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Standing members running for new office


Guest Erika MIlligan

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This is a two-part question for a PTO since our bylaws are very vague:

1. We currently have a vacant president position.  If our VP of fundraising wants to run for the vacant president position in our standard election, does the VP of fundraising need to vacate their role before going on the ballot for the election or can they finish out their term and then resign from their position (if elected)?  The thinking is since the election and role of president would be for positions starting in August, the VP of fundraising would finish out their term and then move into the role of president when the new term commences.

2. If VP of fundraising moves into the role of president (effective for the new term) we then end up with a vacant seat for VP of fundraising.  It appears from the vague bylaws that the (new) president can then appoint somebody to move into that now vacant role of VP of fundraising.  The bylaws do not state whether or not this person who is appointed needs to already be on the board. Any feedback on whether or not this person needs to be on the board at the time of being appointed? We have a current board member who wants to take over this role, but she's trying to determine if she needs to rerun for her current position, member at large, in this upcoming election. The reason for the concern is if positions shift around as suspected then we end up with one empty member at large position that technically doesn't need to be filled/appointed if vacated.

I hope this makes sense even though I'm sure it sounds pretty confusing.

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In the order you asked...

1.  There is no RONR requirement to resign one office when running for another. 

2.  If the bylaws are really clear that a president has the authority to appoint someone to fill an office vacancy, then that settles it.  But if the bylaws don't say, quite exactly, how to fill vacancies, then the default rule is that you hold a special election for the vacant position.  There are no other constraints, such as past service on the board or the like, in RONR.  But check your bylaws  --  sometimes they put some constraints on the process.

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The bylaws state "A person elected by a majority of the Executive Board members shall fill a vacancy in an elected position for the duration of the term. In the case of a vacancy in the position of President, the former President shall/can serve the unexpired term".  The reason our president role is vacant is because the president was voted off when she refused to resign due to some issues. :)  We evaluated appointing a new president but decided to wait until the upcoming election only to appear transparent...especially since removing the president in the first place created a little bit of a distrust with a few people.

 

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Except for the very curious "can" in "shall/can", it looks to me that when you removed the president, the former president automatically went into the office, so you had no vacancy to fill. 

It is the "former", now "should be sitting", president's office to claim.

I suppose the "can" gives the former president the option to refuse to (re)take the office.  Did he?  If so then the Pres office is indeed vacant.

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