Just to fill you in...our illustrious president has not been using the by laws. The chairmen positions were filled at the meeting, they never opened it up to the floor for nominations, our treasurer is in her 3rd consecutive term & noone knows what Robert's Rules are. Needless to say we have stirred up the water, we are hoping with our feet a little further in the door next year we will get this committee on the right track. Thank you for your input!
Also, in our bylaws -and probably in yours too - is a requirement that in our February general membership meeting the nominating committe will present those members who were selected by the committee. Then a motion will be made to accept nominations fro the floor. The elections are held during our May meeting and if there are more than one candidates for an office they can have time to "politic". Usually there aren't any from the floor, so it is just a matter of handpicking the members fro the next board.
Even if you present nominees on the same night you have elections I would bet your bylaws require nominations to be asked for from the floor. test it. On the night of the elections, before they vote, make a motion to nominate someone and see what happens.
Yikes! The bottom line is to get your hands on a set of by-laws. According to ours, the positions of president, vice pres, secretary and treasurer are elected. Other chair positions that finish off the executive board are appointed. The president does appoint a nominating committee for the following year's elections, but they canvas the entire membership for volunteers to run. Our elected positions are for one year with no more than two years holding the same position. Nominees are announced two weeks prior to elections and you have to be a member in good standing to run as well as vote. But those are MY bylaws. Find out what yours are and proceed from there!! Good luck! :cool:
IANAL, but I am fairly sure that the by-laws are public doucuments and she is breaking the law if she refuses to provide you a set. She could be petty and charge you a copying fee, but she can't deny you the opportunity to see them.
If you are a PTO, I don't know where you would turn, but if you are a PTA you can call the regional PTA representative and tell them that you requested a copy of the bylaws and were refused a copy. The PTA recommends that each officer and committee chair have a copy of the bylawsand anyone else who wants them. They are not state secrets.
If she is refusing to let people read the bylaws, it is a safe bet she is not operating by them.
We are in search of any suggestions or comments. Our current prez is not pulling her weight, her comment entering our last meeting was, "Let's get started, I want to get out of here!" Through the entire meeting she either got up to talk during the secretaries minutes reading or rolled her eyes and tossed her hand back when someone spoke. Being a new member(kindergarten child)I asked for a copy of the by-laws so I/we would not have to keep calling her at home with questions, we are all unsure who to call or when & what topics should be discussed, her reply (after rolling her eyes and doing the hand thing) was that they are not available to give out and if you need to know anything just call her or wait for the meetings. I and others asked other questions and where immediately passed over.
We are not sure how but, the prez chose 2 members to nominate new chair members for the next term, only those two Exec. members where appointed and onone else, is this normal? Furthermore, the exising prez has been chosen again for the next term, the rest of us would much rather have a different prez and we are unsure how to go about it. The next meeting is 5/15. We have many Exec. members with much more enthusiasm and TIME that would surely do a nicer job. HELP US PLEASE!!
