Fan Posted April 20, 2016 at 10:41 AM Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 at 10:41 AM Our sports booster club recently put a vote on the floor regarding scholarship(s) that graduating Seniors can apply for. The motion to eliminate the scholarship was presented and the votes cast were announced as 9 in favor of eliminating the scholarship, 4 against eliminating it (quorum is 7). It was announced at the meeting that the scholarships would be discontinued and the meeting was adjourned. The next day, the b/c President sent an e-mail that she wanted to change her vote to an abstention and wanted it recorded in the minutes. Conversation ensued and the VP looked up eligible voting members and it was determined that 1 of the votes in favor of elimination was cast by someone who was not a paying b/c member so her vote was "eliminated." My interpretation of RONR is the the President cannot change her vote at this point. The non-paying member's vote can be struck since it is written in our bylaws that you need to be a paying member in order to vote. At this point, the vote would appear to be 7-4, however, one of the votes was cast by the head coach who wants to eliminate the scholarships. Here's where we need guidance. The bylaws do not list the Coach as a member of the executive board nor is he a paying member of the association, however, the most current copy of our bylaws are signed by a coach and the recording secretary which, to me, implies he would have a voice in voting for or against items like this that impact the athletes whether he pays or not. Along with my question of vote "admissibility," it is unclear to me whether this would fall under the majority vote or 2/3 vote rule? That stipulation is not addressed in the bylaws, however, following the RONR is referenced. A couple items that may or may not influence your response: 1. The school's admin makes it clear to coaches that they are in charge of their b/c and have final say on all issues. They are even given the authority to dissolve it, if desired. (Doesn't that assertion by the school trump the bylaws??) 2. There is no mention of a standing "scholarship committee" in the bylaws so I am assuming this is a special committee even though it has been in place for several years. It is appointed by the president with 2 team parents forming the committee (along with 2-3 others who do not belong to the organization) who form a "selection panel" to interview and rate the athletes in order to award different monetary amounts to them. Thank you, in advance, for your insight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted April 20, 2016 at 01:08 PM Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 at 01:08 PM Much of this relies on your local custom rules, which I can't begin to weigh in on. Here are the things RONR would address: You're correct that it's too late now for any members to change their votes. However if you had one non-member cast a vote, and that one vote could have made a difference, someone could raise a point of order at the next meeting that the results were wrong. The thing is, eliminating what was presumably a Yes vote changes the results to 8-4 (not 7-4), so that one vote could not have made a difference, even if the vote threshold were 2/3. So a point of order would not appear to be well taken. It appears to me that the results stand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fan Posted April 20, 2016 at 05:28 PM Author Report Share Posted April 20, 2016 at 05:28 PM By "local custom laws," I assume you mean allowing or disallowing the coach to vote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Novosielski Posted April 21, 2016 at 02:56 AM Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 at 02:56 AM 9 hours ago, Fan said: By "local custom laws," I assume you mean allowing or disallowing the coach to vote? I said "rules", not "laws." And I'd phrase it as "determining whether or not the coach is a member". Non-members can never vote, even if it's okay with everyone. But I was thinking of things like classes of members, whether failure to pay removes the right to vote (it does NOT unless your bylaws say so), whether donation of money is allowed by a simple main motion, and a variety of other things that might or might not be in your bylaws, any of which could affect the situation you described. So my answer was simply on the things that RONR says, presuming that nothing in your bylaws superseded the rules in RONR. In addition to those I mentioned: RONR would certainly not permit the president, by e-mail or any other means, to falsify the minutes of a meeting to show a vote that did not happen. Abstentions are not counted or recorded in the minutes. It's not possible to invalidate a vote of a member (for failure to pay dues or any other reason) just by having "discussions" outside of a meeting. If there are concerns about votes cast by non-members, or other decisions on which ballots are valid and how they should be counted, all those are to be settled by the assembly in the context of a meeting, typically by raising points of order, and not by off-line discussions by some random individuals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted April 21, 2016 at 04:04 AM Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 at 04:04 AM Quote It was announced at the meeting that the scholarships would be discontinued -- and the meeting was adjourned. The next day, the booster club President sent an e-mail that she wanted to change her vote to an abstention and wanted it recorded in the minutes. My interpretation of RONR is the the President cannot change her vote at this point. I agree. You cannot abstain after adjournment. You cannot add after-the-fact requests to past minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim Goldsworthy Posted April 21, 2016 at 04:19 AM Report Share Posted April 21, 2016 at 04:19 AM Quote S1.) The bylaws do not list the Coach as a member of the executive board. S2.) Nor is [the coach who voted] a paying member of the association. [REVIEW: This coach is not a member of either body, neither board nor general membership.] S3.) However, the most current copy of our bylaws are signed by a coach ... S4.) ... And [by] the recording secretary ... S5.) ... which, to me, implies he [who? the coach? the secretary?] would have a voice in voting for or against items like this that impact the athletes whether he pays or not. Huh? "The ... bylaws are signed by 'a' coach" -- (not "the" coach in question)? And, from this signature alone, you assumed that today's current coach can vote, because a previous coach had signed the bylaws? How does that even make sense? *** Analogy. Imagine this. • I found a signature of a previous school janitor on my bylaws. • The bylaws do not make the janitor a member of the board, nor a member of the general membership. • But -- because a previous janitor had signed the bylaws, I assume that today's current janitor can vote on anything regarding janitorial duties. *** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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