who attends executive session

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

That's up to the (real) members. They can invite or exclude him as they wish. And anyone else.

But if he's not a member he has no right to attend, executive session or not."

[Guest Kim Goldsworthy]

Ron,

>>former board chairman<<

>>no longer a board member<<

. . .

>>When the board enters an executive session, does the honorary non-voting member stay or leave the room?<<

kg: "Leave the "

[Guest Chris H]

I probably don't know what is good for me but I must disagree with Mr. Mountcastle and Mr. Goldsworthy (which I very rarely do). RONR p. 447 says, "Rights carried with the honor include the right to attend meetings and to speak,". That seems t"

[Guest Weldon Merritt]

<<That seems to suggest that the honorary member has a right to attend meetings whether in Executive Session or not.>>

I concur, assuming that the "honorary member" really is an honorary member. But unless the bylaws allow f"

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

I'm inclined to think Mr. H has it right and I had it wrong.

But we usually say that a non-voting member retains all the other rights of membership. If that's the case I'm not sure why an honorary non-voting member can't make motions.

Or"

[Guest Chris H]

My guess is that the organization decided to have honorary members without really understanding or fleshing out what the honorary member can and cannot do (besides being non-voting) and that is why Ron would need to refer to RONR pp. 570-573 to answer you"

[Guest Chris H]

...and continuing the sentence on p. 447 the honorary member doesn't have the right to vote or make motions unless the person already is a member of the body or the bylaws grants full membership rights to the honorary member."

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

>>or the bylaws grants full membership rights to the honorary member<<

But the wrinkle is that, in this instance, there's not just an "honorary member" but a "non-voting honorary member". And the (perhaps rhetorica"

[Guest Ron]

I agree that this organization probably didn't know what it was doing

Now THAT statement is undoubtedly true!

I've now found an updated set of bylaws, and the wording has changed: the immediate past board chair is an "ex-officio" me"

[Guest Chris H]

Totally. Provided that there is no qualifications an ex officio member has all of the rights of a member (RONR pp. 466-467). So the answer to your original question is yes he can attend the Executive Session, he can make motions, he can speak in debate,"

[Guest H.Wm.Mountcastle]

See FAQ #2, elsewhere on this site for more on ex-officio positions.

And note that even if the chair is removed from office for malfeasance, he'll still be the immediate past chair and, therefore, he'll still be on the board."

[Guest Trina]

> the immediate past board chair is an "ex-officio" member of the board <

And is the former chair (whom you mentioned as an honorary member in your original past) actually the IMMEDIATE past board chair?"