undefined "term" and removal of officer [RONR pg 653/654].

[Guest Roy]

Hello,

There is an issue with the FAQ #20. In our Bylaws, there is no "term" or any form of "until successor". The nearest vaguely equivalent is the annual election, held on march, and oath-resuming duties 60 days after march.

thus problem using RONR's chapter 62 to address officer removal.

A) the 'if' condition in page 653 and 654 happen not to apply, leaving only this statement (page 653), line 22/23 "... any regularly elected officer of a permanent society can be removed from office by society's assembly as follow: ..." Then the question is what is defined as society's assembly; the annual meeting where members can vote, or the general meeting, where board can vote?

does not refer to whether investigation or trial is needed for the disciplinary (our bylaws do not have disciplinary clauses), thus do we have to exercise procedures in Chapter 63 of RONR?

R

[jstackpo]

Since your bylaws don't match what is defined and explained in RONR you are on your own.

However, as a general rule the body that elects officers is the body that has the power to remove them, by whatever means are appropriate and proper per your bylaws.

[Guest Edgar]

In our Bylaws, there is no "term" or any form of "until successor".

Then I'd suggest amending the bylaws rather than trying to figure out how to live with them. If you have to wait until the annual meeting in March to do so, you'll have plenty of time to get it right.

Then the question is what is defined as society's assembly; the annual meeting where members can vote, or the general meeting, where board can vote?

The "assembly" is variously defined as either the entire membership or (my preference) the members present at any given meeting. The "annual meeting" is pretty self-explanatory. It can be the annual meeting of the board (where only board members can vote) or the annual meeting of the general membership (where all members can vote, even board members as long as they're also general members). The annual meeting is just one of what may be several (e.g. monthly) regular meetings (as opposed to special meetings).

[Dan Honemann]

The term "society's assembly" on page 653, line 25, refers to the members present at a meeting of the society's membership. It does not refer to a meeting of the society's board.

[Guest roy dehaven]

Hello,

There is clause equivilant, if nothing in bylaws, use RONR.

if the definitions in RONR not match the bylaws, then the section in RONR are ignored?

R

[Trina]

Hello,

There is clause equivilant, if nothing in bylaws, use RONR.

if the definitions in RONR not match the bylaws, then the section in RONR are ignored?

R

I'm not sure why you think your bylaws don't adequately match RONR. Just because the bylaws don't use the word 'term', it seems fairly clear that your officers do serve a fixed term (from when they enter office -- 60 days after the election, if I understood what you said in post #1 -- until the next guy enters office roughly a year later). In any case, you definitely don't have the 'or until successors are elected' language, which would allow for fairly easy removal of officers.

If you have no disciplinary procedures defined (as I think you said in the original post), then section 63 (in Chapter XX) would seem to apply.

[Guest roy dehaven]

Hello,

so with Trina's analysis, is an rough definition of entry, is a term and does not carry "or sucessor" language,

therefore the second "if clause" in RONR do apply; to remove officer, have to go through known disciplinary procedure or RONR's Chapter 63.