Recesses
A short pause inside a meeting, not the end of one.
A recess is a short pause in a board meeting, not its end. Business stops temporarily, for a meal break, a private discussion, or counting ballots, then resumes exactly where it left off when the chair calls the meeting back to order. Unlike adjournment, a recess never closes the meeting or discharges unfinished business.
What a recess actually pauses
A recess is a break inside the same meeting, not a new meeting and not the end of the old one. When the chair calls the room back to order, business picks up exactly where it stopped: no rereading of minutes, no new call to order, no restarting a vote that was already underway.
"A recess is an intermission in the day's proceedings, as for meals or for counting the ballots when much time is required."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Privileged Motions chapter, Henry M. Robert (public domain text)
When the recess period ends, the chair simply calls the assembly to order and the business proceeds the same as if no recess had been taken.
Recess vs. adjournment: they are not interchangeable
Mixing these two up misleads everyone in the room about whether the meeting is still open. A recess pauses; adjournment closes the meeting outright. Under Robert's Rules, the motion to adjourn "takes precedence of all others, except the privileged motion 'to fix the time to which to adjourn,'" and it cannot be debated or amended.
"[The motion to adjourn] takes precedence of all others, except the privileged motion 'to fix the time to which to adjourn,' and yields to no other. It is not debatable, nor can it be amended."
Source: Robert's Rules of Order, Privileged Motions chapter, Henry M. Robert (public domain text)
Once adjournment passes, the meeting is over, and anything unfinished carries to the next meeting instead of continuing five minutes later. If your board means "we're done for tonight," say adjourn, not recess, and vice versa. The word you use changes what members are entitled to expect happens next.
Quorum during and after a recess
A recess does not suspend the quorum requirement. Whatever business happens once the meeting reconvenes still needs quorum to support it. If directors step out during the break and don't come back, the board cannot resume voting until enough of them return, the same logic covered in losing quorum during a meeting: once quorum is established it is presumed to continue only until someone points out it is gone, whether that gap opens mid discussion or during a recess.
This entire discussion assumes your association's bylaws adopt Robert's Rules or another parliamentary authority as the default procedure. If they don't, check your own governing documents for how breaks in a meeting are handled.
Check yourself
Answer before you read the explanation, recalling it is what makes it stick.
The board recesses for coffee mid vote. When they reconvene, what happens to the vote that was already in progress?
During a recess, two directors leave the building and don't return. Can the board resume voting once it calls the meeting back to order?
A chair says "we're recessed for lunch, back at one" and later says "meeting adjourned." What's the real difference between those two actions?
Sources
- Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 12th ed., Frequently Asked Questions, Robert's Rules Association
- Robert's Rules of Order (1915 public domain edition), Privileged Motions chapter, Henry M. Robert
Board Meetings
Next, learn how adjournment formally closes a meeting for good.
This page is educational, not legal advice. Whether a parliamentary authority applies to your board, and the exact rules for pausing a meeting, depends on your state's law and your association's own governing documents. Check both before relying on anything here.