February 2013 Florida Parliamentarian

The Florida Theme: Volume 33, Number 1

February 2013

Parliamentary Procedure Joins the Electronic Age

Presidents Message FSAP The Florida Parliamentarian February 2013

Motto

Happy New Year to all members of the Florida State Association of Parliamentarians. I hear great stories that FSAP members from several FSAP Units who are teaching parliamentary topics both in the community and their own organizations. Often these instructors have their students take the National Association of Parliamentarians membership exam. This is one of the best ways you can help NAP and FSAP grow our membership.

“Let all things be done decently and in order.�

I Corinthians 14:40

Presidents Message Alpha Unit Brunch

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FURP Call to Meeting

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Questions and Answers

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Education Committee

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Citrus Co Workshop

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FSAP Call to Meeting

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Yearbook Correction

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Members and Happenings

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Almost everyone receiving this newsletter is a member of NAP. We are members of the National Association of Parliamentarians first. NAP has members all over the world and has grouped the areas into eight Districts. Florida is a member of District Three, and is the largest membership group in the district. All together we have seven states and other territories: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Africa and the Caribbean.

In August at the NAP Training Conference in Scottsdale Arizona, all the districts had meetings. It was voted by the members of District Three at the meeting to have Florida host the next District Meeting in the spring of 2013. Emma Faulk is our District Three Director and will work with us with details for our meeting in Bradenton on May 17 - 19, 2013. Look for the more information in this newsletter.

Florida has hosted several District meetings while I have been a member and it is a wonderful event. People share information on how to recruit new members. How are the other states growing or hosting workshops or attracting new members to their units? Folks from other states who attend may be a new instructor and teach a class. We have wonderful teachers at our meetings but it always important to have new classes with different topics taught by our neighbors.

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We are the largest state in District 3 and it has been either 6 or 7 years since we were last hosts. Over the years our District Directors have frequently attended our meetings. When I joined NAP/FSAP/ Charlotte County Parliamentary Unit, Martha Hughes, PRP from Alabama, was District Director. Other Directors have been our own Dorothy Demarest, PRP, from Florida, Gladys Reid, PRP from Georgia and now Emma Faulk, PRP from Alabama.

Next was our FSAP meeting in October. I had suggested at least a year and a half ago that we have the FSAP spring 2013, meeting in Bradenton because Shirley Brodbeck, RP who lives there in would most likely become the FSAP President. Some members of the unit investigated hotels and came up with a site long before we knew we would be hosting the District Three meeting as well. Fortunately the hotel is large enough to accommodate extra guests from out of state. In the past we have not had a large group of guests join us perhaps 10 - 12. The members from Bradenton who volunteered to host the meeting at the Holiday Inn Lakewood Ranch, Sarasota, FL picked a lovely hotel. More information about the hotel is also in this newsletter.

The Florida Parliamentarian is the official publication of the Florida State Association of Parliamentarians, published four times a year; February, April, September, December. Subscription rate: $20 per year. Š 2005 Florida State Association of Parliamentarians

Nancy Dauster,PRP, Editor-in Chief 941-505-2122 E-mail: jndauster@aol.com

DEADLINES FOR COPY February issue > > > > Dec 31st April issue > > > > > Mar. 1st September issue > > > > July 31st December issue > > > > Oct 31st

Karen Price, Editor 941-697-8000 E-mail: craftyksp@ewol.com

SEND ADDRESS CORRECTIONS TO: Nancy Watkins 1903 Bayshore Blvd Tampa, Florida 33606-3107

Dorothy Demarest, PRP, Associate Editor 239-417-5269 Email: ParliDDR@aol.com

FSAP WEBSITE http://www.flparliamentarian.com

Nancy H. Watkins Circulation Manager 813-254-3369 nwatkins@robertwatkins.com

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Parliamentarians Ring Out at Christmas Brunch.

