Bylaws violated-not enough committee members elected

[Guest Tracy Fiers]

The bylaws of an organization require 12 members be elected. At the last meeting they only elected 8 members. The bylaws require 30 days notice before elections. How should this be handled at the next meeting? Do they have to give 30 days notice again? Do they elect the 4 additional members or the entire 12?

[Guest Who's Coming to Dinner]

The eight are elected. The election is incomplete for four positions. I don't think a new notice is required, but perhaps one of our more sage participants here will advise otherwise.

[Guest Zev]

"Violated" is probably a strong term. After all, the assembly did partially discharge the requirement by electing eight out of twelve.

Here is what this book says about this subject:

Quote

PROVIDING FOR COMPLETION OF AN ELECTION. If an assembly wishes to adjourn when an election is incomplete, an adjourned meeting (9) should be provided for. If such an adjourned meeting is not provided for and the organization will hold another regular business session before a quarterly time interval has elapsed (see pp. 89-90), the election is completed at the next regular meeting.

Page 444, 11th edition.

It says nothing about a new notice, but I suspect that this is because they adopted a motion for an adjourned meeting and that is sufficient notice.

If the next meeting is beyond the quarterly interval (see the definition on page 89-90), however, a voice inside my head says that a new notice should be posted, since postponed items cannot be transported beyond this time frame without being referred to a committee. There may be some strange language related to elections that I cannot recall at the moment so the possibility exists that this issue may have other details attached to it. Stay here and lets see what our other experts have to say.

[Josh Martin]

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

The eight are elected. The election is incomplete for four positions. I don't think a new notice is required, but perhaps one of our more sage participants here will advise otherwise.

 

3 hours ago, Guest Zev said:

"Violated" is probably a strong term. After all, the assembly did partially discharge the requirement by electing eight out of twelve.

Here is what this book says about this subject:

Page 444, 11th edition.

It says nothing about a new notice, but I suspect that this is because they adopted a motion for an adjourned meeting and that is sufficient notice.

If the next meeting is beyond the quarterly interval (see the definition on page 89-90), however, a voice inside my head says that a new notice should be posted, since postponed items cannot be transported beyond this time frame without being referred to a committee. There may be some strange language related to elections that I cannot recall at the moment so the possibility exists that this issue may have other details attached to it. Stay here and lets see what our other experts have to say.

In my view, no new notice is required in any event. If the motion is carried over, through postponement or otherwise, to an adjourned meeting or the next regular meeting (within a quarterly interval), then I certainly think it is clear that no additional notice is required.

I think it is an interesting question as to what happens in the event that no adjourned meeting is scheduled and the next regular meeting is not within a quarterly interval. As you note, in the ordinary case, a motion which is pending in such cases “falls to the ground” and dies upon adjournment of the session, in which event the motion must be made anew, and therefore any required notice must be given again. I am inclined to think, however, that an item which automatically becomes an order of the day due to a requirement in the bylaws (as opposed to the making of a motion) cannot “fall to the ground” in this manner, although I acknowledge that RONR does not directly address this question.

Nonetheless, I certainly think it would be a good idea to provide notice of the completion of an incomplete election in any case, and especially if it will not occur for some time.

7 hours ago, Guest Tracy Fiers said:

The bylaws of an organization require 12 members be elected. At the last meeting they only elected 8 members. The bylaws require 30 days notice before elections. How should this be handled at the next meeting? Do they have to give 30 days notice again? Do they elect the 4 additional members or the entire 12?

Just the remaining four. I do not think 30 days of notice is required, but it wouldn’t hurt.

Edited September 23, 2018 at 06:25 AM by Josh Martin