Reporting to Chair of Organization

[Guest Sherry Hux]

At a recent meeting, our board asked for the formation of a nominating committee for upcoming officers positions and also asked the President of the organization to serve on the committee. At the first committee meeting which comprised a total of four members, one of the committee members offered to Chair the committee. During the first meeting, potential candadates were identified and the committee chair agreed to approach the potential candadates to determine their interest in serving in the various positions.

Two (of the four) committee members have taken the initiative to continue their work without the knowledge of the President of the organization and the other remaining board member. When the President repeatedly asked for an update on the progress of the committee, the Chair of the committee refused siting her "respect for the prospect's privacy while considering the position". The President (of the organization and committee member) reminded her that she should discuss the progress and reminded the committee chair that the President was not only a committee member but also the chair of the entire organization, she responded by saying "she thought the President was only asked to start the process". No such discussion has ever occured!

Now there is a blatent refusal to report the progress. The President repeatedly asked "respectively for progress as there was information that may be an influence"; the committee chair said she would check bylaws. I cannot understand the outright refusal of communication and ask for guidance.

The committee chair has caused several unfortunate and frustrating interactions within the board and as you might expect this board has internal issues. Prior to the existing President's term, the organization was unorganized and pretty much acted as it wished. The current President has made "organization, process and procedure" as priority during her term. As you might expect, the organization is more efficient and effective, however some resistance still exists from those who prefer to follow their own rules.

Question: What is the power of the President in this case? Can she remove the committee chair for her refusal to report progress and the contiuation of the committee's work without the knowledge of the entire committee? Should the President take this to the Executive Committee? Please advise.

[Trina]

Problems within a committee should be reported to the parent body (in this case, it sounds as though the board appointed the nominating committee). The parent body can take corrective action if it wishes. I see no reason to think that the President has any unilateral authority in this case.

There is normally no requirement for a nominating committee to make interim reports, neither to its parent body, nor to the president of the organization. Moreover, RONR advises against having the president serve on the nominating committee (this is just advice, not a strict rule).

In most organizations, the nominating committee reports to the general membership (the group that will be doing the voting in the end).

[Rev Ed]

Firstly, RONR recommends that the President be an ex-officio member of all Committees except the Nominating Committee.

Secondly, if the President has been made a member of the Committee, then the President has a right to be informed of all meetings. Failure to notify all members of a Committee of a meeting means that decisions made at those meetings may be null and void.

Thirdly, the Nominating Committee's purpose is to Nominate members to Board positions. Unless the Board appoints itself (i.e. the outgoing Board elects the incoming Board) then the Nominating Committee should be reporting to the general membership at the annual meeting.