Thank you very much for all your responses. We already had the "term limits" worked out. It was just the term of office (2 yrs) being staggered that had us raising our eyebrows. This will help, and it shows us the dilemna if we change it now. I think that we will put an amendment in our bylaws that says after the initial election of officers for the two year term of 2002-2004, officers shall be elected each year with these officers in even numbered and these officers in odd numbered.
Thanks again,
Jennifer Fakharizadeh
President, Jeter Jaguar PTO This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
One other note...if somebody holding an office voted on one cycle is elected into an office voted on the other cycle, they would be required to resign their existing office.
At that point, you would need to hold a special election to fill the unexpired term. The person elected at this point would only serve until the normal term expires, so they would only get a one year term.
If you expect to see people stepping up through the offices, you may find yourself electing 2/3+ every year.
I believe "term limits" refer to limitations on the NUMBER of consecutive terms an officer can serve. That would be different that the LENGTH of a term. So, for example, our officers are elected for 1 year terms and cannot serve more than 2 times in that office (consecutively) without a special vote of the Board. As far as staggered 2 year terms, I believe this is how it would work using current year as an example where new officers start on June 1:
President and Secretary (even years)
June 2000 - May 2002
June 2002 - May 2004
VP, Treas, and Member at Large (odd years)
June 2001 - May 2003
June 2003 - May 2005
The "term of office" is the two year period. If you need to fill an office DURING the period (maybe someone moves), the new officer still just serves until the same end date, not 2 years from their own start date. In your case, starting from scratch, the VP, Treasurer, and Member at Large would only have one year to serve as you are starting at the midpoint.
Whether or not they could be elected again depends on your bylaws and if you have term limits. (Most term limits are 2 times, so even if you have term limits, it wouldn't prevent them from running again.)
I see the misunderstanding! :confused: Because this is a new organization the two year plan would be off. The even numbered offices would get two years (2002 & 2003), but the odd number offices would either serve one year or three. Maybe you should reword your bylaws to read that the initial officers would hold office from the school years of 2002-03 and 2003-04 and then switch to one year terms with two year term limits. I can see why you would want to start with a two year intact board, but from that point on would that still be necessary? Our executive board is reelected on a yearly basis with a 2 year term limit. For continuity purposes you could also designate your VP as a president-elect so that the President position is automatically filled and the rest of positions are filled by nominations. :cool:
As a brand new PTO, we held our meeting to pass our bylaws on Tuesday. One of the members objected to our policy in the bylaws of officers serving a two-year term in office. We had reviewed many different bylaws from all over that we obtained from this website and we found that many PTO's serve 2 yr terms. She also called attention to staggered elections and this is where the question comes in. If your bylaws state (like the PerryWorth bylaws) that an officer serves a term of 2 years, than below that is states that the President, Secretary are to be elected in even numbered years and the Vice President, Treasurer, and Member at Large are to be elected in odd numbered years - does that mean that it is not really a two year term, or that it might be longer then 2 yrs if it isn't your election year. Someone please explain how this works. And does it work well? Our biggest issue is participation, so 2 yr offices guaranteed that our start-up organization wouldn't fall apart after 1 yr. THANKS SO MUCH! Everyone on this site has my heart-felt appreciation.
Jennifer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
