How to manage unruly/bullying behavior

[Up North Lover]

Hello, I am new to this forum and hope I am submitting my questions correctly.  Our Lake Association uses Robert's Rules and has done so since its inception over 40 years ago.  I am the Secretary for the Association and I am looking into how our association can manage an unruly member.  This member has sent several contentious emails to all Lake Association members throughout the year but does not attend the yearly meetings in person, so his behaviors are not experienced live, just via emails. He has threatened lawsuits in more than one occasion and recently threatened to sue any Association Committee Member that worked on a project for a motion that passed unanimously at the last annual meeting.  Additionally he has accused several members of collusion (myself included) and also in his emails he has accused members of lying, deceit, and other bullying behaviors.  There is evidence that he has lied and been deceitful in the emails he sent to all members. 

My questions are:

1. Can and/or how could he be censured for his email behavior?

2. Our group has never discussed censuring, can someone be censured if it is not in our bylaws but we adopt Robert's Rules?  

3. Is there any other avenue to manage his threatening emails?
Thank you

[Gary Novosielski]

Yes, a motion to censure a member is in order if RONR is your parliamentary authority.  But apart from expressing the displeasure of the assembly with the actions of the member, censure carries no consequences beyond that.  Censure can be a "penalty" imposed as a result of a formal discipline process, or as the result of an ordinary main motion.

If you think a more severe penalty is in order, you'll need to check your bylaws to see if there are any disciplinary procedures contained there.  If not, the procedures in RONR (12th ed.) would apply, contained in Chapter XX. Specifically, since these alleged offenses occur outside of a meeting, the procedures in §63 would be used.  These cover the methods of conducting investigation and trial of members.

If your bylaws do not list specific offenses with which a member may be charged, RONR provides that any organization may charge a member with “conduct tending to injure the good name of the organization, disturb its well-being, or hamper it in its work" or the like.  It's a fairly complex process, and you may want to try a simple censure resolution first, and see whether that improves matters (or makes them worse) before starting a full-blown investigation.

Check out that section of RONR and come back with any questions that come up.  I'm sure there will be several.

[Tom Coronite]

15 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

My questions are:

3. Is there any other avenue to manage his threatening emails?
Thank you

Considering his "unruly behavior" is via email and not at meetings, perhaps blocking his email address is a way to go? Does he seem like a guy whose behavior would be impacted by a censure? (Rhetorical question there)

[Up North Lover]

Thanks for the responses.  It doesn't seem like the censure motion will be of any help.  I'm pretty certain that blocking his emails will be of no use either as I and the other Board Members have ignored his emails, so then he sends his email via certified mail.  When we don't respond to that letter then he emails the entire association saying that we are not cooperative.   

We are very frustrated with his behavior. We are all volunteers and want wat is best for our community.  He has already been so malicious to our VP that he has resigned mid term.  I thin that is the motive here, bully us so we resign and no one else will want to take on the roles as they see how we were treated.

Is there any other way to help with this problem? 

[Guest Zev]

What I do not understand is why Mr. Unruly does not attend the association's meetings? Would this not be the occasion for him to move a motion to do what he thinks needs to be done and make his case in debate? Does he understand that he has this option? Is he suffering any monetary damage as a result of Association decisions that he feels he has no way of influencing? Perhaps scheduling an interview of him and the board chaired with someone skilled in conflict resolution would help. 

[Josh Martin]

14 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

Thanks for the responses.  It doesn't seem like the censure motion will be of any help.  I'm pretty certain that blocking his emails will be of no use either as I and the other Board Members have ignored his emails, so then he sends his email via certified mail.  When we don't respond to that letter then he emails the entire association saying that we are not cooperative.   

We are very frustrated with his behavior. We are all volunteers and want wat is best for our community.  He has already been so malicious to our VP that he has resigned mid term.  I thin that is the motive here, bully us so we resign and no one else will want to take on the roles as they see how we were treated.

Is there any other way to help with this problem? 

