Orange County NC Website
21 23 <br /> the agenda is proposed or the right to insist on following the <br /> agenda is waived for that item. <br /> 5. To Suspend the Rules.The motion requires a vote equal to a quorum. <br /> Comment:This motion differs from Robert's Rules of Order in <br /> that it is debatable and amendable and the number of <br /> necessary votes is a quorum rather than two-thirds. Thus if a <br /> board has seven members, four members (a quorum) must <br /> vote for the motion; if only four members are present at a <br /> particular meeting, all four must vote for the motion in order <br /> to adopt it. This motion is in order when the board wishes to <br /> do some- thing that it may legally do but cannot without <br /> violating its own rules.The procedure will pose some problems <br /> for a three- member board, as it can be used to prevent one <br /> member from participating in the board's deliberations. <br /> Frequent use of the motion to prevent one member from <br /> presenting proposals to the board or from speaking on an issue <br /> before the board is of doubtful legality.A three-member board <br /> may decide to require a unanimous vote to suspend the rules. <br /> 6. To Divide a Complex Motion and Consider it by Paragraph. <br /> This motion is in order whenever a member wishes to <br /> consider and vote on subparts of a complex motion separately. <br /> Comment: This motion is the same as the division of a <br /> question and consideration by paragraph in Robert's Rules of <br /> Order except that it is debatable. <br /> 7. To Defer Consideration. The board may defer a substantive <br /> motion for later consideration at an unspecified time. A <br /> substantive motion that has been deferred expires 100 days <br /> thereafter, unless a motion to revive consideration is adopted. <br /> Comment: This motion, which replaces the motion to lay on <br /> the table in Robert's Rules of Order, was renamed to avoid <br /> confusion. It allows the board temporarily to defer <br /> consideration of a proposal. It differs from Robert's Rules of <br /> Order in that it may be debated and amended, and in that a <br /> motion that has been deferred dies if it is not taken up by the <br /> board (via a motion to revive consideration) within one <br /> hundred days of the vote to defer consideration. (In Robert's <br /> Rules of Order a motion laid on the table dies at the end of <br /> the particular session of the assembly.) One hundred days <br /> is the suggested period of time for deferring consideration <br /> because it is also the time within which a proposed ordinance <br /> must be enacted(see Rule 27). <br />