[Michlib-l] Board Member voting

[Rebekah Dobski]

Hello LibraryLand :)

I am hoping to get some clarification regarding board member voting rules/best practices. The board members here follow Robert's Rule of Order to a T, but there is not enough information on this specifically within libraries that we can locate. For context, the Hillsdale Community Library has a governing board of five members all appointed by our mayor/city council.

It was addressed at our last board meeting by a member of the public that choosing to abstain from a vote as a board member would make one "guilty of misconduct" (6.7<https://library.municode.com/mi/hillsdale/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PTICH_CH6THCOPRMIPODU_S6.7ORRUCO> in our city charter) and not doing their service to the library. The board and myself are not quite certain how true this is to our establishment, as in, is this something we must follow as well because we are a part of the city? Or are we allowed to create our own "rules"/ norms regarding this? I know there are some sources that mention it is okay to abstain from voting when conflicts of interest arise, but this isn't necessarily the case for why a board member chooses to abstain from a vote here.
Our board would mostly like to know just to make sure that they are following best practices and not doing anything dishonorable to the community/library. The verbiage was brought forth via the city council charter, so it does not directly mention the library and how the members must behave. The library follows city charters and all of that when applicable, so I am not sure where we draw the line with the city charter. It feels wrong to pick and choose what we do and do not follow from the city. Any clarification on this as well as how your board deals with this would be great and useful information to us.

Thanks,

Rebekah Dobski
Library Director
Hillsdale Community Library
11 E. Bacon St
Hillsdale, MI 49242
517-437-6472

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