Verbal resignation of president during meeting

[NRE]

Caught in a 'Catch 22' - President orally resigned during a meeting; a motion was made and seconded to "adjourn meeting and continue discussion in executive committee meeting'. President refused to call committee meeting stating "I am no longer president." Does the motion to adjourn have to be placed before the assembly (RONR 4:3) to be valid? In this case, the president was no longer 'functioning' as president. 

[Nathan Zook]

First, in order to be effective, the president's resignation has to be accepted.  Technically, they remain president.  Which can be unfortunate, but it is necessary.  If the bylaws provide for the vice-president to chair "in the absence of the chairman", or some such, then that person becomes chairman of the meeting, the president having absented themselves from the chair.  If not, any member may assume the chair, and then call for the election of a chairman pro tem to chair the remainder of the meeting.  If there were any other business pending, it is then resumed, although members might prefer to lay upon the table such business in order to discuss the president's tendered resignation immediately.

As you have experienced, referring the matter to the executive committee, while certainly proper, may be problematic if only the president has the explicit authority to call a meeting of the executive committee.  Please examine your bylaws and the rules of the executive committee to see if there is any other provision for the executive committee to meet.  If not, the executive committee is subordinate to the assembly.  Therefore, the assembly can order it to meet at a certain time and place, or perhaps "at the call of the vice-president until we have a president".

The above assumes that there is some provision for a regular or special meeting to be called by someone other than the president.  Proper handling of the situation otherwise is beyond my expertise.

As for the validity of business conducted after the verbal resignation, I would say that, since the resignation has not been accepted, then your president remains president, and that any business conducted after the verbal resignation is valid.  Finally, it is extremely common practice for motions to Adjourn to be handled informally.  This is bad practice, but valid if no point of order is raised against it at the time.

Edited November 2, 2020 at 04:58 PM by Nathan Zook
not not

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, NRE said:

Caught in a 'Catch 22' - President orally resigned during a meeting; a motion was made and seconded to "adjourn meeting and continue discussion in executive committee meeting'. President refused to call committee meeting stating "I am no longer president." Does the motion to adjourn have to be placed before the assembly (RONR 4:3) to be valid? In this case, the president was no longer 'functioning' as president. 

The President was incorrect that he was no longer President. The resignation is not final until it is accepted. In any event, however, if the President refused to consider presiding, the Vice President (or in the absence of the Vice President, a Chairman Pro Tempore appointed by the President and confirmed by the assembly, or a Chairman Pro Tempore elected by the assembly if the President refuses to do that as well) would preside and state the question on the motion to adjourn.

Alternately, if the assembly did the correct thing and promptly moved to accept the President's resignation, the Vice President would become President and preside (unless the Vice President was absent, in which event a Chairman Pro Tempore would be elected by the assembly).

With that said, however, it is not proper to combine a motion to adjourn with a motion to Refer to the Executive Committee, or to combine a motion to adjourn with calling a meeting of the Executive Committee. A motion to refer to the Executive Committee may be adopted by majority vote, but it would be adopted as a separate motion prior to the motion to adjourn. Your own rules should specify how meetings of the Executive Committee are called.

Any motion must be placed before the assembly to be valid. In the case of a presiding officer who refuses to place a properly made motion before the assembly, there are tools to deal with that.

I do wonder, however, if the terms "executive committee" and "executive session" are being confused. An executive committee is a "board within a board," which consists of a subset of the members of the board. An "executive session" is instead a meeting of the same assembly in which the proceedings are secret. In the latter case, a motion to adjourn was still not the proper tool, but a member could have moved that the assembly enter executive session.

11 minutes ago, Nathan Zook said:

If the bylaws provide for the vice-president to chair "in the absence of the chairman", or some such, then that person becomes chairman of the meeting, the president having absented themselves from the chair. 

RONR already provides for this.

11 minutes ago, Nathan Zook said:

As for the validity of business conducted after the verbal resignation, I would say that, since the resignation has not been accepted, then your president remains president, and that any business conducted after the verbal resignation is valid.  Finally, it is extremely common practice for motions to Adjourn to be handled informally.  This is bad practice, but valid if no point of order is raised against it at the time.

I certainly agree that there is no issue at this time with the adjournment based upon the facts presented, but there may be an issue with what subsequently occurred in an Executive Committee meeting if said meeting was not properly called (and assuming that it was, in fact, an executive committee meeting and the OP is not confusing executive committee and executive session).

