Jump to content
The Official RONR Q & A Forums

Interpreting Bylaws


Guest Dave

Recommended Posts

Our bylaws state, "The officers ... shall include a President and 3 Vice Presidents (numbered 1-3) and, "no officer can serve a 2nd term consecutively within the current officer position"  So ... a couple of years ago, we had much discussion about whether or not 1st VP has any "seniority" over 2nd or 3rd VP and we decided that no - it was "just a number" - none of them has any seniority over either of the others - so we actually stopped referring to the numbers at all.  Now, one of our VP's wants to run for re-election claiming that she is currently 1st VP and therefore can run for 2nd VP without violating the rule against a 2nd consecutive term.  The President agrees with her - others on the Board disagree.  Can the President state that she is eligible to run (according to the way the President interprets the bylaws) and then when someone objects - as I'm sure they will - put the question to the assembly and let them vote on how the bylaws should be interpreted?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes.  Someone should make  a point of order that the member is not eligible to run for the position.  The chair will rule on it.  The ruling  of the chair can then be appealed to the assembly.  It takes a majority vote to overturn the ruling of the chair.  The appeal requires a second and is subject to special rules for debating.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If your bylaws state specifically that the vice presidents shall be designated by numbers 1-3, you can't just decide to stop using the numbering for their positions unless you amend the bylaws to remove the numbering. While the resolution of your issue is clearly a matter of bylaws interpretation for your organization to sort out, my view would be that the inclusion of the numbers for the VP positions is intended to identify them as different offices - I would agree with your president.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...