Guest Cindy L. Mills Posted September 24, 2013 at 12:59 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 12:59 PM The President of our group just resigned. Do we need to accept her resignation officially? Who is expected to do so, and how? The 1st and 2nd VP declined to accept the Presidency - the 3rd VP accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Harrison Posted September 24, 2013 at 01:55 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 01:55 PM The President of our group just resigned. Do we need to accept her resignation officially? Yes. Who is expected to do so, and how?Whichever body that is authorized to fill the vacancy (for VP-see next answer) would vote on whether to accept the resignation. Who do the bylaws say is authorized to fill vacancies and if they are silent do they say that the Board conducts the business of the organization between meetings of the General Membership or similar language? The 1st and 2nd VP declined to accept the Presidency - the 3rd VP accepted.Unless the bylaws say otherwise the 1st VP automatically becomes President upon the vacancy in the office of President being created and there is no option to decline the office (unless the 1st VP wants to resign as well- RONR p. 575 ll. 9-17). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted September 24, 2013 at 01:56 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 01:56 PM The President of our group just resigned. Do we need to accept her resignation officially? Who is expected to do so, and how? The 1st and 2nd VP declined to accept the Presidency - the 3rd VP accepted. Much depends on if your society has an executive board or not. If your society does, the following applies: "In the case of a society whose bylaws confer upon its executive board full power and authority over the society's affairs between meetings of the society's assembly (as in the example on p. 578, ll. 11–15) without reserving to the society itself the exclusive right to fill vacancies, the executive board is empowered to accept resignations and fill vacancies between meetings of the society's assembly." RONR (11th ed.), p. 467 If you board is not granted that full power and authority between meetings, or your society has no board, the membership would have to accept the resignation. Once accepted, your first VP becomes President automatically, like it or not. You can't decline what's automatic, except by resigning as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted September 24, 2013 at 02:32 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 02:32 PM The President of our group just resigned. Do we need to accept her resignation officially? Who is expected to do so, and how? The 1st and 2nd VP declined to accept the Presidency - the 3rd VP accepted. They can't decline. When the president's resignation was accpeted. 1st VP became president, the 2nd VP became 1st VP, and the 3rd VP became second. Unless the new president resigned, that's how things stand now. Before the 3rd VP can become the newest president, you'll have to accept the resignations of the old president, the new president, and the even newer president. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted September 24, 2013 at 03:06 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 03:06 PM And you may want to be more clear in the future with regards to the Vice President positions that the organization explains to candidates the responsibilities (including moving up and possibly becoming President) before the successful candidate accepts election (so the person can choose to refuse election if required.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:09 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:09 PM ...and there is no option to decline the office... Thanks to Mr. Harrison's question on this subject in the Advanced Discussion forum, we've learned that this often repeated line may not be entirely correct. The 1st VP and 2nd VP may request to be excused from the duty of becoming President. If the assembly grants this request, then it would seem the 3rd Vice President would become the President. I would presume this would be done by the same body which accepts the resignation of the President. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:23 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:23 PM The 1st VP and 2nd VP may request to be excused from the duty of becoming President. But their duty is not to "become" the president, their duty is to be the president. And such a request is called "resigning". And what they'd be resigning from is the office of president, to which they automatically succeeded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:27 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:27 PM But their duty is not to "become" the president, their duty is to be the president. And such a request is called "resigning". And what they'd be resigning from is the office of president, to which they automatically succeeded. What if they are excused from the duty before the vacancy occurs? From the facts provided, the resignation of the President has not yet been accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:35 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 09:35 PM What if they are excused from the duty before the vacancy occurs? Then they might as well ask to be excused from the duty as soon as they're elected vice-president since they apparently have no intention of fulfilling the most fundamental function of the office of vice-president (i.e. ensuring that there is never even a momentary vacancy in the essential office of the presidency). I'm not at all comfortable with this playing fast-and-loose with "requesting to be excused from a duty", regardless of its august source. And if a society is faced with a vice-president who refuses to become the president then they should probably reject the president's request to be excused from his duty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted September 24, 2013 at 10:03 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 10:03 PM Then they might as well ask to be excused from the duty as soon as they're elected vice-president since they apparently have no intention of fulfilling the most fundamental function of the office of vice-president (i.e. ensuring that there is never even a momentary vacancy in the essential office of the presidency). I'm not at all comfortable with this playing fast-and-loose with "requesting to be excused from a duty", regardless of its august source. And if a society is faced with a vice-president who refuses to become the president then they should probably reject the president's request to be excused from his duty. It would certainly be in order for the society to accept the resignation of the President, accept the resignation of the new President, and accept the resignation of the even newer President, as Mr. Novosielski noted, at which time the person who had been the 3rd Vice President would be President. The assembly could then proceed to elect their newest past presidents to the offices of 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President. Since the assembly can do this, it seems reasonable that the assembly could also simply permit the 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents to continue serving in their current offices and have the 3rd Vice President become President, thereby accomplishing the same end result with a lot less hassle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted September 24, 2013 at 10:29 PM Report Share Posted September 24, 2013 at 10:29 PM . . . thereby accomplishing the same end result with a lot less hassle. One man's hassle is another man's parliamentary procedure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Mervosh Posted September 25, 2013 at 01:17 PM Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 at 01:17 PM If every VP and potential VP takes post #5 to heart that wouldn't hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted September 25, 2013 at 05:56 PM Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 at 05:56 PM It would certainly be in order for the society to accept the resignation of the President, accept the resignation of the new President, and accept the resignation of the even newer President, as Mr. Novosielski noted, at which time the person who had been the 3rd Vice President would be President. The assembly could then proceed to elect their newest past presidents to the offices of 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President. Since the assembly can do this, it seems reasonable that the assembly could also simply permit the 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents to continue serving in their current offices and have the 3rd Vice President become President, thereby accomplishing the same end result with a lot less hassle. I assume that this could be handled in one long resolution. But it would go counter to the point of having more than one Vice President and what is prescribed in RONR. I guess that the resolution could be as follows: "Resolved, that the organization accepts the Resignation of Joe aaaaa as President. The organization also accepts the resignations of Sally bbbbb and John ccccc. Should this resolution be passed, the following shall be elected as follows Mark ddddd as President, Sally bbbb as 1st Vice President, and John ccccc as 2nd Vice President." Although the Vice Presidents should be reminded of their responsibilities after accepting election in the first place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted September 25, 2013 at 08:01 PM Report Share Posted September 25, 2013 at 08:01 PM . . . Should this resolution be passed, the following shall be elected . . . Doesn't sound like much of an election. Although the Vice Presidents should be reminded of their responsibilities after accepting election in the first place. Even better, before they're elected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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