The Alpha Florida Unit of Parliamentarians in Tampa paused in December to have a Christmas Brunch followed by some reindeer games. A parliamentary version of “Twas the Night Before Christmas”, written by Kim Goldstein, PRP of California was read, pasta alphabet letters spelled out Christmas themed words, balloons were blown up and stuffed into panty hose to make antlers and worn by the winning team as they sang the first verse of Jingle Bells. Parliamentarians became bell ringers and played Jingle Bells on a collection of brass, silver and wood (the “dead ringer” had no clapper) bells .

Helen Papovich, Ken Tinkler, Mary Lou Harden, Ann Guiberson, William Dennis, Sandy Whidden, Carol Austin ring bells at Florida Alpha Unit brunch.

FURP CALL TO MEETING ANNUAL MEETING MAY 17-19, 2013 The Annual Meeting of the Florida Unit of Registered Parliamentarians will be held May 17-19, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Lakewood Ranch, 6321 Lake Osprey Drive, Sarasota FL. as stated in the FSAP Call to Meeting notice. More information will be provided in the April issue of the FL Parliamentarian.

Eugene Coy PRP FURP President

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Questions and Answers Associate Editor

Q&A

All page numbers are references to Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th edition unless otherwise noted. Send your questions to the Associate Editor: Dorothy Demarest, PRP , 3634 Zion Park Ct. Naples, Fl or at ParliDDR@aol.com

Disclaimer: The questions answered in this column are answers to questions on parliamentary procedure. If you are a member of a Florida condominium association, homeowner’s association, etc. the answers might not be applicable because of the Florida Statutes, or the bylaws of the home owners association. Florida statutes, bylaws of the association and in the case of governmental bodies have rules which have precedence over Robert’s Rules of Order

FSAP PARLIAMENTARY OPINIONS Dorothy Demarest, PRP

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Introduction: These opinions are gleaned from an out of print book published by the American Institute of Parliamentarians in 1982.

The book Parliamentary Opinions was written by Virginia Schlotzhauer, William J. Evans, and John R. Stipp, all of whom are deceased. Most of the opinions in the book were taken from the Parliamentary Opinions column found in the Parliamentary Journal from 1962 to 1974.

Any references are taken from Robert’s Rules of Order Newly Revised 11th edition unless otherwise stated.

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Question: What should the president do when meetings are often too long? Does the chairman nave the right to adjourn a meeting when the hour is very late?

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• Opinion: Only in an emergency or under exceptional circumstances, may the chair adjourn a meeting without consent of the body, although he may declare the meeting adjourned by general consent (Note: RONR now uses the term “unanimous consent”) without waiting for a motion to adjourn.

To shorten meetings the president might find one or more of the following procedures helpful: • Provide by rule a regular hour of adjournment • Adopt an agenda • Suggest to the program committee the need for a definite time schedule and careful observance of that schedule • If the meeting place must be vacated by a specific hour, announce the fact early in the

meeting so that the body can plan its business accordingly Learn to expedite business in a democratic manner: for example not permit waste of time by irrelevant conversation, put motions promptly when no one indicates the desire to continue discussion (Note: RONR uses the term “debate), make rulings promptly and decisively when possible If suitable in the group, encourage channeling most business through committees, encourage the committees to hold open committee hearings, then present to the assembly carefully drafted recommendations Encourage, by private consultations, the wise use of motions to refer and postpone in cases where a consensus has not been developed Use general consent rather than wait for motions such as to close nominations or the polls and to adjourn.

2. Question: Is it the duty of members to abide by decisions of the organization and to avoid voicing criticism outside of meetings?

Opinion: Members have an obligation to abide by decisions of the organization until such time as decisions are reversed, or to resign.

However, voicing criticism is not a violation of a decision or a breach of duty. Whether or not a particular criticism is proper is a matter of judgment.

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FSAP Education Committee Those attending the October 2012 FSAP meeting in Orlando completed a survey and rated parliamentary topics of interest. The purpose of the survey is to guide future education workshop topics at FSAP meetings. The survey results are published here with the hope that the information will be helpful in your local units. It is not too early to be planning for our annual FSAP meeting next May 2013. If you are interested in being on the faculty and leading a workshop at the May meeting, please contact me.

