Deb Parm

I have had someone question whether a chair is required for all committees. I would say yes, but I can't find anything that backs that up. Thoughts?

Our Board of Directors has approved the creation of a Recording Secretary position. The position will be appointed by the President, and ratified by the Board of Directors. Our bylaws state the the Board of Directors can create any position deemed necessary. In our policy manual, vacancies in the Executive Secretary and Treasure positions must be 'advertised', appointed by the President and ratified by the board. The question is whether the new position must be 'advertised' to the membership or if the president can pick someone. Is a newly created position 'vacant'?

The board of directors recently voted to change the title of the Executive Secretary to Administrative Assistant. According to our bylaws, the board can make changes to our corporate manual. The corporate manual has been updated. However, the title of Executive Secretary still appears in our Bylaws. Does this title change require a membership vote to amend the bylaws?

A lawyer on the board wanted to research a document pertaining to a motion made. We moved to Postpone until after lunch when she had time to review the document. After lunch, what is the correct way to bring the original motion back to the table? We moved to consider the previous question. Is that correct?

Our bylaws state the election of new board officers takes place at the conclusion of the annual meeting. This means the board members elect don't know what their position will be until after the board meeting is over. A better way would be to have the election during the meeting so they can sit with the current position to learn it. Is there anyway to suspend that portion of the bylaw for this year?

We allow voting by email. An email was sent with a motion to change the wording of in one small section of our Corporate Manual. Discussions were held and voting has started. The problem is the motion references the wrong section and page number we are trying to change. The wording is correct otherwise. The motion says Section 4, page 4.9 which was fine when the discussion started. Unknown to us, the manual was updated in between and the change we need is now in Section 5, page 5.9. Does this nullify the vote and we have to start over? Can I just inform the members of the correct section/page?

Our bylaws state "the International President shall automatically become an Ex-Officio to the International Board of Directors for not ore than two years immediately following the expiration of her term as International President". The bylaws do not state whether or not she has a vote on the Board of Directors. Our Corporate Manual states "The Immediate Past President acts as an Ex-Officio member to the International Board of Directors during the term of the International President who follows immediately after her term as International President." It also states "She is a non-voting member of the Executive Committee and the Finance Committee." The Corporate Manual classifies the Immediate Past President as an Advisor to the Board. I have two questions on this subject: 1) Can the Immediate Past President vote on issues to come before the board. I understand she has no vote on the Executive or Finance Committees. 2) Can she also be elected to an open position on the board? She would be a regular Board Member and the Immediate Past President.

Our Board of Directors have voted to change the bylaws as follows: The International President shall automatically become transitions to the role of Immediate Past President, an Ex-Officio to the International Board of Directors, for not more than two (2) years immediately following the expiration of her term her role as International President. (Mid-Year 2016).(DATE). Does a wording clean-up need to go to the membership for a vote?

The bylaws state: Vacancies on the executive committee shall be filled by election by the Board from the remaining board members. All other vacancies shall be filled by appointment made by the president, and ratified by the Board of Directors. To me, that means the vacancy must be filled to bring the total to 8 board members. We have a person on the board that doesn't see it that way and insists the position can remain open until elections.

Our bylaws call for 8 board members. The President is resigning and that position will be filled by the Vice President. A current member of the board will be elected by the board to fill the VP position. Must the open position (member at large) be filled? Or can it remain open until the next election?

Can a Friendly Amendment be considered after voting has been started on the original motion?

One of our board members has taken an intense dislike to our president. Any emails from the president are responded to in a negative fashion and she makes false accusations. These are getting more negative and argumentative. The president is handling the emails with appropriate responses and does not enter into arguments with the member. We will be having an in-person meeting in the near future and I anticipate issues. We do not have a Sergeant-at-Arms. Other than the president, who can step in if the comments get too negative or turn into a personal attack?

We are anticipating a conflict at an upcoming meeting. This is what we think will happen. There will be a motion (and second) for a change to job duties to go into effect on 4/1/2018. During the discussion, we think another member will make a motion (and get a second) for the date to be 4/1/2019. I am pretty sure the maker of the original motion will not agree to modify her motion. This is been an ongoing dispute. So, I want to make sure we handle it correctly. How do we handle this situation?

We have a similar situation. The vote has already begun (electronically) but two members feel the wording of the motion is not clear. I feel the wording is very clear, but their questions have basically halted this vote. I can let them know that the voting can not be stopped. However, then what? If this vote passes, I can see that we would use "Amend Something Previously Adopted" to clarify the motion. What would be used if the vote is lost? As I understand it, a motion is improper if it is practically the same as one previously decided.

"Election of Area Directors for odd-numbered Areas takes place March 5 through April 10 of even-numbered years. Election of Area Directors for even-numbered Areas takes place March 5 through April 10 of odd-numbered years." "Should there be no nominees for Area Director in a particular Area, the Nominating Committee Chairman will notify the International Parliamentarian, who will then request the IBOD to make a ruling for further procedure." "When a vacancy occurs during the term of an Area Director, she will seek input from IBOD members in the Area concerned prior to making the appointment. When submitting to the IBOD for approval, a resume of the appointee's qualifications and experience within Harmony, Inc. should be included." This is taken from the Duties of the President section of our manual. This is all I can find in our bylaws and manual on the subject. Our Area Directors have no limits on the number of terms they can serve.

Our organization is comprised of 14 Board Members, eight elected from the general membership. The remaining six are Area Directors and are elected by the members in their respective area only. The Area Directors act as, for lack of a better term, Presidents of their respective area as well as voting members of the Board. The issue is one of the Area Directors has decided not to run again and there are no nominations being submitted from that Area. Our bylaws only say to go to the Board for guidance if there is no one to run. Has anyone had this happen before? How was it handled? This is a position that must be filled.