The Chair has the power to appoint, but does the chair have the power to remove?

[Paul Hunter]

I was told as chair I have the power to appoint committee members and the power to remove committee members. 

During a meeting, I asked the Board to remove a member from a Committee (I not sure the reason is important for this discussion).
Before there was even a debate, 2 people said according to the RONR, you can not remove a member till the end of their term and 
they are to stay at their position till the next convention.  One was on the By Laws committee, so I dropped it to save time,
the argument, and it was my only my second meeting so I thought I read something wrong or the advice I was give was wrong.

I later spoke to another parliamentarian and they told me that I had the power to appoint and remove also.  

So now, I am a bit confused on the issue.  I was hoping to pose this question to the group to see if I could get a consensus on this 
topic.

 

So, does the Chair have the power to appoint members to a committee and also have the power to remove members according to RONR?

Edited February 15, 2024 at 02:39 AM by Paul Hunter
Clarification of question

[Atul Kapur]

What do your bylaws say about who can appoint the members of the committee (or committees in general)? Do your bylaws have any language about the term for the members of the committee?

If your bylaws are silent, refer to RONR (12th ed.) 50:11 - 50:15.

[Paul Hunter]

Our bylaws state, concerning appointing, ....

"...create and appoint standing and special committees (subject to the approval of the board)..."  

but makes no mention of removing...

 

Edited February 15, 2024 at 05:25 AM by Paul Hunter
removed duplicate word

[Guest Anon]

On 2/14/2024 at 8:13 PM, Paul Hunter said:

you can not remove a member till the end of their term

I think the question is, do your bylaws say something about a term of membership in the committee?

On 2/14/2024 at 10:56 PM, Paul Hunter said:

subject to the approval of the board

I believe this means that the board must vote on the chair's appointments, and must also vote on removal of members (regardless of the question about terms)

[Gary Novosielski]

On 2/14/2024 at 11:56 PM, Paul Hunter said:

Our bylaws state, concerning appointing, ....

"...create and appoint standing and special committees (subject to the approval of the board)..."  

but makes no mention of removing...

 

The power to appoint carries with it the power to remove, but I believe the power to appoint subject to approval means that the power to remove is also subject to approval.

[Atul Kapur]

I agree that, based on what you have shared, removal requires approval of the board. 

However, to answer the original question, you have the authority to remove a member of a committee before the end of their term, subject to approval of the board, according to RONR (12th ed.) 50:14. 

Your procedure is closest to that of 50:13(c), except that the board is the body that decides on your nominations. So the action that you took 

On 2/14/2024 at 9:13 PM, Paul Hunter said:

During a meeting, I asked the Board to remove a member from a Committee

was proper and the objectors were incorrect.

You could have also asked the board to approve the replacement of member X with member Y.

The vote to remove the member of the committee is, per 50:14, a two-thirds vote or the majority of the entire membership (of the board) if previous notice of the motion was not given. If notice was given, a majority vote is sufficient.

Edited February 15, 2024 at 11:32 PM by Atul Kapur

[Paul Hunter]

Thanks for the response Atul and Gary.  Had one question about the below.

On 2/15/2024 at 6:31 PM, Atul Kapur said:

The vote to remove the member of the committee is, per 50:14, a two-thirds vote or the majority of the entire membership (of the board) if previous notice of the motion was not given. If notice was given, a majority vote is sufficient.

Is the 2/3 vote for all motions that do not have previous notice?  Or just a subset of motions that do not have previous notice?

[Gary Novosielski]

On 2/17/2024 at 7:00 PM, Paul Hunter said:

Thanks for the response Atul and Gary.  Had one question about the below.

Is the 2/3 vote for all motions that do not have previous notice?  Or just a subset of motions that do not have previous notice?

Most motions only require a majority vote.  A small subset have a higher threshold.  In this case this type of motion is called Amend Something Previously Adopted.   Adopting most motions requires a majority, but changing something that has already been agreed upon requires a more stringent requirement.  This is to prevent fluid opinions, or the presence or absence of a single member from enabling  flip-flopping of what has been decided.

Some motions require a two-thirds vote without other options  This is usually in situations where people with minority opinions are negatively affected.  One example is cutting off debate before everyone who wishes to has spoken.  

Edited February 18, 2024 at 12:09 AM by Gary Novosielski

[Atul Kapur]

The vote required to adopt a motion to Amend Something Previously Adopted without previous notice is 2/3 or the affirmative vote of the entire membership. Some other motions, such as Rescind, have the same threshold but most main motions only require a majority vote.

See Table VI on pages t48-t49 for the full list of motions that require a 2/3 vote (and those where a majority of the entire membership is valid alternative)