Mary Giddens, Education Committee Chairman diamondg@gate.net

Dr. Silas W. Longan was a teacher and author of parliamentary rules, who helped effect the founding of NAP and upon whom was conferred the title of honorary president. In the early days of NAP, Longan’s Parliamentary Rules was the most frequent used reference. —A History of the National Association of Parliamentarians

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Did You Get The Invite?

Over Christmas vacation I was pleased to use my new iPhone to check my email and discovered an invitation from PUP. PUP? Oh, that’s right, that’s short for Plantation Unit of Parliamentarians. What were they inviting me to? One of their action packed meetings to learn and practice parliamentary procedure, of course.

Does your unit do that? Do you advertise in the newspaper, in flyers posted everywhere, in personal invitations? Just how do you get the word out about your unit and parliamentary knowledge you have to share?

Our FSAP theme this term is “Parliamentary Procedure Joins the Electronic Age” and it’s made me more aware of the resources out there from NAP and now other units. Some NAP units, state associations and units are sending their newsletters by email. Will FSAP be next?

We’ve had workshops on FaceBook, Power Point, Conference Calls, Webinars, Web Pages, Electronic Meetings and even approved setting up our membership list to receive email blasts.

Email blasts will be short notes to keep us in touch with state, unit or national news of interest.

You can’t beat good old word of mouth or pen and pencil but in this day and age we have many more resources to contact just one or multitudes. How are you or your unit using electronics in your parliamentary procedure dealings?

Shirley J. Brodbeck, RP Bradenton Unit of Parliamentarians

Citrus County Unit of Parliamentarians co-sponsored by the Department of Parks and Recreation

Presents A One Day Workshop Saturday February 2, 2013 TOPICS: Presiding With Confidence & Bylaws Just how important are they?

Presenter : First Vice President Florida State Association of Parliamentarians Shirley Brodbeck For more information call Bob Hagaman 352-382-2631 rhagaman@tampabay.rr.com or Patricia Cowen 352- 746-9003

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FSAP CALL TO MEETING ANNUAL MEETING MAY 17-19, 2013 The Annual Meeting of the Florida State Association of Parliamentarians will be held May 17-19, 2013 at the Holiday Inn Lakewood Ranch, 6321 Lake Osprey Drive, Sarasota FL. This will be a combined meeting of the FSAP and District Three of the National Association of Parliamentarians. Members of District Three include: North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Africa and the Caribbean. More information will be provided in the April issue of the FL Parliamentarian.

Nancy S. Dauster, PRP FSAP President

YEARBOOK CORRECTIONS E Mail Address change– Connie Taylor –ctaylor185@hotmail.com Correction: Patti Schwindt, RP 1625 S. Delaney Ave , Orlando, Fl 32806-3054 schwindtp@bellsouth.net

407-423-4750

Tax time for FSAP and our Units

By Nancy Dauster The National Association of Parliamentarians, our parent organization often reminds us that like NAP, the Florida Association of Parliamentarians and our units are tax-exempt organizations but we must file forms with the IRS and Florida yearly.

If your unit has had gross receipts of less than $25,000 you may file an epostcard (form 990-N) and you may do it on the Internet. If you are new to the process you can call NAP headquarters and Stefanie can send you the Quick Reference Guide to fill out your units 990-N Electronic Notice (e-postcard).

To file with the State of Florida go to www.sunbiz.org and follow the directions.

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MEMBERS AND HAPPENINGS Change of Address : – Congratulations to our newest Professional Registered Parliamentarian : Benjamin Best, PRP , Coconut Creek, FL Congratulations to our newest Registered Parliamentarian: Welcome to our newest Provisional Members: Welcome to our newest NAP Members : Theodora Hulse from Sebastian, FL a member of the Apollo Unit Xl

Welcome to Student Members: Welcome MAL Members: Katherine Malyszek of Tampa, James Stewart, of Tampa, Carey Goodman, Esq. Cudjoe Key, and Phillip Goodman, Cudjoe Key

Florida State Association of the National Association of Parliamentarians Nancy H. Watkins 1903 Bayshore Blvd.

Tampa, FL 33606-3107

NON-PROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 1924 TAMPA, FL

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