Officer resignation with a twist

[Guest Sandi Soto]

The current President Elect resigned. She would have assumed the Presidency Jan 1, 2013. Term is 3 years, 1 each as Pres. Elect, Pres., and Past Pres. The incoming President Elect will take office on Jan. 1. Does she assume the Presidency instead, or does the Council appoint another individual to serve out the remainder of the year as PE, then Pres. beginning the 1st of the year, then PP? If this were January, per our bylaws, she would be in office and would move up to the Presidency; but it's November, and she's not yet a member of the Council. We try to stick to the letter of the bylaws, and RRNR is our source for anything not specifically covered.

Thanks for any assistance you can give us!

[jstackpo]

First check your bylaws carefully.

Do they contain some sort of catch-all phrase to the effect that the board, your Council, or some other sub-group of the general membership fills all vacancies except that of the president. If so, that group should promptly appoint a new Pres-Elect, who will indeed become president next January. The "incoming" (he isn't there yet) Pres-Elect takes his new office in January, the one he was elected to.

Then amend your bylaws to cover this situation, should it happen again.

[jstackpo]

Or... if the resignation of the sitting Pres-Elect has yet to be accepted (see p. 291) he would remain in office, become the President in January (before the resignation (a "request") is accepted), resign (and have the resignation accepted) at that point and the brand new Pres-Elect would take the Presidential office, leaving you with a vacancy in the Pres-Elect office.

[Guest Sandi Soto]

Thanks! You verified what we were thinking, we appointed a PE to serve out the term, and the recently elected PE will be in position to serve her full three years.

This is a wonderful resource, and coupled with the basics of Roberts, which I studied a few years ago, things go far more smoothly!