Patio Pondering: Who Is Robert and Why Do His Rules Matter?

What a beautiful morning off the patio here in NE Indiana. I wish I could say the same about many public meetings I’ve attended or watched over the past few years. While enjoying my coffee, I listened to the Drainage Board meeting from a neighboring county, and what I heard several times took me back to my childhood.

As a youngster in 4-H, we were taught parliamentary procedure and exposed to Robert’s Rules of Order. One lesson stayed with me: words matter. When offering a motion, the proper phrasing was, “Mr. Chairman, I move…” That small phrase carried weight. It showed respect for the process and the people gathered.

What I heard at the Drainage Board meeting, and in just about every other meeting recently, instead was, “I make a motion…” Casual, common, and technically incorrect. It may sound harmless, but to me it signals how far we’ve drifted from discipline and decorum in public meetings.

The same disregard shows up with time limits. Public comment is often capped at three minutes, yet I’ve watched it stretch to ten. Maybe it’s because officials don’t want to seem rude or risk criticism by cutting someone off. But those limits usually don’t silence anyone. They exist for fairness. For citizens, they encourage getting to the heart of an issue, focusing on what matters most rather than distracting with background or emotional baggage. For officials, they ensure more people can speak and that meetings don’t get bogged down.

I don’t think most elected officials today could tell you much about Robert’s Rules of Order or why they matter. That frustrates me. Those rules aren’t relics; they are what keep meetings civil, efficient, and fair. They keep us from mob rule and majority bullying.

Maybe I’m too much of a rule follower. But when the small rules fall by the wayside, so does trust in the process.