filling a position on your board

[Guest Joyce Reed]

What does Robert's Rules recommend when the nominating committee can't find a replacement for an officer in the time allotted by the bylaws?  We have a 200+ member organization and it is getting harder and harder to find a president or vice-president, etc. when their term is up.   They had one month to find people willing to serve.  We offered nominations/volunteers from the floor, but I would not have chosen the one who did volunteer.  Too late now, but my term as president is up next year, and I'd like a guarantee I won't be forced to accept another term via a change in our bylaws to keep the organization functioning.   New VP does not do computers and would have trouble moving up to President even though she might be willing.   We do not have a President elect or a bylaw/standing rule that states VP becomes President at end of term.   Do we need to make that a part of our bylaws?   I am afraid if we have a VP/President elect we won't ever get another VP as she won't be willing to serve as president eventually.   Appreciate any advice you can offer.      LSUBOOKWRM@hotmail.com

[Richard Brown]

I'm afraid I have more questions than answers.  I do believe that the answers to most of your questions can probably be found in your bylaws unless they are very poorly drafted.

 

Your bylaws or a special rule of order should spell out the process for nominating and electing officers.  If the nominating committee doesn't come up with names, well, you have to live with it and move on from there.  What do your bylaws say about nominations from the floor?  What about the process of conducting the election?  Is a secret ballot required or are voice votes permissible?   What about write-in candidates?    Has your organization adopted RONR as its parliamentary authority?

 

In the absence of a bylaw provision or special rule of order to the contrary re nominations and elections, RONR says that nominations should be permitted from the floor.  What is your group's custom?  RONR also  provides that if your bylaws are silent as to the method of making nominations or conducting elections, any member may propose a method which can be adopted by majority vote.  RONR also says that write-ins should always be permitted unless you have a bylaw provision or special rule to the contrary.   RONR 11th edition, pages 287-289 and 430-446.

 

It is up to your organization as to whether you want to amend your bylaws to provide for a president-elect or a provision that the vice president automatically becomes president (in effect, a president-elect). 

 

If your bylaws are silent as to the method of making nominations and conducting elections, I strongly suggest you obtain a copy of RONR (Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised, 11th edition), published in 2011 and consisting  of 716 pages.  It is the only current and official parliamentary manual for organizations that have adopted the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order as their parliamentary authority.  Anything you find online is NOT from the current edition and is many years out of date.  I believe the online version is from the 1915 4th edition.  We are now in the 11th edition.  They are worlds apart.

[Guest Joyce Reed]

Thanks for your response.  Our bylaws state that the nominating committee of 3 are appointed in May and must come up with a slate of officers by the following monthly meeting.   As president I told them to try and locate someone else who was willing to serve this year as my plate was already full and I don't like the few who love to complain and are yet unwilling to work.  However since no one else was willing I will serve one more year.   But, they could not locate a VP, so we opened up nominations from the floor and several names were batted around and no one was willing.   Finally one lady who has not held an office before volunteered.  She is nice enough and can probably do a good job, but she doesn't do computers and that makes it hard to do her job of planning programs and speakers.  At any rate there is no bylaw that would prevent someone who doesn't have the ability to do the job from volunteering next year as my term expires if nominations can't find someone.    I guess my basic question is how do you get folks to realize that if they want a vital organization and they have ability to do the job they need to be willing to offer their services when asked on occasion?   Every organization has "politics" and I think that is the main reason most don't want to serve in any capacity as there are those few who complain about everything yet do nothing.   We shouldn't have to make 20-30 phone calls and call brand new members to take a major office.   I will work on trying to get them to agree to a bylaws change to include President elect even if that means we won't be able to get a VP.  Our bylaws do permit nominations from the floor provided the person is willing to serve, but we've never had any in my 12 years as a member.  It is just getting harder and harder to get folks to agree to serve.  I realize I do need an updated Robert's Rules as it is our primary authority according to the bylaws.

[Timothy]

Even when you have a nominating committee, you should ask for any additional nominations from the floor.

 

You aren't likely to find anything in RONR that will tell you how to persuade people to participate. Often, it comes down to a question of whether they are more willing to let the task go undone or to do it themselves. If everyone is more willing to let it go undone, then maybe the organization should quit doing the task.