DCR,
At the last meeting, it was decided to have meeting matters decided at meetings by the persons present. If I understand the reasoning correctly, this is to prevent the possibility of "paper members" who could be even fictitious persons. It may be that we will develop a different way of doing things in the future, but it seems the best we can come up with right now. Others can fill you in on that.
Hope that helps. Also I hope that you can make the meeting.