Here I thought standing rules were the people that hang about in the back of the room refusing to sit down and join the meeting...... [img]smile.gif[/img]
Suzi hit the nail on the head and that was a great point! In high school and college I became familiar with the formalities of meetings and this was the most confusing "rule" to me. The silly part to me is some of the standing rules I remember were more like traditions (we always met at the resturant off of I80 and University) than a rule but that's part of the charm!
Our standing rules have evolved over time as situations arose. For instance, included in our standing rules are things such as a bounced check policy, emergency expenditures by executive committee, and reimbursement procedures.
The wording is informal and it is simply a list that everyone receives at the first meeting and votes to continue (or rescind) for that year.
Last year, we had a member who wanted to be reimbursed for mileage for running around town. We added a new standing rule that we will only reimbuse mileage if the group related travel was over 40miles in one day.
Your standing rules can run the gambit from: "no meetings on the night of a full moon" to "who can or cannot be an officer," its what works for your group. And as I stated above, they will evolve as new situations arise.
This may sound stupid--but what do standing rules look like? I've been poking around for examples, but can't seem to find any. Is there specific wording we have to follow, or can it be more relaxed? Bylaw wording is so formal, and we were hoping to avoid that kind of feeling so as not to turn people off when coming to meetings. At the same time, we want to retain control of what's going on! I was hoping to have ours ready for our first "formal" meeting with our membership so that everyone understands what the deal is as far as how things have to be fone Thanks!.
