Chairman authority

[Flguy]

Our board had a motion made, seconded and then approved unanimously by the members present at the board meeting. This motion was to establish a committee . After a few days our Chair sent out an email "dissolving the committee. There is nothing in our constitution granting this right to the Chair.

Question: Does the Chair have the right to dissolve this committee alone?

[SaintCad]

Nope.  The motion is Discharge a Committee.  It is debatable and amendable.  However, since it changes something the assembly has already approved it falls into the 2/3 OR majority with notice OR majority of the membership to carry.  An affirmative vote cannot be reconsidered.

Ref: S 36; p 310-312. 

[Richard Brown]

2 hours ago, Flguy said:

Our board had a motion made, seconded and then approved unanimously by the members present at the board meeting. This motion was to establish a committee . After a few days our Chair sent out an email "dissolving the committee. There is nothing in our constitution granting this right to the Chair.

Question: Does the Chair have the right to dissolve this committee alone?

 

2 hours ago, SaintCad said:

Nope.  The motion is Discharge a Committee.  It is debatable and amendable.  However, since it changes something the assembly has already approved it falls into the 2/3 OR majority with notice OR majority of the membership to carry.  An affirmative vote cannot be reconsidered.

Ref: S 36; p 310-312. 

I agree with SaintCad's statement, but I'm not sure it answers the question.  I interpret new member Figuy's post as meaning the president arbitrarily disbanded the committee, rather than "discharging" the committee by taking the matter the committee was studying away from it.

However, the president, acting alone, does not have the authority to either dissolve (disband) the committee or to take away from it whatever matter was referred to it.  Only the board can do either of those things.

[Josh Martin]

2 hours ago, Richard Brown said:

I agree with SaintCad's statement, but I'm not sure it answers the question.  I interpret new member Figuy's post as meaning the president arbitrarily disbanded the committee, rather than "discharging" the committee by taking the matter the committee was studying away from it.

However, the president, acting alone, does not have the authority to either dissolve (disband) the committee or to take away from it whatever matter was referred to it.  Only the board can do either of those things.

If this is a special committee, disbanding and discharging the committee are synonymous. If it is a standing committee, it is correct to draw a distinction, but then this also raises interesting questions about whether the board had the authority to establish the committee to begin with.

I concur that, in any event, the President does not have the authority to do this on his own.

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

What if the chair is a woman? 

[J. J.]

I would note, in some societies, the chair is granted the power to appoint all committees.  This is one where I would like to see the bylaws. 

[SaintCad]

Even if that is true, that doesn't necessarily mean the Chair can unilaterally discharge or eliminate a committee.  The Chair would need a separate power for that.

[Joshua Katz]

9 minutes ago, SaintCad said:

Even if that is true, that doesn't necessarily mean the Chair can unilaterally discharge or eliminate a committee.  The Chair would need a separate power for that.

Oh, I'm not so sure.  I think it depends how the committee got established.

[SaintCad]

28 minutes ago, Joshua Katz said:

Oh, I'm not so sure.  I think it depends how the committee got established.

I don't see anything on pp 310-314 indicating this.  A special committee exists as long as the motion is committed to it.  I don't see what exactly ends a special committee but I imagine it definitely does not exist after the question referred to it has been disposed of and we know it ceases to exist when the assembly discharges it.  Reading between the lines I feel the committee is like a motion - it doesn't matter how it came into existence but once it exists it belongs to the assembly.

 

As for standing committees, reading p 490 l 32-34 I don't see how RONR allows for a Chair to unilaterally eliminate it.

Of course all of this is with the caveat that the bylaws may be different.

 

[Joshua Katz]

If the President can appoint all committees, two things follow.  First, what if the President creates a special committee and appoints people to it?  Certainly he can then discharge that committee.  Second, suppose he appoints members of a special committee appointed in some other way, and then decides to remove them.  Certainly he can do that, and if there's no other way to populate it, while he can't make it go away, he can certainly keep it from doing anything in particular.

[Josh Martin]

3 hours ago, Joshua Katz said:

If the President can appoint all committees, two things follow.  First, what if the President creates a special committee and appoints people to it?  Certainly he can then discharge that committee.  Second, suppose he appoints members of a special committee appointed in some other way, and then decides to remove them.  Certainly he can do that, and if there's no other way to populate it, while he can't make it go away, he can certainly keep it from doing anything in particular.

The fact that the President has the power to appoint members to committees does not necessarily mean that he has the power to create committees, but assuming that he does, I agree that he could dissolve committees he created.

As for the second case, while the President could technically pull a stunt like that, it doesn't seem like a very good career move for the President. If the President removes all members from a properly established committee and refuses to appoint new members, I would expect disciplinary procedures to be forthcoming.

[SaintCad]

I still think it is a non sequitur.  Look at it this way, Can the maker of a motion unilaterally withdraw it once it is stated by the chair?  What's the difference?  Just because you create something doesn't mean you can dissolve it.  I'd like to see a reference in RONR that says you can.

[Josh Martin]

18 hours ago, SaintCad said:

I still think it is a non sequitur.  Look at it this way, Can the maker of a motion unilaterally withdraw it once it is stated by the chair?  What's the difference?  Just because you create something doesn't mean you can dissolve it.  I'd like to see a reference in RONR that says you can.

I'm not sure that is the right analogy. It is clear that the power to appoint carries with it the power to remove. It would seem to me that the power to create carries with it the power to dissolve, although I acknowledge that there is nothing in RONR which specifically states as much.

[J. J.]

18 hours ago, SaintCad said:

I still think it is a non sequitur.  Look at it this way, Can the maker of a motion unilaterally withdraw it once it is stated by the chair?  What's the difference?  Just because you create something doesn't mean you can dissolve it.  I'd like to see a reference in RONR that says you can.

 

If the chair has this power, a withdrawal of a motion is not the correct analogy.  The correct analogy would be, could all the members of the assembly vote unanimously to rescind a motion.  The answer is usually yes. 

[SaintCad]

Can we agree that since the Chair cannot create a standing committee (p 491) that he cannot dissolve it? 

As for special committees, they exist until they complete the task committed to them (p 490) or the question committed is discharged.  P 310 specifically places the power to Discharge with the assembly and that is further implied on p 313.

Is there any rule or implication that "Whoever created the committee can dissolve it." to cite?

[J. J.]

3 hours ago, SaintCad said:

Can we agree that since the Chair cannot create a standing committee (p 491) that he cannot dissolve it? 

As for special committees, they exist until they complete the task committed to them (p 490) or the question committed is discharged.  P 310 specifically places the power to Discharge with the assembly and that is further implied on p 313.

Is there any rule or implication that "Whoever created the committee can dissolve it." to cite?

Since this committee was established by motion, I think we can assume this is not a standing committee. 

[SaintCad]

I think we all agreed that if the assembly created the committee that the Chair could not dissolve it.  I thought the question now was if the Chair created the committee could he dissolve it.

[J. J.]

4 hours ago, SaintCad said:

I think we all agreed that if the assembly created the committee that the Chair could not dissolve it.  I thought the question now was if the Chair created the committee could he dissolve it.

I think we could possibly agree that, provided the assembly had the authority to create the committee, the chair could not disband it, without that authority being granted to him in the bylaws.