Presiding over a meeting

[Tomm]

If the bylaw states: "SECTION 3: PRESIDENT The President shall preside at and conduct all meetings of the Corporation by a formal order of business. The President shall have general supervision and direction of the affairs of the Corporation in accordance with the Corporate Documents. The President shall have authority to administer all matters not otherwise expressly delegated, and may call special meetings of the Membership and/or Board."

QUESTION: Is this language strong enough to mean that ONLY the president of the board can preside over a meeting (in this case the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting) or can the president delegate that position to chair the meeting to perhaps the General Manager?

Not sure what the term "by a formal order of business" really means?

[Richard Brown]

On 11/9/2023 at 6:12 PM, Tomm said:

If the bylaw states: "SECTION 3: PRESIDENT The President shall preside at and conduct all meetings of the Corporation by a formal order of business. The President shall have general supervision and direction of the affairs of the Corporation in accordance with the Corporate Documents. The President shall have authority to administer all matters not otherwise expressly delegated, and may call special meetings of the Membership and/or Board."

QUESTION: Is this language strong enough to mean that ONLY the president of the board can preside over a meeting (in this case the upcoming Annual Membership Meeting) or can the president delegate that position to chair the meeting to perhaps the General Manager?

Not sure what the term "by a formal order of business" really means?

This provision is a rule in the nature of a rule of order according to RONR (12th ed.) and therefore the rules may be suspended to permit someone else to preside.  However, if the regular chair cannot or does not want to preside for some reason, the vice president shall preside if present and willing.  If no vice president is present and willing to preside, then the president can designate someone else to preside unless there is an objection or someone else is also nominated.  In that case, the matter of who shall preside is decided by vote of the assembly.  See, for example, 43:29 and 47:11-47:13 (RONR 12th ed.). 

The regular presiding officer can be involuntarily removed from presiding by means of a motion to suspend the rules and remove the chair from presiding.  If that is done over the chair's objection, it requires a two-thirds vote since it requires a suspension of the rules.  See 61:10 - 61:15 for the procedure.

[Tomm]

On 11/9/2023 at 6:11 PM, Richard Brown said:

This provision is a rule in the nature of a rule of order according to RONR (12th ed.) and therefore the rules may be suspended to permit someone else to preside. 

Could the president, without any objections simply bypass the VP and appoint someone else to preside or must there be a vote to suspend the rules?

[Richard Brown]

On 11/9/2023 at 7:39 PM, Tomm said:

Could the president, without any objections simply bypass the VP and appoint someone else to preside or must there be a vote to suspend the rules?

The president cannot bypass the VP if the VP objects. If the VP consents or is absent, the president can name someone else to preside, unless there is an objection or someone else is nominated from the floor. If there is an objection, but no one else is nominated, then the matter would go to a vote, and it would require a majority vote to approve the president’s appointee. If there are one or more other nominees from the floor, the winner would be selected just as in any other vote, and would require a majority vote. Normally, when the president desires to name someone else to preside and the vice president either consents or is absent,, there is no objection, and it is done by unanimous consent.