There’s been a lot of discussion of late about Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised (RONR) of which our city ordinance says, “Except as otherwise required by state law or ordinance, all proceedings of council shall be governed by the latest edition of “Robert’s Rules of Order, Newly Revised.”

Fun fact: I served as Parliamentarian of the Delta Pi Chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma. That was YEARS ago, though, so I’ve definitely needed a refresher.

I’ve been reading and highlighting and tabbing as fast as I can!  (Remember when I said it’s a 716 page book?)

If you’re not familiar with parliamentary procedure, it can be difficult to participate in (members) or follow along with (non-members) meetings. But RONR is important because it keeps the meeting and its members in order.  While I firmly agree with the Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC) that we need “local rules of procedure [that] address processes distinctive to municipal council meetings,” for the time being, we have our current ordinances and their reference back to RONR for anything not covered by ordinance. (Read more here about my position on Council Rules of Procedure and Decorum and why I think we needs additional supplemental rules to our current ordinances and RONR)

Thus, I’m going to do a series of posts on RONR for informational purposes. I’ll hashtag them #RONR to make them easy to find on social media–for me, for you, for anyone who’s interested. Stay tuned!

Note: after writing this post, it came to my attention that there’s a rumor floating around that I want to abolish RONR in favor of…(I’m not really sure what).  So let me clarify–again: Council Rules of Procedure and Decorum are based on RONR or Mason’s. Want to see an example, check out Greenville County’s here.