Members removed from society.

[rockbust]

Here is my situation.

Membership Election:

A special membership meeting is held for the purpose to elect in new members. The applicants are present at the meeting and the chair chooses to take the vote by voice. Our bylaws do not require a ballot vote. One member of the club makes a vocal comment that it is improper to take a voice vote with the members sitting there. The chair either ignores this or does not hear it. no other objections are made. The members are voted in by a unanimous vote.

 

Board elections:

At the Annual membership meeting the elections are conducted for 3 board members.The members that were voted in from the special Membership meeting are present and vote. No objections of any kind are made and vote is done by secret ballot as required in our bylaws. 3 members present were elected to the board.

 

Removal of members:

Three months later the membership chair sends out a letter that there were improper procedures in the election of the members and states they will be revoted on at the next membership meeting. Membership chair states that this was not not her wishes but the desires of a majority of the board (note: this was done without any meeting). Membership meeting called to order and it takes me 5 minutes to convince the chair that we can not conduct any business other than setting a date and time of next meeting.

 

Removal of board members:

Board meeting is called to order and chair states he is taking nominations to appoint 3 board members to the board because the removed members voted at the elections and the elections are therefore invalid.. I raise a point of order that as per page 577 a board may never alter the decision of the society's assembly. I further stated that the members were valid members at the time of the elections. further while it may have been uncomfortable voting in the presence of the prospective members our bylaws do not require secret ballot voting. P 412 states "in cases in which there is no requirement that a vote be by ballot, a ballot vote can be ordered by a majority vote." No one made this motion and and now it is too late to raise an objection.

My point of order/s were not well taken and I was replaced on the board.

 

Thoughts on the membership elections?

 

and thoughts on the removal of the members and board members?

 

Thanks

Robert

 

 

[Chris Harrison]

If the bylaws don't require a ballot vote in order to elect new members then a ballot vote isn't required and the membership elections are valid.  As for the removal of the Board members unless the bylaws grant the Board the authority to remove their own they have no business in doing so and especially since if the membership elections were valid there was no valid reason to throw out the votes of those members.  Add to that that the Board has no right to countermand the General Membership's actions and their removing of those 3 Board members was very improper. 

 

The only thing you could/should have done was to Appeal the Chair's ruling but it sounds like the Board wasn't especially receptive to your points to you probably wouldn't have gotten far doing so.  So you, the other 2 Board members, and the members the Board improperly decreed were invalidly elected should take your case to the General Membership and raise the Point of Order that the removal of the 3 Board members was invalid as they had no authority to do so.  Be sure to Appeal any averse rulings this time.

[rockbust]

The bylaws do not grant the Board the authority to remove their own.

[Thomas Ralph]

I agree with Mr. Harrison. I would note that a member may request any voice vote be taken by rising vote instead. Voting by ballot would require a majority.

[Guest Edgar]

I would note that a member may request any voice vote be taken by rising vote instead. 

 

Citation please. And, if it's only a request, wouldn't a vote be required if there was an objection? In other words, how does it differ from "requesting" a vote by ballot?

[Josh Martin]

Citation please. And, if it's only a request, wouldn't a vote be required if there was an objection?

 

Mr. Ralph is presumably referring to how a member may call for a Division of the Assembly after an inconclusive voice vote (which is more of a demand than a request).

[Thomas Ralph]

Mr. Ralph is presumably referring to how a member may call for a Division of the Assembly after an inconclusive voice vote (which is more of a demand than a request).

Thank you, yes.

[Bruce Lages]

Here is my situation.

Membership Election:

A special membership meeting is held for the purpose to elect in new members. The applicants are present at the meeting and the chair chooses to take the vote by voice. Our bylaws do not require a ballot vote. One member of the club makes a vocal comment that it is improper to take a voice vote with the members sitting there.

 

One point for future reference - if you were voting to accept these individuals into membership, then they were not members when that vote was taken. It would have been perfectly proper for the assembly, by majority vote or unanimous consent, to inform them that they were to wait outside the meeting room while the vote was taken.

 

If this procedure is usually used for accepting new members, it might be a good idea to adopt a standing rule to excuse prospective members from the meeting while the vote on their acceptance is conducted.

[rockbust]

One point for future reference - if you were voting to accept these individuals into membership, then they were not members when that vote was taken. It would have been perfectly proper for the assembly, by majority vote or unanimous consent, to inform them that they were to wait outside the meeting room while the vote was taken.

 

If this procedure is usually used for accepting new members, it might be a good idea to adopt a standing rule to excuse prospective members from the meeting while the vote on their acceptance is conducted.

 

Yes thank you Bruce this would be a good option. Unfortunately no member made a motion to do so. The member who raised the objection at the meeting now feels that since the objection was raised at the meeting and the chair (prior president) did not respond/ruled against the objection this gives her  the rights gather up support from the board and declare the members removed/invalid.

[Bruce Lages]

Can you be more specific about what improper procedures are alleged by the membership chair to have occurred during the election to membership?

If the only claim is that the election was improper because the candidates for membership were present when the vote was taken, that's certainly insufficient to invalidate the election.

[rockbust]

Yes this is the only issue. There was at one point a belief that members are voted in by the board but after a careful review of the by-laws, this point was resolved.

[Josh Martin]

Yes thank you Bruce this would be a good option. Unfortunately no member made a motion to do so. The member who raised the objection at the meeting now feels that since the objection was raised at the meeting and the chair (prior president) did not respond/ruled against the objection this gives her  the rights gather up support from the board and declare the members removed/invalid.

 

It's not clear to me that the member actually did raise a Point of Order or if he was just complaining. If he raised a Point of Order, then the chair should not have ignored it, but this does not in any way affect the validity of the action taken, especially considering that the Point of Order should have been ruled not well taken even when it was timely.

[rockbust]

Yes Josh you are correct there was not a true point of order raised and ruled on about the voting. I was giving the complaining party the latitude that they had actually done so. But as you say it would not matter either way.

[rockbust]

And yet another issue arises in the situation. There is now a claim that the meeting notice must have included the names of the prospective members thereby "noticing" the members of who will be voted into the club. They used an example of sending a notice that the bylaws revisions are being voted on and not providing the actual revisions.

 

Is this correct?  

our bylaws are silent that we need to provide notice of the names of who is being voted in to the association.

 

Robert

[Josh Martin]

And yet another issue arises in the situation. There is now a claim that the meeting notice must have included the names of the prospective members thereby "noticing" the members of who will be voted into the club. They used an example of sending a notice that the bylaws revisions are being voted on and not providing the actual revisions.

 

Is this correct?

 

Notice is only required if your bylaws so provide.