Edited November 2, 2020 at 05:07 PM by Josh Martin

[NRE]

The assembly was so flabbergasted by the events that everyone was just glad to leave. VP refused to call a meeting of the executive committee; as an officer, I, and another officer, resorted to 50:21 RONR. This meeting was cancelled as we did not provide sufficient notice. I wonder if our next meeting should begin with "unfinished business". FYI - I have only had my RONR 12th ed. for one week. This is a huge learning experience for me. 

 

Edited November 2, 2020 at 05:48 PM by NRE

[Josh Martin]

30 minutes ago, NRE said:

The assembly was so flabbergasted by the events that everyone was just glad to leave. VP refused to call a meeting of the executive committee; as an officer, I, and another officer, resorted to 50:21 RONR.

What do your rules say regarding calling a meeting of the Executive Committee?

What is said in 50:21 is irrelevant, because the Executive Committee (despite its name) is actually a board, not a committee.

"The executive committee is thus in reality a “board within a board” and operates under the rules in this book applicable to boards rather than those applicable to committees." RONR (12th ed.) 49:13

33 minutes ago, NRE said:

I wonder if our next meeting should begin with "unfinished business".

No. The standard order of business is as follows:

"1) Reading and Approval of Minutes

2) Reports of Officers, Boards, and Standing Committees

3) Reports of Special (Select or Ad Hoc) Committees

4) Special Orders

5) Unfinished Business and General Orders

6) New Business" RONR (12th ed.) 41:5

If a motion was pending when the meeting adjourned, this would be the first item considered under Unfinished Business, however, the meeting does not begin with Unfinished Business. As you can see, several other headings occur first.

[NRE]

Chapters in this organization only have "Executive Committees"; The Division (state) and General (national) entities have "Executive committees" and separate "Executive Boards". 

Chapter bylaws state 'the executive committee will meet in the summer at the call of the president.' Then: "The executive committee shall meet at other times as necessary."

[Josh Martin]

22 minutes ago, NRE said:

Chapters in this organization only have "Executive Committees"; The Division (state) and General (national) entities have "Executive committees" and separate "Executive Boards". 

Chapter bylaws state 'the executive committee will meet in the summer at the call of the president.' Then: "The executive committee shall meet at other times as necessary."

I suppose your organization will have a question of bylaws interpretation on its hands to determine how the meetings the other "as necessary" meetings are called since the bylaws do not specify. In the long term, it would seem prudent to amend the bylaws to clarify this matter.

[NRE]

6 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

Any motion must be placed before the assembly to be valid. In the case of a presiding officer who refuses to place a properly made motion before the assembly, there are tools to deal with that.

Can you explain the "tools to deal with that" please?

Edited November 2, 2020 at 11:40 PM by NRE

[Josh Martin]

28 minutes ago, NRE said:

Can you explain the "tools to deal with that" please?

See RONR (12th ed.) 62:2-15.

Edited November 3, 2020 at 12:08 AM by Josh Martin

[NRE]

Can you explain this please:

"Any motion must be placed before the assembly to be valid. In the case of a presiding officer who refuses to place a properly made motion before the assembly, there are tools to deal with that."

 

[Josh Martin]

On 11/3/2020 at 7:26 AM, NRE said:

Can you explain this please:

"Any motion must be placed before the assembly to be valid. In the case of a presiding officer who refuses to place a properly made motion before the assembly, there are tools to deal with that."

Have you read the cited pages I mentioned? Is there something in particular on those pages you have questions about?

[NRE]

I'm sorry; I missed that and yes; I'm going over  RONR (12th ed.) 62:2-15.

I appreciate your input. 

[NRE]

"A resignation is a Request to Be Excused from a Duty. It may be withdrawn in the same manner as any motion may be withdrawn - that is to say, BEFORE THE PROPOSED RESIGNATION HAS BEEN PLACED BEFORE THE ASSEMBLY BY THE CHAIR STATING THE QUESTION ON ITS ACCEPTANCE, IT MAY BE WITHDRAWN WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE ASSEMBLY, but it may not be withdrawn without permission of the assembly once it has been placed before the assembly for its approval. [RONR (10th ed.), p. 277-80; 283-85.] “

So, how does one 'place a resignation before the assembly' before it can be withdrawn by the person resigning (who happens to be the president?)

[Richard Brown]

17 minutes ago, NRE said:

So, how does one 'place a resignation before the assembly' before it can be withdrawn by the person resigning (who happens to be the president?)

By a member moving to accept the resignation or by the chair stating it as the next (or pending) item of business.  Even if it is moved to postpone the matter or to refer it to a committee (or to the executive committee), it has still been placed before the assembly.