✨✨General Discussions

How cool to have a very old edition treated with reverence. The original (1876) through 1915 edition (the last one Robert himself worked on) are in the public domain. I could live with one of them more easily than the overwhelming current "Newly Revised".

I am a fan of the spirit of Robert's Rules and once read the original (I had gotten it by mistake when I went to the library to get "Robert's Rules Newly Revised.") As president of our Residents Council I am entrusted for one year with a copy dated 1904, which we pass along to the new incoming presiding officer.

The most important principle, in my mind, is this:

"If the chairman has even the appearance of being a partisan, he loses much of his ability to control those who are on the opposite side of the question."

Further, "The chairman sometimes calls a member to the chair, and himself takes part in the debate; but this should rarely be done, and nothing can justify it in a case where much feeling is shown, and there is a liability to difficulty in preserving order."

In sum, it is important for the chair to maintain neutrality when an issue is discussed. But a savvy chair can assess the strength of both sides of an issue before a meeting is even scheduled.

Robert’s Rules can be useful when a procedural question must be settled, but they need not govern the spirit of every meeting. Detailed rules sometimes encourage participants to seek procedural advantage rather than understanding and agreement.

Perhaps a residents’ association needs to agree upon only a few principles of good order:

We conduct our business in a spirit of goodwill, seeking the best interests of the whole community.

• We listen to understand, not merely to prepare a reply.
• We make room for every relevant voice without allowing repetition or domination.
• We address ideas and actions, not personalities or motives.
• We seek broad agreement when possible and use voting when a clear decision is needed.
• We treat procedural rules as tools for fairness, not as weapons for winning.
• We accept the chair’s good-faith guidance, subject to correction by the group.

A recognized parliamentary authority can remain available for unusual or disputed situations. But ordinary meetings might be governed primarily by this simpler expectation:

Every participant shares responsibility for helping the group reach a fair, thoughtful, and workable decision for the good of the whole.

That approach depends less upon expert parliamentarians and more upon the character and goodwill of the participants—which may be exactly what a healthy resident community should cultivate.

Richmond Shreve

NaCCRA Board Member & VP

Forum Moderator

All good suggestions. I will add: in your by-laws, cover many of the procedural points. And have a last by-law saying approx. 'Any parliamentary procedure not covered by these By-laws shall be governed by the latest edition of Robert’s Rules of Order.' Note too that on-line one may find 'Robert’s Rules of Order Cheat Sheet for Nonprofits'. Very useful.

Our Residents Association and Resident Council use The Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure by Alice Sturgis, better known as Sturgis Procedures. It is just as comprehensive as RR but much easier to read and figure out. Also, my suggestion for managing resident meetings or your resident board meetings, is don’t get too hung up on adhering to the letter of the law as set down by these procedures. There is a comfortable place between strictly following the rules and letting meeting run themselves. We are a three year old CCRC with a resident association and that’s just 1.5 years old. We have found an easy approach for managing meetings without coming across as overly rule following or to the other side too loose.

Wendy Sutton, Pres Baldwin Resident Association

Stick with Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised (RONR) 12th edition 

There is a national forum where you can ask questions and get clarity:

Forums - The Official RONR Q & A Forums

You can also ask what the rule for something is, and ask questions on Google's AI Gemini search or other AI

Linda Kilcrease

Resident of a CCRC

Does your Residents' Council/Association use Robert's Rules of Order or something simpler as a Parliamentary Authority? We are considering simpler (and less than Robert's 714 pages of fine print) alternatives and would be interest in hearing what other Residents' Councils use.