Removal of President

[Guest Skyler]

I am hoping that someone out there in RONR world can help me out on this.

Our president has recently gone behind our board's back and taken action on behalf of the board. We had already decided this particular issue, and the president was unhappy with our decision and acted the way he thought we should have. He has also publicly interrogated another member of the board (at a semi-public meeting)and lied to us repeatedly about his actions.

Anyway, a number of us on the board would like to remove him from office. In looking through the FAQs and the forum here, I am uncertain if, by our bylaws, we can do this. In our constitution, it merely states that the board shall organize itself, electing is President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer from its voting members at the first meeting after July 1. We held an election at that first meeting, and are now approaching our 3rd meeting after July 1. Since no term is explicitly set, and no procedure is set for the removal or censuring of officers, to remove this President, do we have to wait out the rest of his term? The organization would likely not survive a formal trial of this person, so we do not want to go down that road. We would like to be able to rescind the election if possible, but I am not sure if we can.

Thanks for any help!

[hmtcastle]

Since no term is explicitly set . . .

. . . why not just hold an election?

[Gary Novosielski]

In our constitution, it merely states that the board shall organize itself, electing is President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer from its voting members at the first meeting after July 1. We held an election at that first meeting, and are now approaching our 3rd meeting after July 1. Since no term is explicitly set, and no procedure is set for the removal or censuring of officers, to remove this President, do we have to wait out the rest of his term? The organization would likely not survive a formal trial of this person, so we do not want to go down that road. We would like to be able to rescind the election if possible, but I am not sure if we can.

If no fixed term of office is listed anywhere in your constitution or bylaws (and none of us here can tell you if that's true) then there doesn't seem to be anything preventing you from removing the current president.

With no fixed term, the sole reason why this president is president, and the preceding president no longer is, is that you held an election.

While you are mandated to hold at least one election after July 1, you don't mention any prohibition against elections at other times. Therefore, without a fixed term, it would appear that you are free to elect this person's successor whenever it suits you.

[Guest Skyler]

. . . why not just hold an election?

An election was held at the end of July, so the term technically began then. I am thinking that without the "until a successor is elected" phrasing, we have to ride out his presidency until next July.

[Guest Skyler]

If no fixed term of office is listed anywhere in your constitution or bylaws (and none of us here can tell you if that's true) then there doesn't seem to be anything preventing you from rescinding the election.

So, to follow Robert's Rule of Order, if there is no term limit set (up to me to investigate in our bylaws) then an election can be rescinded, even without the phrasing "or until a successor is elected"? I want to make sure that we follow Robert's, since beginning in September, the president has become a stickler for this (not a focus for him before).

[hmtcastle]

An election was held at the end of July, so the term technically began then. I am thinking that without the "until a successor is elected" phrasing, we have to ride out his presidency until next July.

Who says the term is one year? If there's no term of office it doesn't matter when the term began.

And there's no need to rescind the election. Just hold another election.

[Josh Martin]

Anyway, a number of us on the board would like to remove him from office. In looking through the FAQs and the forum here, I am uncertain if, by our bylaws, we can do this. In our constitution, it merely states that the board shall organize itself, electing is President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer from its voting members at the first meeting after July 1. We held an election at that first meeting, and are now approaching our 3rd meeting after July 1. Since no term is explicitly set, and no procedure is set for the removal or censuring of officers, to remove this President, do we have to wait out the rest of his term? The organization would likely not survive a formal trial of this person, so we do not want to go down that road. We would like to be able to rescind the election if possible, but I am not sure if we can.

It is up to your organization to interpret its own Bylaws. See RONR, 10th ed., pgs. 570-573 for some Principles of Interpretation. Since your wording does not neatly fall into either of the basic examples provided in FAQ #20, there's really nothing in RONR which addresses this question directly.