Guest HereInCT Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:21 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:21 PM This is a follow up to a post I made yesterday. Our youth baseball league president resigned last night and now there is confusion over how to fill the open executive board positions. The new president who has conferred with the current secretary and determined that the vacant VP spot can be appointed by the president. He claims that is his interpretation of Roberts Rules. Conveniently, it is that same secretary that has been appointed to the VP spot. Now, the new president has also appointed someone to fill the secretary position vacated by moving up to VP.The only succession planning in our bylaws is that the VP assumes the role of president in the event that he can no longer perform his duties or resigns. Our bylaws clearly state that anything not specifically covered will be guided by Roberts Rules of Order.Can someone cite for me the passage or rule that can help guide us through this process. There is a pretty deep divide within the organization and they are desperately trying to promote using the "good ole boy" method.Thanks as usual for any guidance you can give. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:31 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:31 PM This is a follow up to a post I made yesterday.Follow-ups are best continued on the same thread.Rest assured that nothing in RONR gives your president the authority to fill vacancies. So there's nothing to cite.So either your bylaws give your president the authority to fill mid-term vacancies on the board or they don't. Are you saying they don't, or are you simply unhappy with his selections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David A Foulkes Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:37 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:37 PM The new president who has conferred with the current secretary and determined that the vacant VP spot can be appointed by the president. He claims that is his interpretation of Roberts Rules......Now, the new president has also appointed someone to fill the secretary position vacated by moving up to VP.Can someone cite for me the passage or rule that can help guide us through this process. Well, you've been hornswoggled. Nothing in RONR says the president can unilaterally appoint anyone to a vacant VP position, nor to the (now vacant) Secretary position. Any such authority would need to be in your bylaws. See page 440 lines 24-25: "the president has such authority only insofar as the bylaws provide it."If the bylaws don't say he can appoint to a vacant VP office, or Secretary, then he can't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HereInCT Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:58 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 09:58 PM I assure you this is not sour grapes. It is a matter of making sure that the composition of the executive board is decided by the voting members of the organization. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted April 20, 2011 at 10:04 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 10:04 PM It is a matter of making sure that the composition of the executive board is decided by the voting members of the organization.Well, they get to decide on Election Day. But, between election days, they may have decided to let the president make those decisions. Did they? In other words, what do your bylaws say about filling mid-term vacancies? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HereInCT Posted April 20, 2011 at 10:15 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 10:15 PM Well, they get to decide on Election Day. But, between election days, they may have decided to let the president make those decisions. Did they? In other words, what do your bylaws say about filling mid-term vacancies?Here are two quotes from our bylaws:President: shall preside at meetings of the association. Shall make appointments as authorized by the Board of Directors. Shall insure the wishes of the Board of Directors are met. Vice-President(s): Shall assume the responsibilities of the President in his absence, incapacity, resignation, or removal. The Board of Directors shall control and manage the affairs, funds, expenditures, and execute the Association By-Laws. Actions of the Board shall be by majority rule and voting must be in person. In case of a resignation of an officer or Board Member, the President must appoint a replacement for that person for the duration of the term. I am confused as the VP position was only vacated so he could assume the president role as well as this being for the case of secretary being vacated as he was appointed VP. So, the secretary did not resign, he accepted another position.HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted April 20, 2011 at 11:53 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 11:53 PM The Board of Directors shall control and manage the affairs, funds, expenditures, and execute the Association By-Laws. Actions of the Board shall be by majority rule and voting must be in person. In case of a resignation of an officer or Board Member, the President must appoint a replacement for that person for the duration of the term. I am confused as the VP position was only vacated so he could assume the president role as well as this being for the case of secretary being vacated as he was appointed VP. So, the secretary did not resign, he accepted another position.HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, we can't interpret your bylaws for you, but that section does at least raise the possibility that president has the authority to appoint vacancies.How do you read that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted April 20, 2011 at 11:56 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2011 at 11:56 PM I am confused as the VP position was only vacated so he could assume the president role as well as this being for the case of secretary being vacated as he was appointed VP. So, the secretary did not resign, he accepted another position.Well, it does appear that your bylaws give your president the authority to fill only those mid-term vacancies that were caused by resignation.So it's up to your members to determine whether the resignation of the president "caused" the vacancy in the office of vice-president (I'd probably say it did) and whether it also "caused" the vacancy in the office of secretary since the secretary was named to fill the office of vice-president (I'd say that's more of a stretch).And I realize that the word "cause" does not appear in your bylaws so I might have to draw a line through much of the above. At least the part about the secretary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Martin Posted April 21, 2011 at 12:05 AM Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 at 12:05 AM The Board of Directors shall control and manage the affairs, funds, expenditures, and execute the Association By-Laws. Actions of the Board shall be by majority rule and voting must be in person. In case of a resignation of an officer or Board Member, the President must appoint a replacement for that person for the duration of the term. I am confused as the VP position was only vacated so he could assume the president role as well as this being for the case of secretary being vacated as he was appointed VP. So, the secretary did not resign, he accepted another position.Well, the Secretary did resign. He didn't just automatically stop being Secretary. If he wanted to take the VP position and leave his position of Secretary, the only way to do that is to resign from Secretary. Whether it was treated as a formal resignation doesn't really matter. In the case of VP, that vacancy was caused by the resignation of the President.In the long run, it would probably be best to amend the Bylaws to just state "In case of a vacancy in an officer or board position," since I can't really see much reason to limit the vacancy-filling procedure to resignations. In the meantime, it's up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws. See RONR, 10th ed., pgs. 570-573 for some Principles of Interpretation. I have to say, though, that I think the President has a pretty good case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted April 21, 2011 at 12:09 AM Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 at 12:09 AM Well, the Secretary did resign. He didn't just automatically stop being Secretary. If he wanted to take the VP position and leave his position of Secretary, the only way to do that is to resign from Secretary.Good point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.