Your Incredible Neighbors: GV parliamentarian looking for some relief

A good parliamentarian’s job doesn’t start when he walks into a meeting carrying “Robert’s Rules of Order,” according to probably Green Valley’s No. 1 arbiter of procedural questions, 87-year-old Loren Thorson.

Instead, a parliamentarian needs to be acquainted with the meeting’s agenda, and spend some time anticipating what issues might come up.

Thorson, Green Valley Recreation’s parliamentarian for about 12 years, is looking for his replacement there. He said he’ll sit down with the candidates for a little coaching, helping show them the ropes for little noted, but important elements to keep meetings productive. This sometimes can help shut off misunderstandings ahead of time and help avoid rancor and bitterness.

Thorson has also been parliamentarian for the Green Valley Community Coordinating Council for 18 years, a job he’s hanging on to.

At GVR, he spends time with President Lou Lovat before a meeting studying the agenda, looking at things that might be misunderstood. However, not all can be anticipated, he said.

His job is unpaid, but he jokes “I’ve got the best seat in the house,” sitting at front often at the presiding officer’s elbow. He will answer questions, and sometime voices opinions before he’s asked to help meetings go smoothly.

He sometimes meets with committees to answer members’ questions.

And he has been asked to help draft legislation, rules and bylaws.

Some things Green Valley residents might not understand is that some meetings end with a call to the public “for comment, not for questions,” he said.

Occasionally, people do ask questions and board members try to answer, leading to sometimes raucous exchanges and “the first thing you know you’ve got a heated debate.”

Another not properly understood function is that of the GVR presiding officer. Many people think he can vote only to break a tie, but Thorson said, “The president can vote only to affect an outcome.”

He got the GVCCC parliamentarian job kind of by a fortunate misunderstanding.

GVCCC had sent around questionnaires asking for volunteers, and Thorson signed up as a parliamentarian, thinking it was for his homeowners’ association. “I thought I’d work maybe a couple of times a year,” he said.

Too late he discovered the job was much bigger, and he plunged in.

He and his wife came to Green Valley from Madison, Wis., where he was chief of recreation for the Wisconsin State Parks system.

At Madison, he also served on the city council, and in some discussions with more liberal council members he employed his burgeoning parliamentarian skills, he said.

The first edition of “Robert’s Rules of Order” was published in February 1876 by then Army Maj. Henry Martyn Robert.

Robert had been asked to preside over a church meeting, and realized how ill-equipped he was for the job.

He vowed to never attend another meeting until he knew something of parliamentary law.

The original “Robert’s Rules of Law” borrowed from the U.S. Congress’ procedural rules, but today the two are quite different.

“Robert’s Rules” are designed today for today’s societies and organizations, not Congress.

jlamb@gvnews.com | 547-9749