Matlock69

Au contraire mon frère, I'm still looking for a correct one.

@Gary Novosielski my apologies for not addressing your constructive and well reasoned feedback until now. This was the feedback that I sought out when I initially posted here, and I greatly appreciate it. I strongly agree with both of these statements.

This isn’t a standing committee. It’s a special committee. It goes out of existence as soon as they have completed a specified task. (50:3)

Frankly, none of that refuted my previous statement. I welcome any good faith arguments.

Does the word “shall” not mean the same thing in RONR? We’ve got bylaws stating members shall elect a committee by secret ballot. Said committee is responsible for providing essentially a candidate for “CEO” that the members shall vote on. Again by secret ballot. Was this the interpretation Mr. Robert intended for his rules? Frankly I’m the least worried about people acknowledging that he’s no longer our Pastor, and then moving to suspend the pastor search committee bylaw. My concern is that they’re ignoring numerous facts contrary and trying to act like he’s still our Pastor. I can’t imagine an objective party looking at the totality of the circumstances and being able to argue in good faith, that he’s still the Pastor.

I would love to hear a 2nd opinion on this one. In my view this is the furthest thing from a rule of order. It's one of the few things that's meticulously spelled out in our bylaws. Almost all of this committee's business take place outside a business meeting. This provision in the bylaws is not to facilitate the orderly transaction of business. It's to facilitate probably the most important the decision the members ever have to vote on. I would say that 50:8(a) is most applicable in this situation. "by a specific provision of the bylaws." 25:11 appears to be in direct contradiction with your interpretation. Suspending this rule would deny individual members the right to make motions to form this very committee.

I was under the impression that the "in the nature of a rule of order" was an extremely narrow exception having to do with procedural things such as changes to an order of business, or allowing someone other than the president to preside.

I think that’s what I was trying to illustrate. The closest we (the members) came to “accepting,” was approving his severance package. Then proceeded to follow through with time sensitive things such as paying out unused vacation and ending employer matched retirement contributions.

Yes, everything up until the last paragraph I would consider undisputed facts.

