Who in the world could be against the Golden Rule?
A resolution that established the golden rule among other procedures at Muncie City Council meetings passed Monday by a 5-4 vote.
[. . .]
The resolution covered a variety of topics, ranging from house rules concerning food and drink in the auditorium to ethical guidelines concerning conflicts of interest. The rule also established that everyone at the meeting "treat others as I would wish to be treated."
Actually, one of those four dissenting council members had the right answer: "Marshall said the resolution was redundant given that the meetings already followed Robert's Rules of Order, which he described as the Bible for elected officials. 'To have another set of rules is very uncalled for,' Marshall said. 'But that's my feeling.' "
Anybody who has been on a board should know the value of Robert's Rules. When they are followed, the meeting is fair, people get to have their say and things move along without getting bogged down. And people who stray from Robert's -- which they tend to when passions run high -- will stray from this Golden Rule resolution, too.
Comments
See?
I told you I knew what I was doing when I wrote that.
(It was going to be BOB'S RULES, but Robert sounded more "formal" in the boardroom).
;)
B.G.
Robert's Rules doesn't say anything about ethics. It doesn't say anything about food or drink.
It does, however, prohibit referring to a member by name. He's supposed to be "the chairman" or "the member who spoke before", or some other circumlocution, rather than "Lefty" or "John", or "Mr. Doe", or "The Reverend Doctor Doe".
You can find a free copy for download at http://www.gutenberg.org/files/9097/9097-8.txt
(Incidently, BG, Robert is the surname of the author, rather than the given name. Henry M. Robert. Although I didn't know that until just now, when I searched for a copy online.)
I knew that, but any reference to Robert or Bob (in a positive manner) is something I cannot let slip past...lol!
Still have MY yellow-paged paperback edition frequently used at church board meetings back in philly.
And here I thought a SURNAME was something like GALAHAD....!
;)
B.G.