dual offices

[Humane Society member]

When there is a shortage of members willing to accept an office, is it permissible for the secretary or treasurer to also hold the office of 1st or 2nd Vice-President?

[David A Foulkes]

When there is a shortage of members willing to accept an office, is it permissible for the secretary or treasurer to also hold the office of 1st or 2nd Vice-President?

 

Short answer, yes, assuming your rules don't prohibit it.

 

RONR contains no prohibition against one person occupying two offices.  However, two pairings that should be discouraged are President-Secretary and President-Vice President.  The first because the President, as presiding officer, has enough to do at a meeting not to worry about also taking the minutes notes. The second because if the President resigns mid-term, the Vice President or 1st Vice President (barring any bylaw to the contrary) automatically becomes the President, so that presents a bit of troublesome combination.

 

Having the Secretary also be the 1st Vice President could create a situation as in the first cautionary example if the President resigns mid-term. 

[Guest Edgar]

And if there's a continuing shortage of members willing to serve as officers, the office of 2nd vice-president would seem a logical candidate for elimination (by properly amending the bylaws, of course).

 

As Mr. Foulkes notes, some combinations are unwise. Most common in small societies, I think, is having the same person serve as both secretary and treasurer.

 

You might also consider why so few members are willing to step up to the plate. Especially as vice-president (who, if he's lucky, won't have to do anything at all).

[Josh Martin]

Especially as vice-president (who, if he's lucky, won't have to do anything at all).

 

It's true that RONR assigns very few duties to the Vice President, but the organization may have assigned other duties to the VP in its rules.

[Gary Novosielski]

A common combination is to combine the duties of Secretary/Treasurer. 

[Guest Edgar]

Most common in small societies, I think, is having the same person serve as both secretary and treasurer.

A common combination is to combine the duties of Secretary/Treasurer.

Keeping the offices separate but, occasionally, electing the same person to both allows, I think, for greater flexibility.

[Rev Ed]

I concur with Edgar in that it is normally best to keep each office as a separate office, but simply elect the same person to both offices.  For me, in that there is normally confusion, would be to have a 'plain English' statement in the By-laws pertaining to officers that 'an individual may be elected to more than one office' although it is perhaps wise if you are going to do this to put in the obvious statement of 'with the exception of President-Secretary and President-Vice President' to make sure some obvious issues do not arise.

 

At the same time, RONR only requires two officers: a Presiding Officer (normally called the President or Chairman) and a Secretary.  Although in my opinion I strongly argue that any organization that handles more than two cents of money should also have a Treasurer. 

 

So essentially, if this looks like it is going to be a long term issue, perhaps the organization should consider amending the By-laws to require only three officers (President, Secretary, and Treasurer) or a maximum of four officers (including one Vice President position.)

 

How many officers does this organization require, as well as directors?