TERM OF OFFICE

[anthony divincenzo]

can a member of the board run again immediately after his/her term is completed? What if that person is the president or treasurer and wants to run for the same position after completing

the term as given in the bylaws. Where is this described in Robert's rules?

[George Mervosh]

52 minutes ago, anthony divincenzo said:

can a member of the board run again immediately after his/her term is completed? What if that person is the president or treasurer and wants to run for the same position after completing

the term as given in the bylaws. Where is this described in Robert's rules?

RONR imposes no term limits on officers.  Only the bylaws can.  Do your bylaws have term limits?  See the bottom of p. 574 continuing to p. 575.

Edited May 11, 2019 at 03:22 PM by George Mervosh
Added citation for term limits.

[anthony divincenzo]

5 hours ago, George Mervosh said:

RONR imposes no term limits on officers.  Only the bylaws can.  Do your bylaws have term limits?  See the bottom of p. 574 continuing to p. 575.

George. thank you for your prompt response. Our bylaws do have term limits, But if at the annual meeting can some one nominate  a member for another term who has already completed his term....and if they do what is the correct response.....and what if the majority at the annual meeting want this person to serve another term...I'm a little confused on this subject as you can tell.

[Joshua Katz]

What exactly do your bylaws say about term limits? Please give the exact language, not a paraphrase.

[Richard Brown]

1 hour ago, anthony divincenzo said:

George. thank you for your prompt response. Our bylaws do have term limits, But if at the annual meeting can some one nominate  a member for another term who has already completed his term....and if they do what is the correct response.....and what if the majority at the annual meeting want this person to serve another term...I'm a little confused on this subject as you can tell.

If there is no prohibition in your bylaws, then that person can be nominated and elected and can serve.

[Gary Novosielski]

 

 

1

17 hours ago, anthony divincenzo said:

Our bylaws do have term limits, But if at the annual meeting can some one nominate  a member for another term who has already completed his term....and if they do what is the correct response.....and what if the majority at the annual meeting want this person to serve another term...I'm a little confused on this subject as you can tell.

There is a difference between a term and term limits.  Term limits typically set a limit on the total number of terms (or the number of consecutive terms) that an elected person may serve.   If the bylaws set terms, but not term limits, a person may be reëlected to as many terms as the electorate wishes.

But if a person has reached the limit on the number of terms set forth in a term limit rule in the bylaws (serving more than half a term counts as one term) then that person is not eligible for election, and therefore may not be nominated, may not be elected, and any write-in votes for that person are counted as illegal votes.  

It makes no difference if a majority at the meeting want this person to serve another term. A rule on term limits in the bylaws may not be suspended even if the vote is unanimous.  The only way around this is to amend the bylaws, by carefully following the rules in the bylaws on how they can be amended.

[Josh Martin]

19 hours ago, anthony divincenzo said:

But if at the annual meeting can some one nominate  a member for another term who has already completed his term

Yes, unless that person has already reached the limits imposed in your bylaws. Since you have simply said that your bylaws have term limits, but you did not provide any further details on what those limits are or how many terms this person has served, I don’t know whether this person has hit the limit.

19 hours ago, anthony divincenzo said:

and if they do what is the correct response

If the person has not yet reached the term limit, the chair should say “Mr. X is nominated. Are there any further nominations?” If the person has reached the term limit, the chair should say (for example, adjust as needed depending on the specifics) “The nomination for Mr. X is not in order, because our bylaws limit officers to two consecutive terms and Mr. X has already served two consecutive terms, and he is therefore not eligible for this office. Are there any further nominations?”  If the chairman fails to make this ruling on his own, a member should raise a Point of Order, followed by an Appeal if necessary.

19 hours ago, anthony divincenzo said:

and what if the majority at the annual meeting want this person to serve another term

If the person has not yet reached the term limits, then this person will presumably be elected. If the person has reached the term limits, then they’ll have to elect someone else. (Theoretically, the bylaws could be amended to remove the term limits, but previous notice is generally required for bylaw amendments, so it may be too late for that.)

Edited May 12, 2019 at 04:28 PM by Josh Martin

[anthony divincenzo]

Quote

3 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

Yes, unless that person has already reached the limits imposed in your bylaws. Since you have simply said that your bylaws have term limits, but you did not provide any further details on what those limits are or how many terms this person has served, I don’t know whether this person has hit the limit.

If the person has not yet reached the term limit, the chair should say “Mr. X is nominated. Are there any further nominations?” If the person has reached the term limit, the chair should say (for example, adjust as needed depending on the specifics) “The nomination for Mr. X is not in order, because our bylaws limit officers to two consecutive terms and Mr. X has already served two consecutive terms, and he is therefore not eligible for this office. Are there any further nominations?”  If the chairman fails to make this ruling on his own, a member should raise a Point of Order, followed by an Appeal if necessary.

If the person has not yet reached the term limits, then this person will presumably be elected. If the person has reached the term limits, then they’ll have to elect someone else. (Theoretically, the bylaws could be amended to remove the term limits, but previous notice is generally required for bylaw amendments, so it may be too late for that.)

 

 

[anthony divincenzo]

You guys are the best...thanks so much for clarifying this situation...this time I think I got it.

A Divincenzo