Not Following A Motion

[Guest baptistchurch]

Our church recently meet to hire a pianist staff member. We had a person playing the piano at one service and were not paying her. She volunteered. Since we were hiring someone the volunteer wanted to be paid. We voted not to pay her and thank her for her service and have the staff member play for that service as well. After the meeting the pastor went to her and asked her to contune without pay when she accepted he sent an email to all members of the personal team that he was asking her to stay and realized this was a confilct from what the team voted but that was what he wanted. He was in the meeting and was aware of the vote. Does he have the right to override a team vote and decision? What options do we have?

[Chris Harrison]

Does he have the right to override a team vote and decision?

RONR doesn't grant him that right. Your rules may say otherwise.

What options do we have?

That depends on what you want to do. If you want to go back to having the volunteer play without pay then you all could Rescind (RONR pp. 305-310) the motion to hire the staff member (though there could be issues with that if the staff member has already been hired). If you all want to keep the staff member then it would be up to you all to decide how to proceed (you could tell the volunteer thanks for her service, you could pay the staff member for some performances and use the volunteer for others-in which case the motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted might be needed, etc). In either case you could look to your bylaws and/or other applicable governing documents for procedures in disciplining the pastor for exceeding his authority (assuming he actually did).

[Guest Guest]

The team was given the responbility of hiring a replacement when our former staff retired. We met and a motion was made to hire person A. Also that she would play for all services as the job description stated. Today he send an email stating:

This email is to notify the Personnel Team of my decision about Music for the Wednesday night Prayer Meeting/Bible Study. In last Sunday’s meeting, it was decided that _____ would be offered the position of pianist for the church and she would be, according to the job description, available to play for the Wednesday night Prayer Meeting/Bible Study, and ____ would lead the singing. We discussed "the volunteer's" role on Wednesday nights and decided not to compensate her for playing the piano for that service. I had a conversation with the volunteer on Tuesday and compensation is NOT an issue. She plays for me (at my request) because she is gifted to do so and playing the piano is part of her ministry for the Church . As you know, she has been, and will continue to be available to fill in on Sundays when the need arises. Since compensation is not an issue, "the volunteer" will continue to play the piano on Wednesday nights and I will continue to lead the singing. If the Personnel Team feels "the Person being hried" needs to play on Wednesday nights to justify her compensation, then she can play for ____ as he leads the children’s music time between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. Rebecca will then be available for Adult Choir rehearsal.

The above information is contrary to what the Personnel Team decided at the meeting, but in the best interest of all concerned, I do not want to change a thing about the way Wednesday Prayer Meeting/Bible Study has been done for the past 4+ years.