ex-officio as chairman of a commmittee

[Guest Agotaras]

what are the reasons, if any, that an ex-officio member of a committee should not serve as chairman of the committee? 

[rulesasker]

None as far as RONR is concerned. Ex-officio just means that he is a member of the committee by virtue of some office.

[Guest Agotaras]

yes I agree but for some reason, even if allowed by RONR, it just doesnt feel right to me. Also I've never seen it done.

[Dan Honemann]

On 5/15/2024 at 5:44 PM, Guest Agotaras said:

yes I agree but for some reason, even if allowed by RONR, it just doesnt feel right to me. Also I've never seen it done.

Very often the President of an association serves ex officio in that same capacity on the association's board.   

[Weldon Merritt]

On 5/15/2024 at 4:44 PM, Guest Agotaras said:

yes I agree but for some reason, even if allowed by RONR, it just doesnt feel right to me.

What doesn't feel right about it? An ex-officio member has the same rights as any other member, so why should they not be eligible to chair the committee? In addition to Mr. Honemann's onservation:

On 5/15/2024 at 5:36 PM, Dan Honemann said:

Very often the President of an association serves ex officio in that same capacity on the association's board.   

I have seen some committees where every member is ex-officio.

[Guest Agotaras]

in our case, we have five ex-officio members and they have all rights as the nine regular voting members of the committee except the ex-officios cant vote. this is in our by-laws and has been forever.

If an ex-officio cant vote then it seems odd they would be chair---yes? also there could be a conflict of interest since the ex-officio is on the committee by virtue of their office held.  this is a town building committee. 

I welcome any thoughts!

 

[Joshua Katz]

On 5/16/2024 at 7:52 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

If an ex-officio cant vote then it seems odd they would be chair---yes? also there could be a conflict of interest since the ex-officio is on the committee by virtue of their office held.  this is a town building committee. 

 

Your organization will need to define what it means to be a member who cannot vote, since RONR being a member carries all rights of membership. It should do so by amending the bylaws for more clarity. Until that is done, though, any reason that an ex officio member should not be chair is simply a reason to vote one way or another, not a rule. 

By the way, a non-member can chair a committee, with consent of the parent assembly. So the only real question in my eyes is whether this appointment requires consent of the parent assembly. I don't think it does, because I tend to think a "non voting member" has all rights of membership except voting, but I can see how it could be argued differently.

[Guest Agotaras]

thank you! it has occurred to me some additional background might be helpful.

the current chair, elected by the committee is stepping down in 30-60 days due to time demands to do the job properly. None of the current voting members (nine) want the job so now we are looking at one of the five ex-officio members to be elected chair. All five ex-officios are on the committee due to the elected office they hold. Electing an ex-officio member as chair by our committee was never contemplated. When I research it online, i can find no examples, none, which is making me question the whole thing.

[Weldon Merritt]

On 5/16/2024 at 10:28 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

the current chair, elected by the committee is stepping down in 30-60 days due to time demands to do the job properly. None of the current voting members (nine) want the job so now we are looking at one of the five ex-officio members to be elected chair. All five ex-officios are on the committee due to the elected office they hold. Electing an ex-officio member as chair by our committee was never contemplated. When I research it online, i can find no examples, none, which is making me question the whole thing.

None of that makes any difference to the answers you have been given.

[Gary Novosielski]

On 5/16/2024 at 11:28 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

thank you! it has occurred to me some additional background might be helpful.

the current chair, elected by the committee is stepping down in 30-60 days due to time demands to do the job properly. None of the current voting members (nine) want the job so now we are looking at one of the five ex-officio members to be elected chair. All five ex-officios are on the committee due to the elected office they hold. Electing an ex-officio member as chair by our committee was never contemplated. When I research it online, i can find no examples, none, which is making me question the whole thing.

Well, RONR continues to say what it says.  If your local rules say something else (such as denying the right to vote), they would supersede the rules in RONR.

[Josh Martin]

On 5/16/2024 at 9:52 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

If an ex-officio cant vote then it seems odd they would be chair---yes?

On the contrary, this seems to make it easier to be chair, as they can avoid ever voting, which would avoid compromising the appearance of impartiality.

On 5/16/2024 at 9:52 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

also there could be a conflict of interest since the ex-officio is on the committee by virtue of their office held.  this is a town building committee. 

Well, to the extent that it is believed that the person's other offices will prevent them from carrying out the position of committee chair in a fair and effective manner, then I suppose someone else should be selected. I express no view on whether that is the case here and leave that to the organization's judgment.

But it continues to be my view that nothing in RONR prevents an ex-officio member (even an ex-officio non-voting member) from serving as chair, nor do I see anything "wrong" or "odd" about this.

On 5/16/2024 at 10:28 AM, Guest Agotaras said:

the current chair, elected by the committee is stepping down in 30-60 days due to time demands to do the job properly. None of the current voting members (nine) want the job so now we are looking at one of the five ex-officio members to be elected chair. All five ex-officios are on the committee due to the elected office they hold. Electing an ex-officio member as chair by our committee was never contemplated. When I research it online, i can find no examples, none, which is making me question the whole thing.

It somewhat surprises me that you have not found examples of this. I can assure you from my personal experience that this arrangement is not that unusual.

Edited May 17, 2024 at 01:37 PM by Josh Martin

[Weldon Merritt]

On 5/17/2024 at 8:35 AM, Josh Martin said:

It somewhat surprises me that you have not found examples of this. I can assure you from my personal experience that this arrangement is not that unusual.

I agree. And it makes me wonder how thorough Guest Agotaras' "research" actually was.