Page:Felt’s Parliamentary Procedure Upload 2.pdf/27

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
§ 15
Duties of a Presiding Officer.
23

As soon as the permanent officers are elected the temporary officers retire, the permanent officers taking their places and the assembly is fully organized for business.

DUTIES OF A PRESIDING OFFICER.

15. It is the duty of the presiding officer of an assembly to call the meeting to order promptly at the proper time, ascertain if a quorum (45) is present, announce the business in its order before the assembly, receive and submit all motions or business regularly presented by the members, put to vote and announce the result on all questions before the assembly, and conduct the proceedings in accordance with parliamentary procedure and its own rules. While being careful not to be too strict, he should require that the rules of the society be complied with; that all debate be confined to the question before the assembly and he should be ready at all times to interfere for the preservation of order.

16. As the order and decorum of an assembly often depends more upon the con-