Interim Treasurer

[Guest NGO Exec Director]

Treasurer was in a serious accident and is currently unable to fulfill duties.  Have not been able to directly communicate with Treasurer and Treasurer has not resigned from the Board.    Board members agreed that they do not want to remove Treasurer from the Board but they want to appoint an interim Treasurer. By-laws are silent on appointing an interim treasurer.  By-laws state that Treasurer shall be elected from the membership of the board of directors.  Does this mean that the interim Treasurer shall be elected from the membership of the board of directors?

Thanks!

[Chris Harrison]

Unless your bylaws specify a mechanism for appointing/electing an "interim Treasurer" (do they allow the Treasurer to delegate his authority to another?) you will unfortunately have to either remove the Treasurer and elect someone to fill the remainder of the term or hope that he or she will be able to fulfill his or her duties soon.  In other words, if the bylaws don't provide for an "interim Treasurer" then no such creature exists.

[jstackpo]

If the bylaws don't define an "Interim Treasurer"  (sort of like an "Assistant Treasurer", I suppose) then such a critter doesn't exist in your organization.  Can some other member write checks?  Just seek out someone who can do the treasurer's job while the elected one recovers.  Your substitute need not be formally elected, and he/she will NOT have any rights of membership on the Board, such as voting.

[Guest NGO Exec Director]

Thank you for clarify that if the By-laws are silent then "Interim Treasurer" doesn't exist.  Another Board member has stepped forward to do the job while the elected one recovers.  Fellow Board members seem fine with this but just wanted to make sure this is ok.

[Chris Harrison]

29 minutes ago, Guest NGO Exec Director said:

Another Board member has stepped forward to do the job while the elected one recovers.  Fellow Board members seem fine with this but just wanted to make sure this is ok.

No.  The current Treasurer needs to either resign or be removed from office then the Board member can be elected Treasurer.  What you can do is after the current Treasurer recovers the newly elected one can resign and the current one can be elected back in office.

[Kim Goldsworthy]

3 hours ago, Guest NGO Exec Director said:

Board members agreed that they do not want to remove Treasurer from the Board ...

... But they want to appoint an interim Treasurer.

... By-laws state that Treasurer shall be elected from the membership of the board of directors. 

Q. Does this mean that the interim Treasurer shall be elected from the membership of the board of directors?

A. No.

Do not confuse the two things:

(a.) an officer position, which is elected.

(b.) a volunteer, pinch-hitter, who is not an officer.

***

If an organization were to lose their treasurer due to sudden death, the organization does not lose the ability to pay its vendors.

The organization would authorize a non-officer (or a sitting officer) to pay the bills of the organization, while the organization begins the by-election process of filling a vacancy in an officer position, here, the treasurer.

So, while the notices are being mailed, and while everybody waits for next month's meeting, that does not necessarily imply that the checkbook is frozen, and the organization is without access to its checking account.

Be aware:

The party who holds the checkbook is not an officer. He is just a Good Samaritan, filling in during a crisis. He carries no perqs of office, and does not vote where the normal treasurer would have voted.

(If you have chosen a sitting officer, like your president or vice-president, to be your temporary treasurer, then the P or VP does not lose the rank and privilege of his office, of course, just because he wears a second "hat".)