Co-presidents

[Guest Beverly]

I am a co-president and have become "incapacitated" can the other co-president choose a relacement?

 

[Josh Martin]

27 minutes ago, Guest Beverly said:

I am a co-president and have become "incapacitated" can the other co-president choose a relacement?

The fact that an officer has become "incapacitated," in and of itself, does not create a vacancy unless your bylaws so provide (and in such a case one hopes the bylaws also defines what this means and/or who determines this). What you could do, however, would be to resign. It may or may not be the other co-president which selects the replacement. I would check your bylaws to see what they say about filling vacancies. If they say something, follow that. If they are silent but grant the board full power and authority over the affairs of the society between meetings of the society's membership, then the board would fill the vacancy. If they are silent and the board lacks full power and authority over the affairs of the society between meetings of the society's membership, then the vacancy is filled by the same body which elected the position in the first place. The same body which has the authority to fill the vacancy has the authority to accept the resignation.

Also, I would note that RONR frowns on the use of "co-presidents" and much prefers a President and Vice President.

"The power to appoint or elect persons to any office or board carries with it the power to accept their resignations, and also the power to fill any vacancy occurring in it, unless the bylaws expressly provide otherwise. In the case of a society whose bylaws confer upon its executive board full power and authority over the society’s affairs between meetings of the society’s assembly (as in the example in 56:43) without reserving to the society itself the exclusive right to fill vacancies, the executive board is empowered to accept resignations and fill vacancies between meetings of the society’s assembly." RONR (12th ed.) 47:57

"The anomalous title “co-chairman” should be avoided, as it causes impossible dilemmas in attempts to share the functions of a single position." RONR (12th ed.) 13:17

Edited October 18, 2020 at 03:18 PM by Josh Martin

[Rob Elsman]

RONR (12th ed.) does not mention "co-presidents".  If this organization's governing documents provide for them, the rules in them will have to provide the answer to the question you ask.

My own sense is that having "co-presidents" preside at meetings is an arrangement that will cause all manner of difficult, awkward situations.

[Richard Brown]

49 minutes ago, Guest Beverly said:

I am a co-president and have become "incapacitated" can the other co-president choose a relacement?

 

First, please quote your bylaw provision that provides for having co-presidents. Please quote it exactly, don’t paraphrase.

Second, if you have become incapacitated, why not simply resign as co-president? Do your bylaws provide for a method of filling a vacancy in one of the co-president positions? Whatever method the bylaws provide for filling vacancies should be followed. Nothing in RONR would permit the remaining co-president to appoint a new co-president to replace you. Any such authority would have to be granted in your bylaws.

without knowing more about what your bylaws say, we cannot tell you what method can or should be used to fill a vacant co-president  position.  It may be that your board can fill the vacancy. It may be that it would require having the vacancy filled by the membership. Without knowing what your bylaws say, we cannot tell you.

For starters, though, let’s see whether your bylaws do in fact authorize having co-presidents.