“Robert’s Rules of Order.” Those words were heard during last week’s city council meeting. They were brought up because our city council follows Robert’s Rules of Order. In fact, so does pretty much every parliamentary body in America.
Who is this Robert guy? What are his rules? And… forgive my ignorance… but, what’s a parliamentary body?
First, let’s start with the parliamentary body. It is any group of people that makes decisions, typically by giving one vote per person. Some examples are a board of directors, a school board, a city council, an HOA, a county board, and even a church board.
Second, who is Robert? His full name was Henry Martyn Robert, and he was an officer in the United States Army at the turn of the twentieth century. Long story short, Robert was somewhat disgruntled at the lack of consistency of how small parliamentary bodies ran their meetings. So, he set about establishing some guidelines.
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Robert modeled his guidelines after the procedures followed by the U.S. Congress, the supreme legislative body in the nation. While he first published his guidelines in 1876, they have been revised on several occasions. The most recent update—the twelfth edition—was actually published last month, September 2020. Most parliamentary bodies specifically adopt “Robert’s Rules of Order” in their codes, or by-laws. This allows their procedures to automatically update every time a new edition is published.
Ok, so what do his rules say? How are meetings supposed to be run?
Robert’s rules are based on the two ideas that A) Majority rules, and B) Each member of the body deserves a chance to make their voice heard. There is a lot more to it than that, but that’s the gist of it.
Decisions are made through the following steps:
- A motion is made
- A second motion is made
- The motion is stated again for clarification
- Time is allowed for debate on the matter
- The motion is voted on
Again, forgive my ignorance. But, what’s a motion?
A motion is the initiation of a decision. When someone makes a motion, they are really saying, “Let’s vote on this.” Robert’s Rules or Order require what is known as a second. In other words, a second member of the body must make the same motion. They often do so by saying something along the lines of, “I second that motion.”
After a motion is made and seconded, the motion is then stated again so that everyone knows exactly what is being voted on. More discussion follows, if needed. Then, they vote. And using good, classic democracy, majority wins. There are some instances in which a supermajority is needed, but that is a conversation for another day.
Is that all there is to it?
No, there is much much more to it. But, this is a good start.
Clayton Keller is the city administrator of David City. His column will be published once a month in The Banner-Press.
