Officer resignation

[Guest Carrie]

When an officer resigns does a board vote need to be taken to accept resignation

[Josh Martin]

22 minutes ago, Guest Carrie said:

When an officer resigns does a board vote need to be taken to accept resignation

The resignation must be accepted by the body with the power to fill the resulting vacancy, which may or may not be the board. Resignations are generally accepted by unanimous consent, but if there is an objection a vote would be taken.

[Guest Rev. Jeffrey Lambrecht]

Josh:

Our church leadership council is comprised of five members who are elected directly by the congregation and two members that are congregationally elected to separate teams and then appointed to the council by their respective teams.  The full council has received a written resignation from one of the two appointed members.

Question: Must the resignation be accepted by the remaining active church leadership council or can the resignation be tabled in hopes of finding a resolution to the reason for the resignation?  AND/OR, is it the responsibility of the council to accept the resignation because of the member having been appointed from a separate team.

My current thought is that the resignation effectively removes them from their appointed position to the church leadership council immediately, but the team from which they were appointed needs to accept the resignation and appoint a new representative of the team to the leadership council.

Thank you for considering this question.

Rev. Jeffrey Lambrecht

224.243.1790

PastorJAL@BSLCAntioch.com

[Josh Martin]

57 minutes ago, Guest Rev. Jeffrey Lambrecht said:

Our church leadership council is comprised of five members who are elected directly by the congregation and two members that are congregationally elected to separate teams and then appointed to the council by their respective teams.  The full council has received a written resignation from one of the two appointed members.

Question: Must the resignation be accepted by the remaining active church leadership council or can the resignation be tabled in hopes of finding a resolution to the reason for the resignation?  AND/OR, is it the responsibility of the council to accept the resignation because of the member having been appointed from a separate team.

My current thought is that the resignation effectively removes them from their appointed position to the church leadership council immediately, but the team from which they were appointed needs to accept the resignation and appoint a new representative of the team to the leadership council.

The resignation does not remove the person from any positions immediately. A resignation is not final and effective until it is accepted.

The body with the power to fill the resulting vacancy would have the option of accepting the resignation or could postpone the act of accepting the resignation in hopes of finding a resolution to the reason for the resignation.

As to which body has the power to act on the resignation, my understanding is that the position in question is appointed to the council by a "separate team." Based on these facts, it would appear that this "separate team" is thus the body with the power to accept the resignation.

[RSW]

On 4/8/2021 at 1:46 PM, Josh Martin said:

The body with the power to fill the resulting vacancy would have the option of accepting the resignation or could postpone the act of accepting the resignation in hopes of finding a resolution to the reason for the resignation.

I'm wondering about this in the example given. And obviously this is all bylaws-dependent.

If the person submitted their resignation to the *council*, but the responsibility to fill the vacancy was from the *separate team*, it would seem that the council could have responsibility for accepting, but not the power to fill the vacancy.

And the separate team, while having the power to fill the vacancy, wouldn't have authority to accept a resignation that wasn't directed to them.

Basically, it sounds like the person is a member of two groups. And one could conceivably resign from the council and *not* the separate team. This would be in much the same way that a person could resign their position as union steward for a company without quitting their job at the company. 

I would think that a resignation from the *separate team* would logically remove them from the council (since the appointed council member presumably must be a member of the separate team?), but that the reverse may not be true.

Edited April 10, 2021 at 03:45 PM by RSW

[Josh Martin]

1 hour ago, RSW said:

If the person submitted their resignation to the *council*, but the responsibility to fill the vacancy was from the *separate team*, it would seem that the council could have responsibility for accepting, but not the power to fill the vacancy.

No, it means the person submitted their resignation to the wrong people.

Unless the organization's rules provide otherwise, the body with the power to fill the vacancy is also the body with the power to accept the resignation.

"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

1 hour ago, RSW said:

Basically, it sounds like the person is a member of two groups. And one could conceivably resign from the council and *not* the separate team. This would be in much the same way that a person could resign their position as union steward for a company without quitting their job at the company. 

I would think that a resignation from the *separate team* would logically remove them from the council (since the appointed council member presumably must be a member of the separate team?), but that the reverse may not be true.

This all seems correct, but in any event, the body with the power to fill the vacancy is the body with the power to accept the resignation.

[RSW]

25 minutes ago, Josh Martin said:

This all seems correct, but in any event, the body with the power to fill the vacancy is the body with the power to accept the resignation.

So in the (hypothetical) scenario where the person *only wanted* to resign their seat on the council, they would submit their resignation from the council to the separate team, presumably clarifying that they wished to not be on the council, but still be part of the separate team?

[Richard Brown]

4 hours ago, RSW said:

I'm wondering about this in the example given. And obviously this is all bylaws-dependent.

If the person submitted their resignation to the *council*, but the responsibility to fill the vacancy was from the *separate team*, it would seem that the council could have responsibility for accepting, but not the power to fill the vacancy.

And the separate team, while having the power to fill the vacancy, wouldn't have authority to accept a resignation that wasn't directed to them.

 

2 hours ago, Josh Martin said:

Unless the organization's rules provide otherwise, the body with the power to fill the vacancy is also the body with the power to accept the resignation.

Well While what Mr. Martin said is generally true, in this particular situation I’m not sure that the “appointing authority“ is the proper body to accept  the resignation of a member who is serving on and resigning from his position in different body.

I think in this particular case it is highly dependent upon the bylaws of the organization. Unfortunately, at the moment I am in the middle of a meeting and did do not have time to research it. It just seems to me this is an unusual situation and the general rule may not be applicable.

Edited April 10, 2021 at 08:13 PM by Richard Brown
Typographical (dictation) corrections as indicated

[Atul Kapur]

47 minutes ago, Richard Brown said:

Well what Mr. Martin said is generally true, in this particular situation I’m not sure that the “appointing authority“ is the proper body to accept  the resignation of a member who is serving on and resigning from his position in different body.

We are told that the person is only on the council because they were put in that position by the team. So I agree with Mr. Martin when he says:

1 hour ago, Josh Martin said:

No, it means the person submitted their resignation to the wrong people.

Unless the organization's rules provide otherwise, the body with the power to fill the vacancy is also the body with the power to accept the resignation.

 

[Josh Martin]

6 hours ago, RSW said:

So in the (hypothetical) scenario where the person *only wanted* to resign their seat on the council, they would submit their resignation from the council to the separate team, presumably clarifying that they wished to not be on the council, but still be part of the separate team?

If the "separate team" is the body with the power to fill the resulting vacancy in the council seat, then yes, the "separate team" is the body to submit the resignation to.

Edited April 11, 2021 at 12:19 AM by Josh Martin