Unless somebody like a lawyer or an individual who enjoys reading about rules, laws, and regulations, they have probably never heard of Robert’s Rules of Order. Just who is this Robert and why does everybody follow his rules of order?
Henry Martyn Robert was a West Point Graduate, American soldier, engineer, and author. After being asked to preside over a public meeting, he realized he did not know what he was doing. Robert set out to read up on the parliamentary law and procedures. Then in 1876, he published a manual of parliamentary procedure calledRobert’sRulesofOrder that is still used worldwide to this day.
These procedures are the rules, ethics, and customs for conducting meetings of an assembly or organization, which allows all involved to be heard and to make a decision without any confusion. These time-tested methods of rules help to conduct business at meeting and public gatherings to have orderly deliberation upon questions of interest to the organization, which allows for courtesy for all, to maintain order of the meeting, consideration of one item at a time, all sides beingallowedtobeheard,the ability for all member to provide input, protection of right of all members including the minority,andamajorityrule.
There are also basic principles within the rules to allow for better facilitation of public meetings. Some of them include that a quorum or agenda must be present for business to be conducted, no person should speak until recognized by the chairperson, and the chair shall always remain impartial.
There are also outlines for all members having equal rights, privileges and obligations. Since the first publication of these rules of order, there have been 12 revised editions, and they are still in use to this day and can be adapted to fit any organization's needs.
For anybody who is on a governing board of any kind or happen to attend a meeting of the local city council, school board, or state legislative body, more than likely one will hear someone refer to the rules of governance or rules of order.
Among the numerous rules and principles laid out are how to develop an agenda, rules for motions, taking votes, and roles of the officers. There are also rules of conduct and ethics for those in attendance of these meetings.
The general rule for speaking about any item on the agenda presented by a member of the public on any given subject is 10 minutes. There are also rules about public comments, which are comments allowed at the end of the meeting for any items that didn’t make it onto the agenda. The public is allowed to talk about any item not on the agenda and the board or council is allowed to question them, but no action or further discussion is allowed. RRO allows this time to 10 minutes, as well.
There are guidelines for what is and is not allowed. For example, Section 61 of the Robert’s Rules of Order says that any nonmembers attending a meeting as a guest have no rights with reference to the proceedings. A body has the right to protect itself from annoyance by nonmembers. Also, the chairperson had the power to ask nonmembers to leave a meeting.
Madill Mayor Travis Williams said that the Roberts RulesofOrderareimportant.
“They are very important to keep rules in place that will help the meeting to flow so that calmer heads will prevail,” Williams said. “I think it is very important. I’m a firm believer that when it comes to city council meetings, we put our best foot forward and we take the high road in every situation. “
“I think that Robert's Rules of Order and the guidelines laid out by the Oklahoma Public Meeting Act help aid those things,” he continued. “They help maintain control. It is not always easy.”