President's Resignation

[Guest BMorton]

If a president resigns due to health reasons, how is the office filled?  Can the 1st vice-president and 2nd vice-president decline the position?  If so, what happens next?

[Atul Kapur]

Once the office of president is vacant, the 1st VP automatically and immediately becomes the president, and the other VPs automatically and immediately move up in rank. There is no opportunity to decline. 

The new president (formerly 1st VP) now has the option of resigning as president, but would not then return to being 1st VP -- they would no longer hold any office. 

Edited July 8, 2023 at 02:31 PM by Atul Kapur

[Gary Novosielski]

On 7/8/2023 at 5:00 AM, Guest BMorton said:

If a president resigns due to health reasons, how is the office filled?  Can the 1st vice-president and 2nd vice-president decline the position?  If so, what happens next?

If your president resigned, then at the moment the resignation was accepted, the 1st VP became, and now is, president.  The 2nd VP is now 1st VP, all other numbered VPs, if any, also change seats, so a vacancy exists in the office of the highest numbered VP.

What happens next is, that vacancy is filled according to the rules in your bylaws.  If there are no such rules, then the rules in RONR apply. [See RONR (12th ed.) 47:57-58]

 

[Josh Martin]

On 7/8/2023 at 4:00 AM, Guest BMorton said:

If a president resigns due to health reasons, how is the office filled?

The First Vice President automatically becomes President and the Second Vice President automatically becomes First Vice President.

If the new President resigns, then the new First Vice President would automatically become President.

"In case of the president's resignation, death, or removal, the vice-president automatically becomes president for the remainder of the term, unless the bylaws expressly provide otherwise for filling a vacancy in the office of president (see also 56:32).

Some societies elect several vice-presidents in an order of precedence—first, second, third, and so on—in which case the highest-ranking one present has the duty of serving in place of the president when needed. In case of the president's resignation, death, or removal, the first vice-president then automatically becomes president (unless, as indicated above, the bylaws expressly provide otherwise for the office of president). Likewise, in case of any vice-president's resignation, death, or removal, or upon his or her automatic promotion to a higher office, the next-highest-ranking vice-president, if there is one, is automatically promoted (unless the bylaws expressly provide otherwise). Thus, for example, if the first vice-president resigns, the second vice-president becomes first vice-president, the third vice-president becomes second vice-president, and so on, with the vacancy to be filled occurring in the lowest-ranking vice-presidency. A vice-president cannot decline to take the higher office to which he has been automatically promoted; if unable or unwilling to carry out the duties of the new office, his only recourse is then to submit his resignation, upon the acceptance of which he will no longer hold either office." RONR (12th ed.) 47:29, emphasis added

On 7/8/2023 at 4:00 AM, Guest BMorton said:

Can the 1st vice-president and 2nd vice-president decline the position?

No, but the new President could resign, and then the even newer President could resign.

On 7/8/2023 at 4:00 AM, Guest BMorton said:

If so, what happens next?

In the event that both Vice Presidents resign from the office of President (which is the only manner in which they can decline the position), the organization will then have vacancies in the office of President, First Vice President, and Second Vice President which must be filled.

First, check your bylaws to see if they have rules for filling vacancies. If so, follow those rules.

If the bylaws are silent on this matter, then the vacancies are filled by the same body which elected the positions to begin with, unless the bylaws grant the board "full power and authority" to act for the membership between meetings of the membership, in which event the board may fill the vacancies even if the positions were originally elected by the membership.

The organization may also wish to take greater care in electing Vice Presidents in the future to confirm they are willing to perform the most important duty of that position.

Edited July 9, 2023 at 03:40 PM by Josh Martin

[Guest BMorton]

Thank you all for the responses.