Approved at the Annual General Meeting in September 2023.
Related pages:
- Constitution
- Standing Orders – Officers’ Responsibilites
- Standing Orders – General Meetings (this page)
- Complaints against the Officers
- Complaints against members (discipline)
STANDING ORDERS –
GENERAL MEETINGS
- Management of general meetings
- Chair
- Quorum
- Election of Officers
- Motions and amendments
- Voting on show of hands
- Ballots
- Votes in advance
- Electronic resolutions outside meetings
- Good conduct at meetings
Appendix One – AGM Agenda
1. Management of general meetings
1.1 The Officers shall determine in relation to each meeting the means of attendance at and participation in the meeting, whether by simultaneous attendance and participation at a physical place, or by means of electronic facilities, or partly in one way and partly in another.
1.2 All those participating must be able to vote in real time at the meeting, hear the proceedings of the meeting, speak and be heard at the meeting.
1.3 General meetings are private to Members and those invited to attend by the Chair.
1.4 Group Members must appoint one of their own members to be their Designated Representative to cast the group’s votes.
1.5 No person may be the Designated Representative of more than one Group Member at any given meeting.
2. Chair
2.1 The Officers shall appoint a Chair for the meeting.
2.2 If no person is appointed or if the appointed person is not present and willing to chair the meeting within fifteen minutes of the time appointed for holding it, the members present and entitled to vote must choose one of their number to chair the meeting.
2.3 The Chair may stand aside for any motion or proceeding of the meeting and must stand aside if they have a conflict of interest, appointing some suitable substitute who will for the duration of the relevant proceeding(s) hold all the powers previously held by the Chair.
3. Quorum
3.1 No business shall be transacted at any general meeting unless a quorum is present. If a meeting becomes inquorate unexpectedly (e.g., during an internet outage) the Chair may adjourn the meeting for up to half an hour to attempt to restore the quorum.
3.2 A quorum is:
(a) Fifteen (15) Group Members entitled to vote upon the business to be conducted at the meeting; or
(b) One-tenth of the total membership entitled to vote at the time;
whichever is the fewer.
3.3 If either:
(a) a quorum is not present within half an hour from the time appointed for the meeting; or
(b) the meeting becomes inquorate and a quorum cannot be restored,
then
(i) all business conducted up to that point (if any) stands as if passed by a quorate meeting;
(ii) all Officers currently in post remain in post;
(iii) the meeting shall proceed as an Open Committee Meeting, and will follow the agenda as closely as possible, differing in that no binding vote may be made with respect to any motion and no elections can take place for committee posts;
(iv) the Chair may either adjourn the meeting to a later date to be within two months of the date of the original meeting, or arrange for motions to be put to vote by an electronic resolution (GM9).
4. Election of Officers
4.1 At the time they are elected, Officers must be either Individual Members or members of a Group Organisation that is a member.
4.2 Candidates seeking election as an Officer must be proposed and seconded and must confirm their willingness to be appointed. Nominations should be received by the Secretary by the deadline set in the Notice for the meeting at which the election is to take place.
4.3 Retirement in rotation
(a) Officers must stand for re-election every three years, with the President, the Secretary, and the Treasurer each standing down at consecutive annual general meetings thus establishing a tri-annual system of retirement in rotation.
(b) Elections may occur outside of this rotation scheme:
(i) Members may challenge an incumbent Officer by proposing alternative candidates for election at any general meeting.
(ii) Officers may resign and if an election is required to fill the vacancy arising it must be held no later than the next annual general meeting.
(iii) Officers appointed under clause 5.6 of the Constitution must stand for election no later than the next annual general meeting.
(c) Any Officer elected ‘out of rotation’ must stand for re-election when the tri-annual rotation for that position requires it, whether that is one or two years from their original election.
(d) Therefore, every year, the following persons must stand down, but all are eligible for re-election:
(i) The President, or the Secretary, or the Treasurer, as appropriate;
(ii) Officers standing down under sub-clause 4.3(c);
(iii) Officers who have reached the third anniversary of their last election.
5. Motions and amendments
5.1 Every motion and amendment must be proposed either by a Member present at the meeting or by an Officer on behalf of the Committee.
5.2 All motions and amendments must be seconded by a Member present at the meeting who is not an Officer nor represented by an Officer.
5.3 No motion requiring a Special Resolution to pass, that lies substantially outside the matters of which non-attending members will have received notice, may be accepted at any meeting.
5.4 The proposer of a motion may speak to introduce the motion and has the right to reply to any amendment put forward and to speak again at the close of the debate.
5.5 The proposer of any amendment may speak to introduce the amendment but has no further right to speak except by permission of the Chair.
5.6 The first proposition on any subject shall be known as the Original Motion and all succeeding propositions on that subject shall be called amendments.
5.7 Amendments are voted upon immediately after discussion. If an amendment is carried, it displaces or alters the Original Motion and the resultant text becomes the Substantive Motion, which shall be carried forward for further discussion, amendment, or vote.
5.8 Motions to
(a) move immediately to a vote (terminating discussion); or
(b) adjourn the discussion (and hence any vote) to some later time; or
(c) move immediately to the next item on the Agenda without further discussion or vote; or
(d) adjourn the whole meeting (this motion requires a two-thirds majority);
may be proposed at any time and if seconded must be put to the vote immediately. If defeated, that proposal may not be put again until at least half an hour has elapsed.
5.9 In the case of a successful motion to adjourn the meeting:
(a) The Chair shall decide the date, time and place at which meeting is to be re-convened unless those details are specified in the resolution.
(b) No business shall be conducted at an adjourned meeting unless it could properly have been conducted at the original meeting had the adjournment not taken place.
