Committee of the society?

[katydid]

Hello

Our bylaws state (under Duties of the CEO)

The CEO shall appoint chairpersons of the standing committees

and (under the section on Committees) states

1. Standing committees shall consist of ....

2. Special committees shall be appointed by the CEO for special purposes and shall be designated Ad Hoc.

My questions are

1. Who do the standing committees report to, the board or the membership?

2. Does the CEO have the authority to appoint and assign a task to establish a special committee?

Thanks!

katy

[Chris Harrison]

1. Who do the standing committees report to, the board or the membership?

Whichever body appointed the committee.

2. Does the CEO have the authority to appoint and assign a task to establish a special committee?

You will need to look to the bylaws for the answer to that question.

[Ann Rempel]

Hello

Our bylaws state (under Duties of the CEO)

The CEO shall appoint chairpersons of the standing committees

and (under the section on Committees) states

1. Standing committees shall consist of ....

2. Special committees shall be appointed by the CEO for special purposes and shall be designated Ad Hoc.

My questions are

1. Who do the standing committees report to, the board or the membership?

2. Does the CEO have the authority to appoint and assign a task to establish a special committee?

Thanks!

katy

"A standing committee of a society reports to the assembly of the society, and not to the executive board or board of directors, unless the bylaws provide otherwise." RONR, p. 474, l. 17-20.

[Guest katy]

Whichever body appointed the committee.

The committes themselves are established in the bylaws - the bylaws state the CEO shall appoint the chair but says nothing on who the committe reports to

You will need to look to the bylaws for the answer to that question.

The bylaws say 'Special committees shall be appointed by the CEO for special purposes and shall be designated Ad Hoc' and nothing more

[Mr. J!]

The bylaws say 'Special committees shall be appointed by the CEO for special purposes and shall be designated Ad Hoc' and nothing more

It's impossible for an Internet forum to tell you what this provision in your bylaws means without seeing it in context. (But don't post the whole thing here.)

If the meaning is not clear in context, the organization will have to decide what its own rule means.

[hmtcastle]

Putting aside your bylaws for the moment, any assembly can appoint a (special) committee. The board can appoint a committee. A committee could appoint a (sub) committee. This is what adopting a motion to commit does: it creates a committee, usually to explore a question in greater depth and report back to the appointing body. Note that these special (or ad hoc) committees are distinct from standing committees.

Whether your bylaws add to or replace these default rules depends on a careful reading of your bylaws in their entirety, something that's beyond the scope and purpose of this forum.

[Guest katy]

Thank you!

[jstackpo]

And when you do look closely at your bylaws, look carefully at uses of "appoint". Do they "really" mean "establish" AND "name people to", or just "name people to", the strict meaning of appoint.

Unfortunately RONR doesn't always keep the distinction carefully separated either, although you can usually tell from the context whether "appoint" takes on the combined meaning or just the single "name people" meaning. See 478 where RONR (more or less) gets it right.