Adding motions to special meetings

[Guest Jennifer Holloway]

Good evening,

First I'd like to say thank you for all the help this site has given me. I've posted a number of times and gotten responses very quickly.

Now, on to my next quandry:

At church we have a special meeting set up for a week from Sunday. It was posted and read from the pulpit this past Sunday, as our bylaws state that special meetings must be announced two weeks prior to a vote. The special meeting is for the purpose of voting someone into an elected position. The notice is specific to the purpose of the vote.

There is a movement afoot to vote out the entire Leadership Team of the church. I am the Church Clerk. My concern is that the group that is looking to de-throne the Leadership Team will attempt, at this meeting, to force a vote to remove the Leadership Team. Can they do this at this meeting or does there need to be another meeting called two weeks hence?

Our by laws state that special meetings may be called by the Moderator and other Leadership Team members at any time, provided it is announced from the pulpit two Sundays prior and is posted. The Clerk may also call special meetings upon written request of not less than ten (10) members who are at least eighteen (18) years of age. Such request and notice must state the purpose for which the meeting is to be held.

The only exception is a special meeting for the consideration of routine membership matters. Those special meetings can be called and acted upon the same day.

I guess my question is whether or not they can force a vote against the Leadership Team at the time that we have the special meeting to vote in a member to an elected position (which, ironically, is a position on the Leadership Team!).

Thank you in advance for your responses, I truly appreciate your time and consideration.

Jennifer

[Chris Harrison]

Our by laws state that special meetings may be called by the Moderator and other Leadership Team members at any time, provided it is announced from the pulpit two Sundays prior and is posted. The Clerk may also call special meetings upon written request of not less than ten (10) members who are at least eighteen (18) years of age. Such request and notice must state the purpose for which the meeting is to be held.

That would seem to answer your question quite clearly.

[Gary Novosielski]

It all depends what the purpose of the meeting was, exactly as stated in the call for the meeting, and exactly what the term of office is for these members.

If the meeting was to fill a vacancy on the Leadership Team, then you can't use it as a general election. And depending on how the term of office is defined, even if the stated purpose was to hold a new election, it would very probably be against the bylaws to do so, depending how they are phrased,

[Guest Guest]

They aren't looking to fill the positions with new people. They simply want to vote the current Leadership Team out of office, without replacing anyone.

The special meeting we are having is to fill one vacant position on the Slate of Officers, the posiiton which is part of the Leadership Team.

My concern is that when we call the meeting to fill this vacancy (there is already a person in line for the position), they will attempt to hijack the meeting by standing up and demanding a vote to dismiss the current Leadership Team. Can they do this or does another special meeting have to be called two weeks hence?

[Chris Harrison]

My response in post #2 still holds I believe.

[Trina]

They aren't looking to fill the positions with new people. They simply want to vote the current Leadership Team out of office, without replacing anyone.

The special meeting we are having is to fill one vacant position on the Slate of Officers, the posiiton which is part of the Leadership Team.

My concern is that when we call the meeting to fill this vacancy (there is already a person in line for the position), they will attempt to hijack the meeting by standing up and demanding a vote to dismiss the current Leadership Team. Can they do this or does another special meeting have to be called two weeks hence?

No, they can't do that at this meeting, since that was not part of the purpose of the meeting, as announced in the call.

In a practical sense, you still need to convince a majority of the members present at the meeting that it is improper (against the rules) to hijack the meeting in this way. If the hijackers have the majority, and get their way, their actions could still be challenged after the fact, but it would be much more of a mess to clean up; much better to nip it in the bud with a proper ruling on the spot.