As has already been noted, if more severe penalties are desired (such as suspending the member of some or all of the rights of membership, or even expelling him from the society), the organization will need to look to the disciplinary procedures in its bylaws. If the bylaws are silent on this subject, then see Section 63 of RONR for the formal disciplinary procedures. Due to the need to protect the rights of individual members, these procedures are quite lengthy and complex, and should be reviewed in their entirety before proceeding.

It may also be desirable for the board to seek legal counsel to see what legal options might be available.

[Up North Lover]

Mr. Unruly did not attend last years' annual meeting due to concerns his for catching COVID, as per him.  Yet he as at a committee meeting a few weeks later without a mask.

The concern for suspending him or other penalties is that our Bylaws thru the years have not always enforced and other members have disobeyed bylaws without consequence (like ignoring building set backs or exterior finishes). So the thought is that if any enforcement of the rules were to happen to him, he could challenge that enforcement by saying others don't follow the rules so why should he.  We did seek legal council and we were told to merely ignore his bullying behaviors, as noted earlier. As for having an intervention with him many Board members thru the years have tried to reason with him when he has broken numerous rules throughout the years but there is no reasoning with him. Many of those conversations have lead to more of his threats of lawsuits and he has even damaged personal property of the person trying to "reason" with him.  It appears he wants to come off as unstable, and then no one follows thru on any more interventions because they are too afraid of him.  

I ordered the RONR, so I can't review the citation noted. My older version refers to a trial.  If that is the direction to pursue is a trial I don't think anyone from our organization will be in favor of that. 

[Guest Zev]

Thank you for the more expansive explanation. In my opinion this situation has no parliamentary procedure answer. Your association has tried reasoning with him to no avail.

At this juncture you are left with three decisions: (1) enforce the association's rules against no one; (2) enforce the association's rules against all members except Mr. Unruly, or (3) enforce the association's rules against all members including Mr. Unruly. The answer as to which course of action is best can only be derived by consulting your legal counsel and weighing the probably consequences and expenses involved in each case. But this is only a guess.

[Atul Kapur]

11 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

he could challenge that enforcement by saying others don't follow the rules so why should he.

This sounds like a recipe for anarchy. What are you going to do when other members realize that none of the rules will be enforced? Actually, I shouldn't be using the future conditional tense as it sounds like that is the current state of affairs.

If he challenges -- and succeeds -- how are you worse off than now? And there is a real possibility he won't challenge or won't succeed.

In your older edition of RONR there is a quote from Henry M. Robert (p. v of the 11th edition): "Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty."

12 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

It appears he wants to come off as unstable, and then no one follows thru on any more interventions because they are too afraid of him.

Sounds like it's working.

[Josh Martin]

19 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

Mr. Unruly did not attend last years' annual meeting due to concerns his for catching COVID, as per him.  Yet he as at a committee meeting a few weeks later without a mask.

The concern for suspending him or other penalties is that our Bylaws thru the years have not always enforced and other members have disobeyed bylaws without consequence (like ignoring building set backs or exterior finishes). So the thought is that if any enforcement of the rules were to happen to him, he could challenge that enforcement by saying others don't follow the rules so why should he.  We did seek legal council and we were told to merely ignore his bullying behaviors, as noted earlier. As for having an intervention with him many Board members thru the years have tried to reason with him when he has broken numerous rules throughout the years but there is no reasoning with him. Many of those conversations have lead to more of his threats of lawsuits and he has even damaged personal property of the person trying to "reason" with him.  It appears he wants to come off as unstable, and then no one follows thru on any more interventions because they are too afraid of him.  

Well, we've told you what your options are. I don't know what else to tell you. It's up to your organization to decide how to proceed.

19 hours ago, Up North Lover said:

I ordered the RONR, so I can't review the citation noted. My older version refers to a trial.  If that is the direction to pursue is a trial I don't think anyone from our organization will be in favor of that. 

If your bylaws contain their own disciplinary procedures, those procedures take precedence over RONR.

If your bylaws are silent regarding disciplinary procedures, then the procedures in RONR would be controlling. The disciplinary procedures in RONR do indeed include a trial.

[Up North Lover]

Thanks everyone for your responses.