I have been the moderator at our church for 12 years. Our Constitution and bylaws have no official language on this. I emailed my resignation to our Pastor. He holds no official position in our church government regarding our Business Meeting. So he has no right to accept or reject my resignation, it was just a courtesy. I later emailed him back and stated that I was resending my resignation. It is my understanding that my resignation has to be excepted by the voting membership of her church for it to become officially accepted. Is my thinking wrong or right.

There are people within our church who states that I am no longer the moderator. I sent the email to my pastor about a week after a normally held quarterly Business Meeting. I have conducted two BM since I rescinded my resignation. So am I in our out.

RONR hasn't changed- much- from 9th to 10th ed.
This answer is directly pertaining to a resignation FROM an elected office.
A resignation is a "request to be excused from a duty".
Yes, the governing body (board) can accept, reject, debate or modify the request it but it has to be in a position to act on it. That position is a duly called meeting with a quorum.
The chair reads the resignation letter (if it's written) and USUALLY it is accepted by general consent. But just writing a letter of resignation isn't enough-as far as a board is concerned- although a person cannot be compelled to stay in office and a reasonable board would not try to enforce that. Since a resignation is debatable and amendable it must be put in a position to have those things presented. That place is at a meeting. Page 278 in RONR 10th ed. (or page 291 in the 9th ed.) states that "the chair, on reading or announcing the resignation, can assume a motion to accept it, or a member can move "that the resignation be accepted".
It states further that unless the bylaws specify a succession of VP to Pres, then no filling of office can occur at that time because the filling of the presidency needs previous notice.

Now, a resignation from MEMBERSHIP is not something that needs to be voted on and that resignation is immediate.

Well actually, unless RRO has changed it's standing, I understand that when a resignation is submittedin writting (as it was) the governing body can accept it as is which, in effect, is excusing them from office. OR AT THE TIME THE NOTICE is read can turn it over to the membership to vote.

SO according to Roberts Rules of Order 9th Edition (I know I really need a new copy!) yor President has offically resigned and will need to be re-elected if she has changed her mind. OR go through the more confusing step of rescinding her resignation but either way you need a membership vote.

Oh, and you don't need to vote for a VP unless your by-laws don't not allow for the Secretary or Treasurer to "fill-in" when needed. Also if you have specific duties that need to be done by te VP you should consider opening elections for the seat.

What would I do? Open elections for both offices and pray for the best!

and the website I love when my little RRO book is lost, www.robertsrules.com
they have a great Q&A forum, too!

[ 10-09-2006, 01:36 AM: Message edited by: mykidsmom ]

For her resignation to become effective, the board had to vote to accept her resignation. That's all it would take to have her outta there.
If the board did not decide -by voice vote, ballot or general consent- to accept her resignation, then she's still in.
She is allowed, per RONR, to rescind her offer of resignation up until the moment someone on the board seconds a motion "to accept her resignation".
Best advice I can give is when a resignation is offered, hold an emergency meeting immediately and move to accept it or "you snooze, you loose".
I'd read your bylaws and not go by anyone's interpretation of succession of office.

I don't know what RRO say on this matter (but that won't stop me). Since your by-laws are vague in this area, here is my humble opinion how to interpret the situation.

The sticking point is going to be if teh e-mail is valid.

If she sent a signed piece of paper saying "I resign..." and the board voted to accept the resignation, then it is done deal - she is out and the replacement process is followed. (Although if she changes her mind she should have the right to try and replace herself if she so chooses).

The board vote to accept the resignation needs to be "on the record" (i.e., some record of the board meeting) before she decided to rescind her resignation. I am assuming the by-laws are clear that the board has the authority to act on it's own in some matters - this would naturally be one of them.

However, since the ex-pres sent her resignation notice as an e-mail, there may be some small question whether that is valid. She could claim, for instance, that the e-mail was not hers that someone else was "spoofing" her e-mail account without authorization. If she maid this claim, I think she would have a valid aregument for the board to acknowledge that the vote to accept the resignation is null-and-void, since the resignation was not valid. However, she did not make this claim and (it is implied) acknowledged the e-mail resignation letter was hers. In which case, I think you are back on safe ground in leaving her the ex-pres and moving on with filling the position.

Hope this wasn't too convoluted

I am on the PTO for the first time this year and there has already been some drama. :eek: Our president sent a letter of resignation to the school principal and all the board. Since, the principal and board had a meeting together, discussed her resignation and said the VP should fill the spot and we would hold a new election for the empty VP spot. Now the lady who resigned said it was not in front of the members at a meeting and therefor her resignation does not count and she still wants to be president. The board would rather her stay resigned as well as lots of the teachers and some parents. Now our by-laws are pretty vague so we would like to go by Robert's Rules of Orders. I have looked on some sites for it and am not very good with the legal lingo. I need laymans terms. [img]redface.gif[/img] So, here is the real question: Is her resignation valid with her e-mailing the principal and board and us having a board meeting about it and trying to move on and keep the PTO going, or does it have to be at an actual members meeting with members present and have it voted on? :confused: :confused: Please help!! Thank you!!!