Chair a Special Meeting

[Guest elle]

Hi , At our Club's last member meeting it was voted to have a special meeting to allow the president-elect, whose postion was contested by a member because of Bylaw violations, to respond to these violations. Postcards to members were sent out per our Bylaw which addresses a Special Meeting.

Since the president is always the chair for all meetings, per our Bylaws, and given he is not elected president until the results of the special meeting are final, who should/would be the chair for this special meeting?

Thanks for any help.

[David A Foulkes]

I'm confused (and it may just be me, as it so often is, so stay tuned, but....)

When you use the term "president-elect", it implies a person who will be taking the office at a designated date/time in the future (as opposed to immediately upon winning the election, as RONR expects), and this also suggests that there is still a sitting (lame duck) president whose term has not yet ended. In such a case, the president would chair the meeting, with the vice-president taking over if the president was absent, and the president-elect in attendance as well I suspect.

However, you make a somewhat confusing reference to the "president" not being elected as president until after the special meeting, so I wonder then if you're using the term "president-elect" in another way, to describe the person elected as president, but who the membership is preventing from (rightfully) taking that position until they figure out what to do about alleged bylaw violations at the special meeting.

[Guest Edgar]

Since the president is always the chair for all meetings, per our Bylaws, and given he is not elected president until the results of the special meeting are final, who should/would be the chair for this special meeting?.

The current president chairs the meeting. If, at some point during the meeting, the "new" president becomes the current president, then the new (i.e. current) president will chair the remainder of the meeting. In other words, you don't have to wait until the meeting is over.

But it's possible you put the cart before the horse. That is, the new president might already be the president, subject to any proven challenge that he's ineligible. The mere fact that someone thinks he's ineligible shouldn't be enough to keep him out of office.

[Guest Guest]

Hi, Thanks for your reply. Sorry for the confustion, it is a confusing situation. I will try to better explain.

The election was held and the results were announced by last years president and he got the most votes.

It was moved for a recount of the ballots for the presidents position with the same results.

A Point of Order was made to contest the election results for the presidents position on the grounds that he violated 9 Bylaws.

A motion was made to let the member contesting the results state what violations had been violated, a vote was taken and the motion passed. The member stated the Bylaws that he had violated.

It was motioned that the president be allowed time to respond to the violations, which he did, however, because it was getting late in the evening, it was motioned to have a Special Meeting at a later time to resolve the presidents postion.

It is my understanding that the person who won the election is considered President-elect until and after all challenges or contesting of that position are handled at this Special Meeting.

If the president is not the president until this meeting is held, and therefore can't act as chair of this meeting, who would/should chair this meeting?

Thanks for help.

[Guest Edgar]

It is my understanding that the person who won the election is considered President-elect until and after all challenges or contesting of that position are handled at this Special Meeting.

Well, it's my understanding that the new president is president until proven otherwise. In any event, whoever is considered to be the president now is the one who chairs the meeting. And if you think you don't have a president now, then elect a chair pro tem (a temporary presiding officer) when the meeting begins.

[Guest Guest]

Thanks for replies. The president is elected and he will be the one to chair the special meeting.

[Guest Edgar]

Thanks for replies. The president is elected and he will be the one to chair the special meeting.

However . . . since the meeting is about his eligibility to serve as president, he might want to step down. Stay tuned for a few more opinions (and sorry for the second thoughts).

[sMargaret]

What you have here is not so much a contested election, as members trying to remove an elected chairperson through a disciplinary process. That it started immediately after the election is confusing the issue.

Take a look at FAQ #20

I would agree with Edgar that the Chair may not wish to chair this meeting, as it is about him. Is there a Vice chair?

[Guest Guest]

Hi , Several members have complained about this now re elected presidents' past actions and they brought these complaints to the attention of the Vice President, who is presenting the Bylaw violations and who has documentation of what he did and when he violated specific Bylaws in the past year. So yes, many members want to remove the re elected president or use disciplinary actions to have him stop violating the Bylaws they have adoped. They have told the Vice President that if he continues as president they will not renew their membership.

Given that the president, who is being charged with the Bylaw violations, will be chairing the meeting, it is presummed that he will conduct the meeting in his favor. Such as if a Point of Order and Appeal is raised, he can aknowledge or not aknowledge.

If it is possible to have another member as Chair Pro Tem for the meeting so that both will have equal time to voice the violations and time to respond to the violations, who and how can this be done?

If the members vote not to have a Chair Pro Tem, then the meeting will continue with the president as the chair,correct?

If the members present vote to allow him to continue as president, what disciplinary actions or conditions can be put on him to have him stop violating the Bylaws? He says he has "read over" the Bylaws, however he continued to violate Bylaws and Bylaw procedures, he has acted unprofessional, he made incorrect statements for his qualifications as president, which is misleading the members, he actions have jeopardized membership.

I have read FAQ#20 concerning the wording in our Bylaws. We have “or until [the officer's] successor is elected,”

"by a majority vote when previous notice has been given,"

Can the Special Meeting be considered as previous notice since it was sent out to the members, per the Bylaws, stating the purpose of the meeting is to discuss and decide if the elected president should continue as president.?

Again, sorry for the confusion, these several members want something done about this president, to remove him from office or use disciplinary actions or conditions so he will follow the Bylaws.

Thanks

[Sean Hunt]

Please start a new topic for this matter, rather than continue an existing one. You have many good questions in there and they deserve their own thread.

[David A Foulkes]

Please start a new topic for this matter, rather than continue an existing one. You have many good questions in there and they deserve their own thread.

But (I do actually believe) this is Guest_elle providing yet further details about her original post, way back in #1 up there.

SPeFUW

[Josh Martin]

Given that the president, who is being charged with the Bylaw violations, will be chairing the meeting, it is presummed that he will conduct the meeting in his favor. Such as if a Point of Order and Appeal is raised, he can aknowledge or not aknowledge.

If it is possible to have another member as Chair Pro Tem for the meeting so that both will have equal time to voice the violations and time to respond to the violations, who and how can this be done?

Yes, this is quite possible. The President actually should relinquish the gavel on his own in this case, but in the event he does not, you can Suspend the Rules to remove him from the chair. By default, the Vice President would then chair the meeting, although if you prefer, it is permissible to appoint someone else as Chairman Pro Tempore.

It's also quite improper to simply "not acknowledge" a Point of Order or Appeal, but some chairs try it anyway, so I think you do have the right idea.

If the members vote not to have a Chair Pro Tem, then the meeting will continue with the president as the chair,correct?

Correct.

If the members present vote to allow him to continue as president, what disciplinary actions or conditions can be put on him to have him stop violating the Bylaws?

Not much, really. RONR notes that "the usual possible penalties for an officer are censure or removal from office." (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 668, lines 4-5) The text also mentions others being appropriate in special circumstances, such as having the Treasurer pay back money which has been misappropriated, but I'm not sure that applies here. There really isn't much middle ground in punishing an officer. You can try censuring (expressing the formal disapproval of the assembly) the President if you think he'll care, but otherwise it boils down to whether you trust this person as President or not.

Can the Special Meeting be considered as previous notice since it was sent out to the members, per the Bylaws, stating the purpose of the meeting is to discuss and decide if the elected president should continue as president.

Absolutely.