Annual Meeting
The Annual Meeting of The Augustan Society, Inc., is required by the By-Laws, which also require it to be called at 10am on 18 August each year. For practical reasons, it is normally immediately recessed to the following Saturday at the site of the Annual Convention, if any. It is not uncommon for there to be no quorum on the 18th, and if there is also no quorum at the Annual Convention, the meeting is normally concluded without further recess and any actions needed will be disposed of in other ways (often by mail ballot).
The Annual Meeting is open to the public, by law. Roll of members is taken by list to determine if a quorum is present. A quorum is 10% of the membership, and as such it has only rarely been possible to obtain a quorum since the Society moved from Torrance.
Actions that may take place at a meeting without a quorum are few, but they normally include:
- Conduction an Election for vacancies on the Board of Directors, unless such election has already taken place by mail, in which case the results of said election is presented; and
- Hearing presentations from such Committees and Sub-Groups as desire to do so.
Between 2007 and 2016, this was also the time for presentation of the annual State of the Society address. This has sometimes been delayed to the following Board meeting when subject matter was sensitive. Though previously presented by one of the Consuls, it is now the responsibility of the President or Chairman.
Should a quorum be obtained, additional actions possible are limited to:
- Actions referred to the Annual Meeting by the Board;
- Proposing actions for Board consideration;
- Resolutions of thanks or commendation; and
- Resolutions to the Board, imploring their action.
This limited scope is because the Board is generally in charge of the conduct of the Society, with little authority left to the membership at large.
