What are Rules of Order?
Simplifying Council Procedures: Practical Use of Robert’s Rules in Montana Municipal Governance
Unfortunately, the commonly encountered Robert’s Rules of Order is as easy to read and understand as your computer’s program language. Moreover, it seems that every commission member has her or his own view on the subject. Therefore, it makes some sense to extract from Robert’s the essential and most commonly used Rules and to incorporate them into the commission’s own agreed upon procedures that have been formally adopted by commission resolution. (A model policy for council procedures is attached at the end of this section.) Fortunately, 2. Governing the Municipality 43 Robert’s Rules has now been published in a much more user-friendly format and we strongly recommend that the traditional version be discarded and replaced with Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised, 10th Edition. (An abbreviated version of the most common motions is attached at the end of this section.)
It makes even more sense to practice the basic rules of council procedure scrupulously at every meeting and on every council action. By doing so, even on routine issues, the procedures will be well-practiced and therefore second nature to the members when faced with a matter of significant public interest Here it seems worth emphasizing that deviation from established commission procedures could flaw the final decision. It is precisely when that decision
concerns a costly and contentious issue that some dissatisfied party will seek a flaw in the council’s decision and virtually any procedural flaw will do nicely. In short, it is seldom a good idea to depart from established policy without a compelling reason to do so. With commission rules of procedure in place and in practice, the work set forth on the agenda should proceed
smoothly, at least most of the time. But, as emphasized above, the agenda itself is an important procedural matter.
It makes even more sense to practice the basic rules of council procedure scrupulously at every meeting and on every council action. By doing so, even on routine issues, the procedures will be well-practiced and therefore second nature to the members when faced with a matter of significant public interest Here it seems worth emphasizing that deviation from established commission procedures could flaw the final decision. It is precisely when that decision
concerns a costly and contentious issue that some dissatisfied party will seek a flaw in the council’s decision and virtually any procedural flaw will do nicely. In short, it is seldom a good idea to depart from established policy without a compelling reason to do so. With commission rules of procedure in place and in practice, the work set forth on the agenda should proceed
smoothly, at least most of the time. But, as emphasized above, the agenda itself is an important procedural matter.