The regular Church Business Meeting called for last Wednesday was adjourned to Sunday evening, April 29, following the Church Social when it was determined that an insufficient number of members were present to constitute a quorum. This circumstance has caused discussion among our members about quorum requirements. As Moderator, it occurred to me that a review of our quorum requirement might be helpful.
In Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised, 10th Edition, Chapter XI, section 40, the author defines a quorum as “the number of voting members…who must be present in order that business can be legally transacted.” Our former Church By-laws set our quorum at 40. Our recently adopted By-laws increased this number to 100. Discussion among members present at the meetings when this change was made reflected a feeling by the majority that the old quorum number was too small for a Church of our size. Although other members felt the quorum number chosen of 100 was too high, no other lower number was proposed for which support from a majority was obtained.
Hilton Almond, who moderated Wednesday’s meeting, reports that 88 members were present when the meeting began. So, although we didn’t achieve quorum, we were close. Is 100 the “right” number for us? Whether it is, or not, it is the number we must continue to try and achieve – at least until some member proposes a different number which through our By-law amendment process gains the support of a majority of our members.
In any event, thank you for continuing to support our business meetings, just as you support all of the other programs and endeavors of our Church.
by Dan Stevens, Church Moderator