Election at BOD meeting

[Andy Travis]

At a regular BOD meeting does the Board elect a new President after the adoption of the agenda (the VP would be chair at this point) but before the reading of the minutes?

[Sean Hunt]

First off, double-check your bylaws for succession clauses. If:

• Your bylaws say that your organization follows Robert's Rules of Order and
• Your bylaws do not say what happens if there is a vacancy in the office of the President.

then you do not have a VP any more; your Vice-President automatically became President when the office of President (presumably) became vacant.

 

Assuming you are holding an election (even if it's for Vice-President, not for President), then the Board can hold the election for President whenever it would like. An election to fill a vacancy requires previous notice, but otherwise the Board could schedule it as part of the agenda the way it would like (since the Board adopts the agenda and thereby sets an order of business). Since the President is the presiding officer, however, a member could raise the vacancy as a matter of privilege and ask for an election to be held right away. This doesn't mean that the Board is bound to deal with it right away.

 

My suggestion would be to put it immediately after approving the minutes. Approving the minutes should be uncontroversial and quick, and it's generally a good habit for an assembly to always approve the minutes before doing anything else. This also avoids the risk of the approval getting lost or confused somehow, due to the election taking too long and the meeting adjourning, or people forgetting, or animosity from a hotly contested election spilling over into the approval.

[Josh Martin]

At a regular BOD meeting does the Board elect a new President after the adoption of the agenda (the VP would be chair at this point) but before the reading of the minutes?

Why is the board electing a new President?

First off, double-check your bylaws for succession clauses. If:

• Your bylaws say that your organization follows Robert's Rules of Order and
• Your bylaws do not say what happens if there is a vacancy in the office of the President.

then you do not have a VP any more; your Vice-President automatically became President when the office of President (presumably) became vacant.

 

Assuming you are holding an election (even if it's for Vice-President, not for President), then the Board can hold the election for President whenever it would like. An election to fill a vacancy requires previous notice, but otherwise the Board could schedule it as part of the agenda the way it would like (since the Board adopts the agenda and thereby sets an order of business). Since the President is the presiding officer, however, a member could raise the vacancy as a matter of privilege and ask for an election to be held right away. This doesn't mean that the Board is bound to deal with it right away.

 

My suggestion would be to put it immediately after approving the minutes. Approving the minutes should be uncontroversial and quick, and it's generally a good habit for an assembly to always approve the minutes before doing anything else. This also avoids the risk of the approval getting lost or confused somehow, due to the election taking too long and the meeting adjourning, or people forgetting, or animosity from a hotly contested election spilling over into the approval.

It's not entirely clear that the election is the result of a mid-term vacancy. If it is, I concur entirely with this response. It may be, however, that the board elects its own officers and the officers have staggered terms - so the term of the President has ended, but not the Vice President.

[Andy Travis]

The President has resigned mid-term and our bylaws state that a new president must be elected until the next AGM. The Board does elect its own officers.

[Guest Nancy N.]

O nuts, I thought I was gonna win this one.