How an Idea Becomes a Motion Becomes a Law For Community Council

=COMMUNITY COUNCIL HAS BEEN DISSOLVED, ALL INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE IS FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES ONLY= In order to bring a main motion to Community Council, it should be prepared in advance and submitted to the Council Secretary so that it can be included in the agenda for the next upcoming meeting. This written motion should include the name of the member bringing forth the motion, the person who is seconding the motion, the rationale behind the motion, the proposed action to be taken, and any other relevant information. The motion should be submitted in both printed and electronic form ,whenever possible, so that the secretary can make appropriate changes to both versions of the motion if it is at all amended by Community Council.

Although this is true, in recent semesters, motions have been made much more in accordance with what is going on in committee and thus they have been brought forth within committee meetings themselves. This is a perfectly acceptable way of progressing the meetings and can in fact be favorable in matters of in which time is a factor.

Once a main motion comes before Council it must be seconded by another member. Seconding a motion DOES NOT mean that you will be voting in favor of passing the motion but instead means you would like to see that the matter be discussed. Once the motion is seconded, it can be formally discussed within the meeting amongst the membership. The discussion is typically opened by the person who is bringing forth the motion. She/he has the opportunity to explain why they are bringint he motion to the table and why they feel others should support it. Next, a member who wishes to oppose the motion or any part of it has the opportunity to speak. Typically it has become more of a discussion than a back and forth, as both sides work toward a common middle ground (and in turn amendments to the motion at hand or a superseding motion that satisfies more of the members of Council may arise). This discussion continues until either no one wishes to speak or a motion to vote on said motion passes.

For Fall 2008 and Spring 2009 semesters, Community Council has been running with an additional vote of no confidence rule. If a motion is proposed and seconded and no one blocks it the motion is automatically passed. This has been useful in progressing dialogue and for that reason seems to be a precedent that will remain.

While the main motion is being discussed, any member can propose an amendment. Amendments may either be "friendly" or not. Friendly amendments are those which are agreed to by the person who has brought the motion forth and are in turn considered part of the main motion at once. Non-friendly amendments must be seconded and if seconded, discussed by the membership. While an amendment is pending, it is the only question which should be discussed. Further discussion on the main motion will continue ONLY after a vote has been taken on the amendment (or in rare instances if a common motion has been created that entails aspects of the amendment but not all of it - this is only the case if the majority of councilors are satisfied).

Finally, a vote is taken on the main motion. Most votes in Community Council are taken by a show of hands but any votes such as elections for officers or other personal matters are taken by secret ballot. Any member can make a superseding motion to have any vote taken in a way other than the method which would normally be used for that procedure.

Thus, the general order of business is:
 * Submit a motion to the Secretary;
 * Present the motion in next Community Council meeting when it is the next order of business on the agenda;
 * Have the motion seconded
 * Debate the motion
 * Vote on the motion

While some motions must wait for soemthing to happen to go in affect (As it may be a stipulation of said motion) others do not. If there are no symantic details as soon as the motion is passed it goes into effect.

Please not some motions require a majority vote to pass and others require a two-thirds vote. Which is which kind of motion is outlined in the Operating Procedures and or Community Council Bylaws.