Actions of the Chair

The meeting chair has the responsibility to exercise leadership to get the meeting to accomplish its goals. Many actions are explicitly stated in the procedures. Some aren't as easy to describe, like all the actions it may take to keep everyone getting along well enough to discuss matters in a civil manner. Ideally but not always possible, the end result should be a successful meeting where all the attendees are satisfied or at least can accept the result.

Rulings by the Chair

When the meeting is Agenda Discussion procedures, there are some cases where the meeting chair is allowed to make a ruling in response to a member's request.

• Requests to Follow the Rules
• Urgent Requests
• Requests to Follow the Agenda

The ruling is up to the chair's best judgement, and should reflect fairness upon all the members as much as possible.

Voting by the Chair

Both Robert's Rules and Consensus Building say the meeting chair needs to maintain a position of impartiality. This procedure concurs.

When performing a consensus building discussion for an agenda item, the chair has the role of facilitator. As a mediator, the chair cannot afford to be viewed as taking a side.

When there are matters to vote on, a chair who is a voting member of the body is technically allowed to vote. But to preserve the position of impartiality, the chair should generally only exercise that right when it will actually make a difference, which is when the vote is able to break or cause a tie. Since it doesn't change the outcome at any other time, abstention from voting is safe and is not wasteful of the chair's rights.