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Guest Chang

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Hello, I am a member of a committee of a non-profit organization.  Our bylaw stated that when committee have meeting, the ex-officio/chairman of the executive board or the pastor have to be present.  Our pastor is the chairman of the executive board and also the ex-officio.  Our problem is this, when our committee wanted to have a meeting (special meeting and schedule meeting); we asked the chairman/pastor/ex-officio to be with us, but too many time he said he is busy.  We ended up holding important information and unfinished business day after day.  Does Robert's Rules have anything on this matter?  How should we handle this matter?

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Yes.  It looks like a rule "in the nature of a rule of order"* -- but whose nature implies that it cannot be suspended.  I am not happy:  when the pastor absents himself, you are stuck...

... (Maybe:  ... because this would maybe devolve to a question of interpreting your bylaws.  )

But nevertheless, I'll aver (since I got away with it yesterday, but maybe I'd be better off "asserting," since I'm pretty sure I do remember what it means) that, first, we, here on The World's Premiere Internet Parliamentary Forum, cannot interpret bylaws without reading them in their entirety (which I do not encourage Guest Chang to post for us. because ...); and we cannot reasonably attempt to interpret every existing set of bylaws  (even only those few dozen every couple of decades that we're specifically asked about) because it's tough and confusing enough for us to try to figure out what Robert's Rules means, when for the most part we pretty much regular responders all have a copy each and have more or less read it at least once, for sufficiently vague definitions of "once", [oh yeah, I'm getting ready to "aver"] but second, maybe your committee could, under these exigent (o, my favourite word of teh month, thank hevvins the month is almost over) circumstances, do whatever it needs to do, and when, subsequently, your pastor finds one of the 168 hours of his week that he can spare for you on his committee, your committee can ratify whatever you all have meagrely accomplished in his regrettable absence.

O, and to maybe supplement HHH's suggestion, change the bylaws so that this committee is not hobbled in the absence of the pastor.

_________

*I don't really understand the distinction, but I'll follow it.  For reasons.  Most of which I'll agree with.  Or truckle to (or "with," or "on."  -- or whatever.  Who knows?  These are jumbleable prepositions.). Or look up "truckle" again.

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