Elaine A Posted February 26, 2017 at 10:47 PM Report Share Posted February 26, 2017 at 10:47 PM Our President is out of town for 5 weeks and cannot be reached. Ist Vice President has resigned. President asked a member to Head a Nominating Committee. Membership has called for an Extraordinary meeting in 30 days as per constitution.Can the Nominating Committee run the meeting? I assume we can use the Extraordinary meeting to hold election? Our AGM was adjourned last week as the Treasure's report was given. The acting President obviously didn't know the rules. A lot of strife and we just want to have election. Is discussion permitted during the meeting or is just nominations and then election? Thank you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:18 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:18 AM Was the election supposed to be held at your AGM last week? Was this special (what you refer to as "Extraordinary") meeting called for the purposes of an election? The membership could elect someone to run the meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:38 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:38 AM You said your president is out of town and your first vice president resigned. That indicate you probably have a second vice president. He should preside at the meeting if he is available. If you have no vice presidents available, the secretary should call the meeting to order and the assembly should then elect a president pro tem to serve as chairman for the remainder of the meeting. That is often done by unanimous consent, with someone suggesting a person who will probably be acceptable to the membership. The special meeting would be held for whatever purposes are listed in the call of the meeting. It will work just like any other meeting except that only items of business that are listed in the call of the meeting can be taken up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:23 AM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:23 AM 54 minutes ago, Hieu H. Huynh said: Was the election supposed to be held at your AGM last week? Was this special (what you refer to as "Extraordinary") meeting called for the purposes of an election? The membership could elect someone to run the meeting. Yes the election was supposed to happen at AGM so we were calling the Extraordinary meeting to hold the Election. We have a second VP who is extremely shy and not too knowledgeable about the constitution. The secretary has been on the board for 12 or 13 years and wants to control everything. Membership are not happy with her. There was a Board Meeting last Wednesday and one of the Board members requested minutes and was told that the president said there were to be no minutes. My understanding of the role of the secretary is that it was her duty to record all minutes of meetings ? Can one of the other Board members write up the minutes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Brown Posted February 27, 2017 at 02:38 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 02:38 AM I see that you have started a separate thread about minutes. I suggest that your questions about the minutes be answered in that thread.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 02:58 AM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 02:58 AM 2 hours ago, Hieu H. Huynh said: Was the election supposed to be held at your AGM last week? Was this special (what you refer to as "Extraordinary") meeting called for the purposes of an election? The membership could elect someone to run the meeting. Yes. The sole purpose of this meeting would be for election of Officers. If the membership elected someone does it have to be a paid member? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:08 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:08 AM 4 minutes ago, Elaine A said: Yes. The sole purpose of this meeting would be for election of Officers. If the membership elected someone does it have to be a paid member? No, not unless your bylaws have a rule requiring that. See RONR 11th, page 447, lines 16-19. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 10:56 AM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 10:56 AM 7 hours ago, jstackpo said: No, not unless your bylaws have a rule requiring that. See RONR 11th, page 447, lines 16-19. Can the chair of the Nominating Committee also chair the meeting. There are three members on the nominating committee. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hieu H. Huynh Posted February 27, 2017 at 11:02 AM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 11:02 AM The membership can choose whoever it wants to chair its meeting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Honemann Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:27 PM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 12:27 PM 1 hour ago, Elaine A said: Can the chair of the Nominating Committee also chair the meeting. There are three members on the nominating committee. Thanks. "The practice in some organizations of permitting the chairman of a committee to preside over the assembly or put questions to vote during the presentation and consideration of the committee's report violates numerous principles of parliamentary law relating to the chair's appearance of impartiality and the inappropriateness of his entering into debate, not to speak of the regular presiding officer's duty to preside (see pp. 448–49). (RONR, 11th ed., p. 453) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:00 PM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:00 PM 21 minutes ago, Daniel H. Honemann said: "The practice in some organizations of permitting the chairman of a committee to preside over the assembly or put questions to vote during the presentation and consideration of the committee's report violates numerous principles of parliamentary law relating to the chair's appearance of impartiality and the inappropriateness of his entering into debate, not to speak of the regular presiding officer's duty to preside (see pp. 448–49). (RONR, 11th ed., p. 453) Thanks. Our Board had a Board Meeting last week and several Board Member's requested minutes but were told by the secretary(who resigned in Nov and was thanked for her service by the President in an email to the