Member in good standing

[HANNAH]

If a member applicant was not duly elected following the eligibility,  terms and conditions of the club bylaws, due to an oversight of the Board of Directors on the application form, can that member then be considered a member in good standing?

 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

Someone can be a member if the requirements in your bylaws are followed.

[Richard Brown]

26 minutes ago, HANNAH said:

If a member applicant was not duly elected following the eligibility,  terms and conditions of the club bylaws, due to an oversight of the Board of Directors on the application form, can that member then be considered a member in good standing?

 

I assume from your post that new members must first be approved by the board. If that is the case, a person cannot become a member without being approved in the appropriate manner. Unless your bylaws prohibit it, perhaps the prospective member can reapply or the application can be resubmitted. You need to follow whatever procedure your own rules set out for becoming a member.

[Guest HANNAH]

Thank you, the bylaws also state in 2 Sections:

Applicants must apply on the current form, as approved by  the Board of Directors...

Membership. Applicants must apply for membership on a current, Board approved membership application form.

BOD has not voted on the membership application from itself, but since they approved a membership applicant by using this form, they are declaring that the form is approved by the BOD.

Asking your opinion, Please. Should the form itself be voted on to be approved first?

[Hieu H. Huynh]

If your bylaws require the form to be approved by the board, then that should be done.

[Richard Brown]

21 minutes ago, Guest HANNAH said:

Asking your opinion, Please. Should the form itself be voted on to be approved first?

You need to follow your bylaws. If the bylaws say that the board should approve the form, then the board should approve the form. 

Your original question seemed to indicate that someone had applied for membership but was rejected. Now you seem to be asking a different question. I am not sure what the situation is.

However, we cannot interpret your bylaws for you. That is something only your organization can do

[Guest HANNAH]

In actuality, the opposite occurred.

A member was accepted who applied  on a non board approved, by means of a vote of the BOD. form. Several  requirements of eligibility for membership were not listed on the form as required by the bylaws.

Going back to my original question, is that applicant a member simply because the BOD did vote that to approve that applicant?

Thank you, again. Your responses are greatly appreciated and have been very helpful even to this point.

 

 

 

[Hieu H. Huynh]

The answer to your question depends on your requirements in the bylaws. Do your bylaws say that someone can become a member simply by the board voting to approve that person?

[Clurichan]

14 minutes ago, Guest HANNAH said:

... Several  requirements of eligibility for membership were not listed on the form as required by the bylaws. ...

If the new guy or gal meets those un-listed requirements, not too much of a problem exists, I'm going to guess.

So your Board may need to tighten its procedures, but if the above holds (no unmet requirements), the advice above to re-apply or re-submit sounds good to me...

On the other hand, if there's a member who is in truth ineligible for membership according to the bylaws, well, you do have a problem.

[Gary Novosielski]

Ultimately, the way this (and similar matters of bylaws interpretation) are decided is that someone who believes (or maintains, arguendo) that the person is not rightly a member raises a Point of Order that the membership should not be considered as valid.  The chair rules on the matter, subject to Appeal, in which case the matter is settled by a vote of the assembly.  The chair may also place the matter directly before the assembly for a decision.