My apologies in advance if include any irrelevant information, my intent was to hopefully avoid the need for numerous follow up questions. As you’ll see there’s quite a few moving parts, but the quick summary of the situation is The Pastor submitted his resignation both in writing, as well as verbally to the congregation, roughly a month ago. There was a motion at the most recent, regularly scheduled Church Conference, to reject the resignation and retain him as our pastor. I’m including some excerpts from our by-laws that I feel are pertinent; before I go on to the timeline of events. I’ll finish up with my formal question. Any duplicate “Section” numbers listed are from different “Articles.” Section 1. Pastor The Pastor is the supervisor of the Church staff and responsible for their performance. He is an ex-officio member of all Church Committees and Deacon Committees. The Pastor is responsible to the Church body for the performance of his duties. The Personnel Committee with the Chairman of Deacons will be consulted on all matters that pertain to the pastoral-Church body relationship. The Pastor shall serve at the Church's pleasure until the relationship is terminated at his or the Church's request. Section 2. Calling a Pastor When the pulpit is vacant the Church shall elect a Pastor Search Committee of seven by secret ballot. Election shall be directed by the Deacons. The committee shall continue its search until the Church agrees upon a Pastor or until the Church replaces the committee. The prospect selected by the committee shall be presented to the Church in various ways. Then he shall be voted on by secret ballot during a Sunday evening service, notice having been given to the Church in print and by oral announcements two weeks in advance. Section 5. Officers The officers of the Fellowship of Deacons shall consist of a Chairman, Vice Chairman, Secretary, and Assistant Secretary. These officers shall serve as the Officers of the Fellowship of Deacons, the Church of [City, State], a Religious Corporation, hereinafter referred to as the Corporation. a. Chairman The Chairman of Deacons shall be President of the Corporation. The Chairman shall be moderator of the Deacon Body. In the extended absence of the Pastor, the Chairman of Deacons shall automatically become an ex-officio member of all Church Committees and shall supervise the Church staff and employees. The Chairman of Deacons, with the Secretary, shall sign all legal papers. The Chairman shall have general supervision of the business of the Corporation, and shall see that the orders and resolutions of the Deacons and of the Church membership are executed. Section 1. Moderator The Moderator shall be the Pastor or the Chairman of Deacons at the Pastor's request. In the absence of the Pastor, the Chairman of Deacons may preside; in the absence of both, the ranking Deacon Officer present shall call the Church to order and an Acting Moderator shall be elected. Section 2. Church Clerk The Secretary of Deacons shall also serve as Church Clerk. He shall keep a record of all the actions of the Church. [Other Church Clerk Duties] In the interest of accuracy and completeness, the Church Clerk shall require that all motions be submitted in writing by the mover, and if the motion passes, the Church Clerk shall make certain that the wording of the motion in the minutes is correct. Section 10. Parliamentarian The Parliamentarian and Associate Parliamentarian to serve in his absence shall be appointed by the Chairman of Deacons who serves as the President of the Corporation as prescribed by Robert’s Rules of Order, Revised, and shall be approved by the Church. The duties shall include verification of compliance with the Constitution and By-Laws as resolutions are submitted to the Church Conference for approval. Lack of compliance is to be reported to the Pastor or Chairman of Deacons. He shall guide Church Church Conferences in abiding by Robert's Rules of Order, Revised. (I’ve checked with a few deacons, but am unable to confirm that the Chairman of the Deacons appointed a parliamentarian for the 2023 year.) Section 2. Regular Church Conferences for Routine Items Monthly Church Conferences of the Church shall be regularly scheduled. In case of change, notification of one week shall be given by announcements in all Worship Services. Section 4. Special Church Conferences for Non-Routine Items The Pastor, Chairman of Deacons, or a majority of the Deacons, may call a Church Conference to consider non-routine matters such as those concerning staff, policy, debt, [etc.] Announcement of such meetings shall be given at each regularly scheduled Worship Service for a period of one (1) week prior to the meeting, and written notice in Church publications may also be given. Section 5. Quorum A quorum shall consist of Church Members attending and voting at any properly ordered Church conference. Section 6. Parliamentary Rules Robert's Rules of Order, Revised, shall be the authority for parliamentary rules of procedure for all Church Church Conferences. I’m including a timeline of events (with dates) just because there’s quite a few “events” and there’s one “document” that I’ll refer to that has specific dates in it. - The Pastor’s voluntary resignation was presented to and accepted by the Chairman of Deacons on April 29, 2023. - The Pastor announced his voluntary resignation to the congregation on May 7, 2023. During his verbal resignation to the congregation, The Pastor indicated that his written resignation indicated that he would serve till the end of May 2023, at the pleasure of the deacons. - The Chairman of the Deacons announced to the congregation, on the morning of May 21, 2023, that deacons are putting together a plan to take nominations for a Pastor Search Committee, pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the Church Bylaws. - The regularly scheduled monthly Church Conference took place on May 24, 2023 with the Chairman of the Deacons presiding and the following agenda being provided to the members in attendance. The Pastor was not in attendance. Changes in Church Membership Review and Approve: April Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Report New Business [The Pastor] Severance Agreement recommendation Church Treasurer Nomination - While the agenda lists it as a “Severance Agreement” the document that was included in the meeting packet was titled “Statement of Severance Package.” What I feel are pertinent items from that document are listed below: VOLUNTARY RESIGNATION: Your Voluntary Resignation was presented to and accepted by the Chairman of Deacons on April 29, 2023, and announced to the congregation the morning of May 7, 2023. By signing this document, you acknowledge you resign voluntarily. SEPARATION DATE: Your employment Separation Date will be May 26, 2023. You will receive your regular compensation and benefits through this date. SEVERANCE PAY: By signing this agreement and abiding by its terms, you will receive severance payments less required tax withholdings, to be paid on the regular schedule. The Severance Payment Period will terminate [Date], or with notification to The Church that you have secured full time employment, whichever comes first. VACATION: Further, as part of your severance, you will receive your earned but unused vacation of 10 days, less required tax withholdings, paid to you in full on or before your Separation Date of May 26, 2023. RETIREMENT CONTRIBUTIONS: You will receive employer matching retirement contributions only for the period through your Separation Date. This benefit will end on May 26, 2023. - After the last item on the agenda (Church Treasurer Nomination) was completed, there was a call for any other new business. There was a motion from the floor as follows: “That the church reject The Pastor’s resignation and retain him as The Pastor of our church”. It was rather quickly and correctly pointed out that since this was a regular Church Conference this non-routine item could not be voted on at this meeting. After much discussion/debate, the motion was amended to state “For the deacons to call a special Church Conference to vote on rejecting The Pastor’s resignation and retaining him as The Pastor.” This motion passed by a simple majority. The motion, nor any of the amendments were presented in writing to the Church Secretary/Clerk during the meeting. During the discussion/debate, a Point of Order was raised that the church had just unanimously approved the “Statement of Severance Package.” While this point was well taken at the time it was raised, it ultimately was never addressed before the meeting adjourned. - On May 26, 2023, The Pastor was paid for his unused vacation and his employer matched retirement contributions ceased. - On May 28, 2023, the Chairman of the Deacons announced “On June 11, 2023 a special called church conference will be held to address the motion approved at the May 2023 church conference on whether the church body desires to take steps to retain The Pastor as our Pastor. My stance on the situation is that we currently do not have a Pastor and therefore the only option moving forward is to proceed with electing the Pastor Search Committee, pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the Church Bylaws. If that Pastor Search Committee wants to "present" the Pastor that just resigned as their candidate, that's perfectly fine, but reinstating him any other way would be in direct violation of the Church Bylaws. So the ultimate question is how do I make sure that the processes clearly lined out in the Church Bylaws are adhered to? Or if I'm completely wrong, please advise. Thank you for your time, if you’ve made it this far. I welcome any and all constructive comments, questions and concerns.