Involvment of the Ex-Officio member?

Started by ChrisB4 • 5 replies • 2118 views

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ChrisB4 (West Virginia)
Posts: 175

Posted:

Roberts Rules of order offers this explanation:

"Ex-Officio Members of Boards and Committees. Frequently boards and committees contain some members who are members by virtue of their office, and, therefore, are termed ex-officio members. When such a member ceases to hold the office his membership of the board terminates automatically. If the ex-officio member is under the control of the society, there is no distinction between him and the other members except where the president is ex-officio member of all committees, in which case it is evidently the intention to permit, not to require, him to act as a member of the various committees, and therefore in counting a quorum he should not be counted as a member. The president is not a member of any committee except by virtue of a special rule, unless he is so appointed by the assembly. If the ex-officio member is not under the authority of the society, he has all the privileges, including the right to vote, but none of the obligations of membership; as when the governor of a state is, ex-officio, a manager or a trustee of a private academy."

Roberts Rules of Order tenth addition

Our By-Laws say that the President is the Ex-Officio member of all committees (except Nomination/election). My question is about the Ex-Officio members rights as a member in this fashion. How much "say" does the president get when he attends the meetings of various committees?

Does he vote? Is he able to call for a vote on an item? What is his level of involvement?

Thanks

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

ChrisB4:
You will need to refer to your docs regarding your committees and how they are set up. As an 'ex-officio member', in this case, the Exec. Board President can be a member of 'all committees'.

But, does the Committee have the final say to a resident request, or does the Board? If the Board, then for the ex-officio President to be on a committee and vote would be redundant. Actually, in many cases, a committee is to only make a 'recommendation' to the Board and the Board makes the decision.

In many communities it is common for a Board member to act as a 'liasion' to the Committee and observe the discussion of a community situation requiring a resolution--with no input from the Board member. This way, the Board member has heard the discussion, pro and con, the Board receives the recommendation from the Committee, and the Board is informed and prepared to make the final decision.

Jadedone4 (Virginia)
Posts: 495

Posted:

I agree with Paul and would add that having former board-members on Committees is a good policy (provided that the board-member is a product part of the process). This uses another resource that communities sometimes discard; a previous board-member who can offer assistance to a Committee, especially when you have the structure that Paul mentioned (Committee makes recommendations to Board, and does not unilaterally decide issues). I am unaware of any "ex" who would have a valid vote in a matter (unless they were fully appointed), but they do reserve some levels of counsel.

ChrisB4 (West Virginia)
Posts: 175

Posted:

The problem we have is that our president attends every meeting of the 5-6 committees we have and tends to weigh into matters in a way, that as a Board member(VP) is going beyond his mandate. He has also proven that he cannot divorce himself and his opinions on matters that he is personally interested in. For example if he attended an ARC meeting where a question came up about approval of a particular object and he knew someone personally who that would effect, his opinion would go in their direction.....

I am of the opinion that engaging in informal discussion's in committee meetings on matters or clarifying matters of proceedure are constructive ways that he can be involved assuming that he can recognize his own boundaries. But the entire board has spent months building "fences" to contain his actions.

We are working twords a more permanent solution, if you know what I mean, but as VP I'm very careful to do everything by the book as I have the first right of refusal to his position and don't want to be accused of having other motives.....

PaulM (Pennsylvania)
Posts: 1,347

Posted:

ChrisB4: The board member you speak of should, out of common sense, realize that he/she is not to engage in discussion with committee members re a situation which would lean towards one decision or another.

Further, it is the board member's (this situation/President)responsibility to meet collectively with the rest of the Exec. Board in order to come to a decision for any situation. To imply or to create discussion with a committee before the board member meets with the rest of the board is to compromise the integrity of the confidentiality he is to uphold by virtue of his position.

Jadedone4 (Virginia)
Posts: 495

Posted:

Chris, again agree with Paul and would add that the current members of the board, dictate what occurs at a meeting. While you do not have to have Robert's Rules of Order used to the exact letter of the rule/law - there are ways of limiting non-Board/Committee member's participation in meetings. As Paul stated common sense should reign with the "ex" in his/her role with regard to being a resource and not a full member of either Board/Committee - but as you stated, that is not going to happen voluntarily. Therefore it becomes the responsibility of the Board, President/Chair to limit his/her role - or at the very least to have a private converstaion with them to reach that understanding.

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