membership) that the President said not to take minutes. Can one of the other Board Members who were present submit minutes. These minutes would have crucial information for our Upcoming Election. It is obvious that this group has not been doing things as the Constitution states. As a matter of fact most Board Members didn't have a copy of the Constitution until 6 months ago but it certainly hasn't been followed very well. Our treasurer resigned as of Dec. 31st and a new treasurer was appointed at AGM in October. No one else was interested. She went to the bank with the President and 1st give President and was added as signing authority and has been paying the club bills since then. At the Recent Board Meeting 4 Board Members said she was not the Treasurer because the Board didn't vote on it. The Board hasn't voted on any issue and never formally accepted the resignation of the Secretary who now has resumed that role. We are in dire circumstances and want to resolve this by having a New Election as soon as possible. At recent AGM as I mentioned earlier The Vice President adjourned the meeting because of controversy over the treasurer's report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:13 PM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 01:13 PM The list of things that went wrong, as I am sure you recognize, is far too long to deal with in one-shot answers here. Suggestion: Purchase (if you can figure out who can write checks (!) ), for all the Board members, copies of ... RONRIB: "Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief", Updated Second Edition (Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group, 2011). It is a splendid summary of all the rules you will really need in all but the most exceptional situations. And only $7.50! You can read it in an evening. Get both RONRIB and RONR (scroll down) at this link. Or in your local bookstore. It might be just what the parliamentarian ordered. http://www.robertsrules.com/inbrief.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:22 PM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:22 PM 15 hours ago, Hieu H. Huynh said: Was the election supposed to be held at your AGM last week? Was this special (what you refer to as "Extraordinary") meeting called for the purposes of an election? The membership could elect someone to run the meeting. Yes to both. Just heard this morning that the acting Treasurer has stepped down. We now have no President, 1st Vice president or treasurer. We are left with a 2nd Vice President who is to shy to take over and a Board member who is much the same. We have a Secretary and a Board member who are responsible for all the strife and division. Do we have any options other than the Extraordinary meeting to get the Election up and running? For Extraordinary meeting we have to give 30 days notice to members. We really need help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jstackpo Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:35 PM Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 03:35 PM Do your bylaws have any provisions to allow existing Board members to just fill vacancies, until whenever...? (Of course, if the existing members are sources of "strife" you may not like the outcomes.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 08:36 PM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 08:36 PM 4 hours ago, jstackpo said: Do your bylaws have any provisions to allow existing Board members to just fill vacancies, until whenever...? (Of course, if the existing members are sources of "strife" you may not like the outcomes.) The bylaw states: in case of a vacancy on the Board, the Directors shall appoint a member to fill that office for the remainder of that current calendar year. ( as mentioned earlier our AGM and election should have taken place on Feb. 19th.) we are planning to call extraordinary meeting. Article 7.2 An extraordinary General Meeting shall be called either by the Board of Directors, or upon the written requisition of ten or more members. Notice of such a meeting shall be posted thirty days prior to the meeting, including an advertisement in the media, specifying the issue, the place, day and hour of the meeting. No other issues may be discussed. We may not be able to access email database so is notification by media outlets and postings at our club sufficient? Any loopholes that we should be aware of? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elaine A Posted February 27, 2017 at 09:55 PM Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2017 at 09:55 PM 8 hours ago, jstackpo said: The list of things that went wrong, as I am sure you recognize, is far too long to deal with in one-shot answers here. Suggestion: Purchase (if you can figure out who can write checks (!) ), for all the Board members, copies of ... RONRIB: "Roberts Rules of Order Newly Revised In Brief", Updated Second Edition (Da Capo Press, Perseus Books Group, 2011). It is a splendid summary of all the rules you will really need in all but the most exceptional situations. And only $7.50! You can read it in an evening. Get both RONRIB and RONR (scroll down) at this link. Or in your local bookstore. It might be just what the parliamentarian ordered. http://www.robertsrules.com/inbrief.html We have a copy each but there is a lot to digest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Who's Coming to Dinner Posted February 28, 2017 at 01:43 AM Report Share Posted February 28, 2017 at 01:43 AM It's the duty of your 2nd Vice President to preside at the upcoming special meeting. If (s)he is absent or refuses, then it will be the next Vice President(s) in numerical order, if you have them. If that's a bust, then your Secretary should call the meeting to order and immediately hold an election for chairman pro tem. Another option is for your shy VP to call the meeting to order, then entertain a motion to suspend the rules and elect someone else chairman pro tem for the duration of the meeting. Since you are holding a special meeting, you will not be reading and approving any minutes of prior meetings. Whatever information you think should come out may be delivered during debate over the nominations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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