Guest kansasmom Posted January 7, 2011 at 09:58 PM Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 at 09:58 PM I am the president of a middle school PTA. Our bylaws are established by the state and we are not permitted to change them. They state our nominating committee must be at least three people and an odd number. Our standing rules state we will attempt to obtain a nominating committee member from each feeder school. We have eight schools and this year each school has a person willing to serve on our nominating committee.Last night we voted to approve the eight members on the nominating committee. Today, someone pointed out that the bylaws state we should have an odd number.We feel strongly that each school has the right to have a representative on the committee, and no school should have two votes. Is it permissible for the board to vote to suspend that particular section of the bylaws in this one instance? Next year, one of the schools is closing, so then we will have an odd number of schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmtcastle Posted January 7, 2011 at 10:05 PM Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 at 10:05 PM Is it permissible for the board to vote to suspend that particular section of the bylaws in this one instance?It's very unlikely that your board has the authority to suspend anything in the bylaws. Whether the association can do so is another question.I would contact your state organization. It seems odd that they would insist on something as meaningless as having an odd number of members on a committee. After all, a member might be absent (or simply abstain) and then you'd be back with an even number (of votes). It also seems odd that they would prohibit the equal representation that you seek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert B Fish Posted January 7, 2011 at 10:14 PM Report Share Posted January 7, 2011 at 10:14 PM However, if you determine that this section of the bylaws are binding, then they are, well, binding. Failing to comply with the requirements of your bylaws will make the appointment of a nominating committee null and void. [page 244, l. 10]For a creative way to solve the problem, you could add a past president of your organization to the nominating committee. Yes, that will give one school and extra vote but the committee will be legal.If you REALLY feel that strongly about a rule that's apparently been around for a long time, you could appoint one member per school and make the 9th member someone whom you can count on to miss all the meetings, such as a member who now lives a long way from your town.<g>-Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev Ed Posted January 8, 2011 at 02:24 AM Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 at 02:24 AM I bleieve the odd number requirement comes from the mistaken idea that a group cannot have a tie vote, thus having an odd number of members is supposed to prevent this. Of course this is not the case, but I would suggest going with Robert's suggestion of appointing the Past President to make an odd number of members. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Wynn Posted January 8, 2011 at 02:38 AM Report Share Posted January 8, 2011 at 02:38 AM No rule in RONR requires a member of the nominating committee to be a member or from one of these schools. Check your rules to see if such a requirement exists. If not, any person could be added to make the number of committee members as odd as the rule governing its composition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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