Sub committee question

[Guest sam]

Hello,

I'm just trying to find some information on a sub committee established to perform a task and report back. 

My question is - once the task & report has been handed in is the sub committee

• Automatically dissolved ?
• Needed to be dissolved by the committee at a committee meeting?
• Have to go to a general meeting for members to vote to dissolve it?

Nothing is mentioned in our associations constitution regarding this. Thank you in advance for any insight into my problem.

[Rob Elsman]

Once the subcommittee has completed its assignment and made its final report to its parent committee, it is automatically "dissolved", as you say. No further motion is necessary or proper to put the subcommittee out of business.

[Guest sam]

Thank you for this - is this a law somewhere ?  i have a problem with a person who now thinks he is a committee member now that his task is done.

Edited September 11, 2019 at 12:29 PM by Guest sam
spelling

[Rob Elsman]

See RONR (11th ed.), p. 313.

[jstackpo]

I'm not so sure that p. 313 applies as the subcom just finished its work, it wasn't "discharged".  P. 492, line 3 would seem to fill the bill a bit better.

[Rob Elsman]

Dr. Stackpole, I suggest a more careful reading of p. 313.

Edited September 11, 2019 at 09:21 PM by reelsman

[Atul Kapur]

2 hours ago, Guest sam said:

Thank you for this - is this a law somewhere ?  i have a problem with a person who now thinks he is a committee member now that his task is done.

Whoever appointed him should disabuse him of that notion. That would be, I hope, the parent committee. Ask him to show you where it says he still has a position, now that he no longer has work assigned to him.

Dr. Stackpole and reelsman are both drawing analogies to what happens to a special (aka "ad hoc") committee after it has completed its work. It's a good analogy but I can't find anything that says it in so many words.

And, going where angels fear to tread, I will cast my lot with Dr. Stackpole. Page 492 states the situation explicitly and concisely. Page 313 requires more steps to get to the same place.

[Gary Novosielski]

As a subcommittee is essentially a committee-within-a-committee, I think it's more than a mere analogy to suggest that the rules that apply to committees also apply to subcommittees.

When a committee completes its business, and "rises and reports", it goes out of business automatically, unless as a result of the report the parent body recommits the question back to the committee.  The exception to this is a standing committee which exists on a semi-permanent basis, and continues to exist even after reporting on one of its possibly multiple questions.  But since I have not heard of a "standing subcommittee" I think the former rule would apply.  

[Guest Zev]

While subcommittees normally are created by the parent committee and its members are members of the committee, we have seen cases of subcommittees that were defined in the bylaws and permanent.

9 hours ago, Guest sam said:

Nothing is mentioned in our associations constitution regarding this.

if I take this to mean absolutely nothing, then it appears as though the committee appointed the subcommittee and chose some non-committee members as subcommittee members. However, in order for a committee to appoint non-committee members to any subcommittee it would have to obtain permission from the assembly to do so, to wit:

Quote

A committee (except a committee of the whole, 52) can appoint subcommittees, which are responsible to and report to the committee and not to the assembly. Subcommittees must consist of members of the committee, except when otherwise authorized by the society in cases where the committee is appointed to take action that requires the assistance of others.

RONR 11th edition page 497.

As far as I am concerned, the subcommittee has been dissolved unless the committee orders it to sit again, but if it does so it needs to seek the permission to appoint non-committee members, something it forgot to do the first time. At least this is what I suspect is what happened. If it forgets the second time then it would be appropriate for the assembly to take up the question of this/these appointment(s) and issue a warning to the committee not to exceed its privileges. Some may interpret the words "in cases" to constitute a restriction in that if the committee if not taking any action then it is free to appoint non-committee members to any subcommittee it may appoint. While this may be true (perhaps a dedicated thread to this subject is needed) I would play it safe and request permission from the assembly in all cases. The possibility exists that the assembly may not look kindly on the appointment of non-members to any subcommittee even if it is aware of what the rule is.