Nomination Committee Report and Disagreement

[M Goodman]

Synopsis of problem

Nomination Committee requires 3 members, only one of which can be on the board, but only 2 were nominated (one of which was a board member and chair). No need to address this, just  some background).

Second person on nominating committee was contacted once (total) by phone in which they were asked if they would serve on the committee asked if they knew of any candidates.

Instead of in committee, candidates were discussed in board and decided there. 2nd person on nominating committee was not aware or informed. (No need to address this, background only)

Committee chair submitted nominees  slate and report with ineligible members without informing or approval of other committee member.

Slate sent out to membership.

Second person had no communication other than the first initial call until after the slate was sent to membership.

2nd member of nominating committee calls chair to state they do not agree with the slate because it has ineligible candidates and they did not approve the slate.

 

The question is, is the report valid? Does the 2nd member have any recourse? I did find in RONR 51.2 that I believe addresses this point in that the report content has to be a majority vote within the committee. So having only 2 members on split sides would not constitute a majority. Are there any other areas in RONR  that address this point? Or how to address resolutions within a committee?

I understand there are various points of order in my synopsis, there is no need to address those as synopsis was given as background only to the questions I have.

Thanks in advance for any answers and guidance!

Best,

Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Josh Martin]

On 10/9/2021 at 9:47 AM, M Goodman said:

The question is, is the report valid?

As I understand the facts, the report was developed without a meeting of the committee and without ever seeking the input of one of the committee's members. If this is correct, the report is certainly not valid.

"Except as noted in this paragraph, a report of a board or committee can contain only what has been agreed to by a majority vote at a regular or properly called meeting of which every member has been notified (or at an adjournment of one of these meetings) - where a quorum of the board or committee was present... In the case of a committee, however, if it is impractical to bring its members together for a meeting, the report of the committee can contain what has been agreed to by every one of its members. (See also Electronic Meetings, 9:30-36.)" RONR (12th ed.) 51:2

There also appears to be a suggestion that the report contains nominations of persons who are not eligible for office. Even if the report was not otherwise invalid, those nominations would not be valid.

On 10/9/2021 at 9:47 AM, M Goodman said:

Does the 2nd member have any recourse?

The member could raise a Point of Order, followed by an Appeal if necessary, that the report in question was not adopted by the committee - and for that matter, was never considered by the committee, and the member only learned of the report after the fact.

Ordinarily, it would seem rather difficult to ascertain the facts on questions such as this, but if there are only two members of the committee and they are both present, it seems relatively easy.

In my view, the point should be ruled "well taken" and the report should be declared not to be the valid report of the Nominating Committee, and the assembly could then proceed to take nominations from the floor. The nominations originally contained within the committee report (except those for ineligible persons) could be made from the floor.

On 10/9/2021 at 9:47 AM, M Goodman said:

I did find in RONR 51.2 that I believe addresses this point in that the report content has to be a majority vote within the committee. So having only 2 members on split sides would not constitute a majority.

Well, that's correct, but I think that's somewhat understating the problem here. The problem here is that no meeting or communication between the members of the committee ever occurred.

On 10/9/2021 at 9:47 AM, M Goodman said:

Are there any other areas in RONR  that address this point? Or how to address resolutions within a committee?

I think 51:2 is the most on-point citation for the issue at hand.

Edited October 9, 2021 at 08:57 PM by Josh Martin