The Importance of Seconds
From Tampa Bay Times:
Commissioner Kevin Beckner proposed that board members make a symbolic gesture: Pledge to cut their own pay if county employees are ever asked again to take a pay hit. But after making his case several times, he failed to muster a second[...]
Sandra Murman offered a separate proposal to let commissioners cut their salaries if they so choose, which a recent state law and the county's charter already allow. Chairman Ken Hagan seconded that idea.
The acrimony began when Commissioner Al Higginbotham, who had been on a bathroom break, returned to say he would support Beckner's original proposal. But Hagan and Commissioner Les Miller had the board's parliamentarian confirm that, under Robert's Rules of Order, neither Beckner nor Higginbotham could put forward the original motion since it had already died.
"Parliamentary trickery at its finest," Beckner said.
"It's not parliamentary trickery," Miller shot back. "It's following the rules."
FYPP's question: Why would he propose the motion unless he had confirmed a second?That's just poor planning.
Lesson for the day: A motion which cannot attain a second dies and cannot be brought again.
Solution: Amend another motion with a substitute amendment in substantially the same form as the dead motion.