consensus. This could be helpful for organizing a Town Hall meeting. While I am not in favor of how this Procedure is structured, I do feel it could be discussed.
My main concern is that business meetings get derailed from the agenda when someone brings up a new issue and makes a motion. I would like to see clarification about when a motion can be made, and I don’t think that should be just any time, e.g. during reports. Or it can be made, but discussed when it’s time for New Business.
Also there is a new process, I think, for making motions and getting them into a poll, and then voted on. I would love to see an explanation about that process on the website so people know how that happens.
By the way, I second this motion.
I don’t want to go back to the old way of doing business meetings.
I don’t think Robert’s rules are necessary.
I don’t care for it as written. 2 issues:
1) what if the only 2 people speaking for and against have not raised my concern? Perhaps this question should be asked after the 4 have spoken: “Any concerns not yet voiced?”
2) people “present” but having moved with their day with their device is still connected should not be counted in the vote/quorum count. So before a vote is called, there should be a base count of how many are present and participating. This way a more accurate count of for and against, quorum and abstaining can be determined.
I see 2 potential problems that could be addressed here:
1) what if the only 2 people speaking for and against have not raised my concern? Perhaps this question should be asked after the 4 have spoken: “Any concerns not yet voiced?”
2) people “present” but having moved with their day while their device is still connected should not be counted in the vote/quorum count. So before a vote is called, there should be a base count of how many are present and participating. This would give a more accurate count of for, against, abstaining and quorum .
looks like my edit was more than an edit!
I understood that 12 step fellowships do not follow the complicated Roberts Rules but rather a based on groups conscience: a motion is proposed and then seconded and then discussion until all in attendance have had a chance to speak at least once. then the motion is called for a vote. if something is passed it can be done on a trial basis (for example 3 months) and then revisited to ascertain if it is working or needs further consideration at another business meeting. If something else comes up during the discussion that is extraneous to the motion that is considered new business and is placed on the agenda to avoid being diverted from the original motion. thank you