President not in good standing questions

[Guest Jeff]

In early May our non profit held a vote which ended in a 4/4 tie. The president then cast a tie breaking vote. It was discovered three weeks later that at the time of the vote the president was not in good standing due to the fact that he was past due on his dues. Our bylaws state only members in good standing can vote.

So my questions is does the President become a non member the second his dues are past due, or does he still have the right to cast a tie breaking vote as president?

Also our bylaws state the President serves from Jan1-Dec31, so to me it would seem he might not be a member in good standing at the time but he is still the president who cast a tie breaking vote as the presiding officer.

Last is when the president pays his dues was there ever a time during the 60 days he was non paid that he ever ceased to be the president?

[jstackpo]

Non-payment of dues does NOT put a member in a state of "Not in Good Standing" (p. 571 - 572) unless your bylaws say exactly that. So the president's vote would be valid.

Also consider this about "In Good Standing":

RONR/11 defines the term "member in good standing" on p. 6 in the footnote as referring to a member whose membership rights are not in suspension, either as a consequence of disciplinary proceedings (Chapter XX) or by operation of some specific provision in the bylaws of the organization.

So if you use the phrase "in good standing" in the bylaws, be sure to define exactly what you mean: what causes a member not to be in good standing, what he has to do to get back into the good graces of the association, &c. Also, you should specify which membership rights, duties, privileges, &c. are lost or suspended (or retained) by a member as a consequence of his being in "bad standing" as distinct from his being in good standing or ceasing to be a member at all.