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regarding ex-officio status


Guest The Pastor

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I am under the impression that because I am a pastor of my church that I am considered an ex-officio member of all committee's in my church. Firstly, is this true according to parliamentary law, and secondly, does the chairman of any particular committee have the authority or right to exclude me from the proceeding or the right or authority to simply not inform me when the committee meeting will take place?

thank you for your response.

the pastor

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According to RONR, you would only be an ex officio member of all committees if your church bylaws contained a statement to that effect. RONR itself has no rule that makes anyone an ex officio member of anything. So, if your bylaws don't have such a provision then the chairman of any committee does have the right to exclude you from the committee proceedings and the right to not inform you of when the committee's meetings take place. Note, however, that you could be placed on any or all committees as a regular member by other means, such as by a vote of whichever body is authorized to populate committees.

If you think that as senior pastor, you should be an ex officio member of all committees, then you would need to propose a bylaw amendment to that effect.

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Thank you for such a quick response. Let's say for the sake of response that The bylaws of my church do state that I am ex-officio to all committees, would it be legal or appropriate for any committee to call a meeting when I could not attend. say while on vacation?

the pastor

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Let's say for the sake of response that The bylaws of my church do state that I am ex-officio to all committees

Well, do they or don't they? If they do, you are. If they don't, you aren't. There's no being "under the impression". So, which is it?

would it be legal or appropriate for any committee to call a meeting when I could not attend. say while on vacation?

For legal, ask a lawyer. As for appropriate, there's nothing necessarily wrong with holding a meeting when you are on vacation. If it was a regularly scheduled meeting, that's just the way it goes sometimes. If it was a called meeting, you should still have been included in the notice, even if it was known you were going to be away. If the meeting was timed for your vacation with the intent of making sure you couldn't attend, that might be seen as inappropriate. But I know of no rule in RONR that would be broken.

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So, if your bylaws don't have such a provision then the chairman of any committee does have the right to exclude you from the committee proceedings . . .

Actually, the chair doesn't have that right, except in cases of disorder, which doesn't seem to apply here.

It would be up to the committee to decide if nonmembers or a certain nonmember is permitted to attend, subject to the rules of the parent body.

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By our consitution and bylaws there is no provision allowing me to be an ex-officio member of the committees. The advice I have received from others in my associational fellowship is that there should be that provision written as an amendment to our bylaws. Thank you all very much for your wisdom.

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By our constitution and bylaws there is no provision allowing me to be an ex-officio member of the committees. The advice I have received from others in my associational fellowship is that there should be that provision written as an amendment to our bylaws. Thank you all very much for your wisdom.

Or if they really want you on committees, the membership, or whoever the appointing power is, can place you on committees.

(N. B. typo fixed)

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I am under the impression that because I am a pastor of my church that I am considered an ex-officio member of all committee's in my church.

Let's say for the sake of response that The bylaws of my church do state that I am ex-officio to all committees

By our consitution and bylaws there is no provision allowing me to be an ex-officio member of the committees.

Well.... this thread was about 7 posts too long. (8 if you count the meaningless second one)

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