1) Expulsion of an officer/board member; 2) banning a member who has resigned

[Guest Tracy J]

I recently preferred three charges against a member/officer/Board member of a local sporting club of which I am a member.  Per our bylaws:

"Any member may prefer charges against a member for alleged misconduct prejudicial to the best interests of the club.  Written charges with specifications must be filed in duplicate with the Secretary.  The Secretary shall promptly send a copy of the charges to each member of the board or present them at the board meeting, and the board shall first consider whether the actions alleged in the charges, if proven, might constitute conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the club.  If the board considers that the charges do not allege conduct which would be prejudicial to the best interests of the club, it may refuse to entertain jurisdiction.  If the board entertains jurisdiction of the charges, it shall fix a date for a hearing by the board not less than three weeks nor more than six weeks thereafter.  The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail together with a notice of the hearing and an assurance that the defendant may personally appear in his/her own defense and bring witnesses if he/she wishes."

Here's the timeline and my questions:

I correctly preferred charges and the meeting was called in a timely way.  I am not on the Board so I was not invited to the meeting, nor did I attend.

1)  The charged member attended the meeting.  Is that okay?  I thought the above paragraph from our bylaws saying "The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail, etc" implied that she would not be allowed to attend.

2)  She was provided with the charges in advance even though none of the rest of the board received a copy of the charges until they arrived at the meeting.  Is this okay?

Immediately before charges were read (literally seconds), she resigned from her position on the Board, from her office and from her membership.

3)  After resigning, she produced a written statement that she read to the Board refuting my three charges.  She did not provide a copy of this statement to the Board, nor did the Board ask her to.  Is this okay?

4)  Can I expel or ban her from rejoining the club now that she is a non-member?  I have no idea how to go forward now that she is a non-member and I suspect that was her plan.  My main concern is that she will wait for things to die down and then attempt to rejoin the club.  

It probably doesn't matter, but she was leaked the charges by our President (and of course Board member) who is also complicit in her charges.  I have not formally charged him yet, but may do so in the future.

Thanks for your help.  I don't have the full RROO, just the "in brief" version, but the club should be buying the full version soon.

[Joshua Katz]

4 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail together with a notice of the hearing and an assurance that the defendant may personally appear in his/her own defense and bring witnesses if he/she wishes."

 

4 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

1)  The charged member attended the meeting.  Is that okay?  I thought the above paragraph from our bylaws saying "The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail, etc" implied that she would not be allowed to attend.

 

Well, interpreting bylaws is up to your organization, but I fail to see how anything here suggests that a charged member can't attend a meeting.  This individual is, to my knowledge, a board member, and has not (yet) been disciplined in any way.  Why would the fact of being presented with a piece of paper by registered mail mean that she can't attend a meeting?

 

7 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

The Secretary shall promptly send a copy of the charges to each member of the board or present them at the board meeting, and the board shall first consider whether the actions alleged in the charges, if proven, might constitute conduct prejudicial to the best interests of the club.  

5 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

2)  She was provided with the charges in advance even though none of the rest of the board received a copy of the charges until they arrived at the meeting.  Is this okay?

 

It seems to me that the Secretary should have promptly provided a copy of the charges to each board member.  Why didn't that happen?

9 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

3)  After resigning, she produced a written statement that she read to the Board refuting my three charges.  She did not provide a copy of this statement to the Board, nor did the Board ask her to.  Is this okay?

 

Well, was the resignation accepted?  Either way, this seems like an interruption of the meeting.  A point of order should have been raised if she was disturbing the meeting.  (There's also the issue of reading from papers, but that rule is not much enforced.)  Aside from the decorum issues, though, what do you think is wrong with this?  Certainly there's no obligation to provide written copies to the board.

10 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

4)  Can I expel or ban her from rejoining the club now that she is a non-member?  I have no idea how to go forward now that she is a non-member and I suspect that was her plan.  My main concern is that she will wait for things to die down and then attempt to rejoin the club.  

 

Can you?  Well, I doubt you have any such powers.  That aside, was the resignation accepted?  If so, and she is no longer in office, then she cannot be removed from office.  If she is no longer a member, she cannot have her membership taken away, just as you can't rob a person who has no assets.  The way to go forward is probably to move on - you wanted her out, and she is out.  Expelled members (and those who resign) can apply for membership through whatever process you have for membership.

 

12 minutes ago, Guest Tracy J said:

It probably doesn't matter, but she was leaked the charges by our President (and of course Board member) who is also complicit in her charges.  I have not formally charged him yet, but may do so in the future.

 

It seems to me that your bylaws require that the accused receive a copy of the accusations, so I'm not clear why you would worry about this "leaking."

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

Your club has a custom disciplinary process, so it's up to club members to decide how procedures are to be followed. In general, the board may allow anyone to attend a board meeting and it may allow that person to speak. Can you expel or ban a person from the club? Unless you are usually addressed "Your Majesty," probably not. The resigned member may reapply according to applicable club rules.

[Joshua Katz]

6 minutes ago, Guest Who's Coming to Dinner said:

In general, the board may allow anyone to attend a board meeting and it may allow that person to speak.

True, but it doesn't strike me as all that optional when that person is a board member.

[Richard Brown]

I agree with the responses by my colleagues and commend Mr. Katz for tackling each of the numerous questions.

[Josh Martin]

11 hours ago, Guest Tracy J said:

1)  The charged member attended the meeting.  Is that okay?  I thought the above paragraph from our bylaws saying "The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail, etc" implied that she would not be allowed to attend.

On the contrary, my reading of the bylaws is that the accused must be allowed to attend, which is the usual case for disciplinary procedures.

11 hours ago, Guest Tracy J said:

The Secretary shall promptly send one copy of the charges to the accused member by registered mail together with a notice of the hearing and an assurance that the defendant may personally appear in his/her own defense and bring witnesses if he/she wishes.

Although I see now that this may be about the preliminary meeting to entertain charges, in which event I concur with Mr. Katz.

Edited February 28, 2018 at 03:19 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest Tracy J]

Thank you for your helpful responses.