5.10 If a meeting is adjourned by a resolution of the members for more than seven days, at least seven clear days’ Notice must be given of the re-convened meeting stating the date, time and place of the meeting.
5.11 On a matter of great urgency, the Chair may accept a motion for the suspension of Standing Orders. The member moving such suspension must clearly state the nature and urgency of the business, the numbered clauses of the Standing Orders affected, and the length of time (not exceeding 30 minutes) the member desires the suspension to last. No suspension shall take place except by a seven-eighths (7/8) majority of the members present and entitled to vote.
6. Voting on show of hands
A show of hands is intended to be a simple, rapid mechanism for the Chair to determine the views of Members at a meeting. It may be used as an informal ‘opinion poll’ or it may be used to determine the result of a formal vote on any motion, including those tabled for discussion or those raised at the meeting (for instance under GM5.8).
6.1 A vote on show of hands may be conducted using any mechanism that allows for the unambiguous recording of singular votes by any person either for or against. Each person has one vote, regardless of class of Membership. This is a simple way to determine the majority opinion.
6.2 At the Chair’s discretion, a ‘block vote on show of hands’ is a vote on show of hands allowing Group Members to exercise their ten votes ‘en-bloc’ (either all for, or all against the motion) while Individual Members still hold a single vote.
6.3 If there is an equality of votes the Chair has a casting vote in addition to any other vote they may have.
6.4 Provided that all participants can see how all others have cast their vote, where there is an appropriate majority on a show of hands, the number of votes cast need not be counted. The Chair may announce the result and that declaration shall be conclusive unless challenged by two or more Members whereupon a ballot must be held.
7. Ballots
7.1 Two members together may at any time call for a ballot instead of a show of hands.
7.2 The Chair may call for a ballot at any time.
7.3 In a ballot, Designated Representatives of Group Members may split their ten votes, some for, some against, some to abstain. How this split is performed is entirely at the Member’s discretion.
7.4 Ballots may be conducted using any mechanism that allows for the unambiguous recording of split votes. The Chair may appoint tellers to verify the count.
7.5 If there is an equality of votes the Chair has a casting vote in addition to any other vote they may have.
7.6 The Chair shall announce the votes for and against and that declaration of the result shall be conclusive.
8. Votes in advance
8.1 Voting instructions may be received by the Chair in advance of a meeting, including from Members who are unable to attend the meeting.
8.2 Votes in advance will be applied to the relevant motion(s) except when a motion is to be or has been amended at the meeting. In that case the Chair must decide whether the Member, in deciding to cast their vote for or against the Original Motion, would on the balance of probabilities now choose to cast their vote for or against the amendment and/or the amended motion. In doing so, the Chair must consider whether the amendment alters the sense of the motion sufficiently to render the inclusion of advance votes in any ballot as unsafe or contrary to the sense of the meeting. If circumstances call for it, the meeting may be asked to postpone the discussion under clause 5.8.
8.3 Votes cast in person at a meeting supersede any voting instructions previously received.
9. Electronic resolutions outside meetings
9.1 An electronic resolution will be as valid and effectual as if it had been passed at a meeting of Members duly convened and held, provided that:
(a) A Notice containing an identical copy of the motion is circulated to all Members entitled to vote; and
(b) the Notice identifies a mechanism to record the votes, a Returning Officer who is responsible for counting the votes, and the method by which the result shall be declared (brought to the attention of Members);
(c) the notice sets a reasonable deadline for the receipt of votes;
(d) reasonable care is taken to ensure votes received can be confirmed as being made by a Member entitled to vote on the matter;
(e) sufficient votes are received before the deadline to meet the quorum normally expected at a meeting; and
(f) the Returning Officer declares the result of the vote within 7 days of the deadline set.
9.2 The date of an electronic resolution shall be the date of the announcement by the Returning Officer confirming the result.
10. Good conduct at meetings
10.1 Persons invited to attend meetings other than by right of membership will have no speaking rights except when invited to speak by the Chair.
10.2 Persons present at a meeting who are members of Group Member organisations other than the Designated Representative, must ensure that they do not obstruct or otherwise hinder participation in the meeting by Individual Members or the Designated Representatives of Group Members.
10.3 Members wishing to speak should raise their hand and wait until called upon by the Chair. When called to address the meeting, they must give their name and, where applicable, the name of the organisation that they represent.
10.4 If any person eligible to vote interrupts the speaker or uses abusive language, or causes a disturbance, or refuses to obey the Chair when called to order for a second time, they may be expelled from the meeting and will not be allowed to enter again until an apology and undertaking of good behaviour has been given.
10.5 Disruptive or abusive persons who are not eligible to vote may be expelled from the meeting by the Chair and will not be allowed to re-enter.
10.6 Exceptionally, and only for the correct and proper functioning of the meeting, the Chair may clear a general meeting of all but Individual Members, the Designated Representatives of Group Members, those specifically invited by The Morris Federation, and those otherwise necessary to the proper functioning of the meeting.
Appendix One – AGM Agenda
This is a standard agenda for use at Morris Federation Annual General Meetings.
- Introduction, Attendees and Apologies for Absence
- Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting
- Matters arising from the minutes not otherwise on the agenda
- Annual Reports:
- Elected Officers
- Co-opted Officers & Advisors
- Projects
- * Motions
- * Discussions
- * Election of Committee
- * Nominations for Honorary Life Membership or Friend of the Morris Federation
- Date(s) of Future Annual General Meeting(s)
- Any Other Business (usually reserved for urgent business that could not be foreseen at the time the papers were sent out)
- Presentations and Votes of Thanks
- Meeting close
* Motions, discussion topics and nominations will be circulated separately to members with each year’s AGM notice. See Officers’ Responsibilities section ‘Notices’.
Last Updated: November 2023
