President serving on a committee

[AFS1970]

I have found myself in an odd position. I was nominated for and am running for President of my volunteer fire company. I currently serve on our Bylaws committee which is almost done with a large revision. If I win, I will have to appoint a new committee. This is an ad hoc committee that was appointed by the current president a little over a year ago. If elected I plan on leaving the committee in tact by reappointing all the current members if they are willing to serve. However as President will I be able to serve on a committee? I would normally think no, but as we are finishing up a large task, I would like to be a part of finishing the work I was a part of starting. 

Our bylaws say nothing on who can serve on committees, We have other officers that serve on various committees, although none of them have appointing authority. This being an ad hoc committee there are no written rules as to how many members can or must serve on it. I just want to avoid the appearance of impropriety or any actual impropriety. 

[Atul Kapur]

23 minutes ago, AFS1970 said:

However as President will I be able to serve on a committee?

Yes.

Presidents are eligible as any other member to serve on a committee. Some organizations even specify that the President is an ex-officio member of all committees, with one or two standard exceptions.

[jltheobald]

Given that the task of the ad hoc committee is not yet completed, and assuming that the members were appointed and not ex officio, the term of office of the committee members will not end until their revision is complete and they have reported (RONR, 11th ed., pp. 502-503).  I agree with Atul that the president is eligible to serve, in fact, it may state that he/she is automatically an ex officio member in your bylaws.  So unless there is some reason in your bylaws or in the manner of appointment to the committee that causes their terms to end with that of the current administration, there probably is not any need to re-appoint the committee.  Not part of your question, but it seemed like a good idea to comment on your belief that you needed to re-appoint the ad hoc committee.

[Atul Kapur]

21 minutes ago, jltheobald said:

there probably is not any need to re-appoint the committee

Great point, one that I had missed totally in my answer.

And Welcome!

Edited August 9, 2020 at 08:30 PM by Atul Kapur

[Richard Brown]

@jltheobald welcome to the forum, Joe!

[AFS1970]

Thank You, I had not thought about the committee being in place until the work is finished. 

I did find one other line in the bylaws but it may not come into play as this committee remains in place, our bylaws say that the president appoints all committees subject to membership approval. To the bet of my knowledge no member has ever brought up removing or changing any committee members, but theoretically this could happen.