Chairing Special Meeting

[Guest ArvSharma]

Who should chair a Special Meeting the current President or the person who called the Special Meeting?

[George Mervosh]

19 minutes ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

Who should chair a Special Meeting the current President or the person who called the Special Meeting?

The President.

[Gary Novosielski]

48 minutes ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

Who should chair a Special Meeting the current President or the person who called the Special Meeting?

The president should, unless the purpose of the special meeting, as stated in the call of the meeting, is such that the president would have a personal or pecuniary interest in the outcome, not in common with other members, in which case the president should step out of the chair and allow the VP to preside.

[Guest ArvSharma]

The current Board has not conducted regular meetings nor managed affairs of the organization in a transparent or fair manner. 

As such more then 10% of the  membership signed a petition  to hold a Special Meeting to either get the Board to commit to being accountable and function effectively or resign.

Who would be the "rightful" person to chair this Special Meeting?

[jstackpo]

Do your bylaws authorize the calling of a special meeting in the first place?  Did you follow the instructions in that authorization (if any)?

[George Mervosh]

8 minutes ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

The current Board has not conducted regular meetings nor managed affairs of the organization in a transparent or fair manner. 

As such more then 10% of the  membership signed a petition  to hold a Special Meeting to either get the Board to commit to being accountable and function effectively or resign.

Who would be the "rightful" person to chair this Special Meeting?

The President, but the rules may be suspended by a 2/3 vote to permit another member to preside.  Just that motion should liven up the meeting or get their attention.

Edited April 16, 2019 at 09:01 PM by George Mervosh

[Gary Novosielski]

2 minutes ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

The current Board has not conducted regular meetings nor managed affairs of the organization in a transparent or fair manner. 

As such more then 10% of the  membership signed a petition  to hold a Special Meeting to either get the Board to commit to being accountable and function effectively or resign.

Who would be the "rightful" person to chair this Special Meeting?

The president.  Although if the president is expected to rule unfavorably on some key points, the members should familiarize themselves with the operation of the motion to Appeal, since it may be necessary.  

I'm not sure how you intend to get the board to "commit" or "resign".  You can't really force them to do either. You should familiarize yourself with the requirements for removing directors from office, since that's the alternative that is most likely to get their attention.

[Josh Martin]

57 minutes ago, George Mervosh said:

The President, but the rules may be suspended by a 2/3 vote to permit another member to preside.  Just that motion should liven up the meeting or get their attention.

 

56 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

The president.  Although if the president is expected to rule unfavorably on some key points, the members should familiarize themselves with the operation of the motion to Appeal, since it may be necessary.  

I think it might be reasonably argued that a motion which suggests that all of the current board members are not functioning effectively or managing the affairs of the society in a transparent or fair manner and requests that they take steps to change this or else to resign, is similar enough to a motion of censure that the President should not preside (assuming that the President is a board member).

”Whenever a motion is made that refers only to the presiding officer in a capacity not shared in common with other members, or that commends or censures him with others, he should turn the chair over to the vice-president or appropriate temporary occupant (see below) during the assembly's consideration of that motion, just as he would in a case where he wishes to take part in debate (see also pp. 394–95).” (RONR, 11th ed., pg. 451)

In the event that the President refuses to relinquish the chair, however, I concur with Mr. Mervosh that the next step would be a motion to suspend the rules to remove the President from the chair and elect a Chairman Pro Tempore.

56 minutes ago, Gary Novosielski said:

I'm not sure how you intend to get the board to "commit" or "resign".  You can't really force them to do either. You should familiarize yourself with the requirements for removing directors from office, since that's the alternative that is most likely to get their attention.

Presumably the intent of the motion is to serve as a threat to get the board members to voluntarily “commit” or to resign. If the motion is not successful in accomplishing either objective, then disciplinary procedures may well be the next step.

Edited April 16, 2019 at 09:58 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest ArvSharma]

Met the requirements for Special Meeting as per the bylaws, but will do more reading tonight re removing officers.

[Atul Kapur]

2 hours ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

petition  to hold a Special Meeting to either get the Board to commit to being accountable and function effectively or resign.

 

1 hour ago, Guest ArvSharma said:

Met the requirements for Special Meeting as per the bylaws, but will do more reading tonight re removing officers.

Read about it, but I don't think you could make a motion to remove the directors, or any particular director or officer, from office at this special meeting. You are only allowed to conduct the business that was specified in the notice of the special meeting. From the way you describe it, a motion to remove a / the director(s) would be beyond the terms of that notice.