Guest Kenneth Clasen Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:16 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:16 PM If a President appoints a Committee, with no time limit, when does that Committees term expire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:52 PM Report Share Posted October 14, 2011 at 09:52 PM If a President appoints a Committee, with no time limit, when does that Committees term expire?If it is a special committee, the committee ceases to exist when it completes its task. If it is a standing committee, its members generally serve terms coinciding with the terms of officers, unless the bylaws provide otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted October 15, 2011 at 03:27 AM Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 at 03:27 AM If it is a standing committee, its members generally serve terms coinciding with the terms of officers, unless the bylaws provide otherwise.Not quite.A standing committee or a special committee are identical in terms of membership, because there is no automatic termination for committeeships. -- Even if the officers' terms are fixed! No committeeman's term is fixed, if the default rules of Robert's Rules of Order applies.Thus, in theory, a standing committee may continue to meet, even after 100% of the officers have lost their offices due to a fixed date having come and gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted October 15, 2011 at 12:19 PM Report Share Posted October 15, 2011 at 12:19 PM Not quite.A standing committee or a special committee are identical in terms of membership, because there is no automatic termination for committeeships. -- Even if the officers' terms are fixed! No committeeman's term is fixed, if the default rules of Robert's Rules of Order applies.Thus, in theory, a standing committee may continue to meet, even after 100% of the officers have lost their offices due to a fixed date having come and gone.Gander at RONR(11th ed.), p. 490, l. 34 - p. 491, l. 5. Just because there is a provision that they continue to serve until successors are elected doesn't mean there is no term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest hollyrobinson1 Posted October 31, 2012 at 05:09 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 05:09 PM Question: a committee was appointed-the officer who appointed them term is expiring soon. The committee has failed to move forward with appointed task, does that committee then expire or can be replaced by new committee. Does the appointed task need to be removed from the table, then revisited with new appointments at a later date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted October 31, 2012 at 05:21 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 05:21 PM Is this a special or standing committee? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted October 31, 2012 at 06:00 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 06:00 PM Typically, committees are appointed by the entire body, not a single officer. Do your bylaws authorize officers to establish committees on their own?According to RONR, a committee that is appointed to do a specific task (a "special" or "select" committee) continues until its job is done, and it rises and reports to the body that established it. That body can discharge it or revise its instructions before it reports, especially if it misses its scheduled date for reporting.In general, individual powers are granted to an office, not to a specific occupant of that office. If your bylaws actually provide that a single officer can establish a special committee (which I seriously doubt), then I would guess when that officer's term expires, the committee would then report to his successor in that same office.But if they don't, then the committee doesn't actually exist, and is just a bunch of people without authority to do anything.Note well that if your bylaws give the president or other officer the right to appoint committees, that means determining who will be on them and who will chair them. It does not carry with it the power to establish new committees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted October 31, 2012 at 06:45 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 06:45 PM Note well that if your bylaws give the president or other officer the right to appoint committees, that means determining who will be on them and who will chair them. It does not carry with it the power to establish new committees.Keep Gary's distinction -- a good one -- in mind when thinking about your committees.The book isn't always super-clear about this but "establishing" a committee simply means stating, commonly by adopting a motion to commit, that there are to be a group of people (as yet unnamed) given a defined task and related instructions. It may be a one shot task, in which case it is a "Special" (or "ad hoc") committee; it may be a continuing job (like a Finance Committee) that takes on various chores as assigned or initiates proposals, this is a "Standing" committee. Commonly Standing Committee are established in bylaws, or by Standing Rules. "Appointing" a committee means just naming the people who will serve on (or as) the committee. Who or what group does the appointing is commonly included in the motion establishing the committee or in the bylaws. The motion "to commit" (pp. 168, 489) while establishing the committee also often includes the naming of people, the "appointment", to serve on the committee -- thus it becomes a two part motion.Often, just to confuse things, in common usage (including in the book) "appoint" is given the double meaning of both establish and appoint. Things should be more or less clear from the context.See the referenced pages for more details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted October 31, 2012 at 07:11 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 07:11 PM Things should be more or less clear from the context.Hopefully not less clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted October 31, 2012 at 08:09 PM Report Share Posted October 31, 2012 at 08:09 PM And I would not say that the Committee would not exist, it would have new (either all new or some new) members, but it would still be the "____ Committee", not a "new" Committee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyrobinson1 Posted November 1, 2012 at 01:00 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 01:00 PM Okay, here goes, the committe was named it is a special committee No time limit given on report. They have not moved forward or are unable to due to outside influence uncontrolable to them. I have found in old Robert's books a proably not frequently used move on incidential motions that refers to the discharge of a committee which requires a 2/3 vote of those present to affirm the action. can this be used to eliminate the committee and reastablish another smaller more manageable committee at a later date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Edgar Posted November 1, 2012 at 01:45 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 01:45 PM Okay, here goes . . .Now that you're a member (welcome!), and for future reference, this forum works best if you'll start a new topic when you have a question. The thread you've posted on (i.e. this thread) was over a year old. Good for reference, perhaps, but not for resurrection.As for discharging the committee, yes, that's an option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollyrobinson1 Posted November 1, 2012 at 02:16 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 02:16 PM thank you for your incite. New to this, appreciate your assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary c Tesser Posted November 1, 2012 at 02:44 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 02:44 PM Couple thoughts.1. He's very incitable sometimes. But always charming.2. I echo Guest Edgar's welcome, and drop by more often. As the movie title says, Mars Needs Women.3. Please do pick yourself up a copy of RONR's 11th Edition. Old books and knockoffs don't cut it. Case in point: the vote needed to discharge a committee is not 2/3 of those present; it is any of these: ( a ) 2/3 of votes cast, without the need to count heads; ( b ) only a majority vote, if notice has been given previously; ( c ) "a vote of a majority of the entire membership" (p. 312 in your shiny new copy of RONR 11th Ed); and, and, it takes only a majority in two more cases: ( d ) when the committee has missed a deadline for reporting (so you can instruct it to report at a certain time and wait for the time to go by); ( e ) (and this one is especially nice) "while the assembly is considering any partial report of the committee" (so they can deliver a partial report and, bingo, the assembly can discharge them of the motion). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted November 1, 2012 at 03:47 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 03:47 PM I'd give the Committee one more chance - why not pass a motion requiring the Committee to report back to the Board at the January meeting. That might give them a deadline to look forward to. And make every effort to support their work - if they need paperwork, or access to staff for assistance in their work then make that information available to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted November 1, 2012 at 04:35 PM Report Share Posted November 1, 2012 at 04:35 PM I have found in old Robert's books a proably not frequently used move on incidential motions that refers to the discharge of a committee which requires a 2/3 vote of those present to affirm the action. can this be used to eliminate the committee and reastablish another smaller more manageable committee at a later date?Why not just replace all the committee members? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted November 13, 2012 at 09:17 PM Report Share Posted November 13, 2012 at 09:17 PM You can also issue additional instructions to the committee, like giving them a deadline to report by.If they miss the deadline, then the motion to discharge only requires a majority vote. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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