It’s time to kick off the election process for club officers and directors for the coming Rotary year (beginning July 1). Your club bylaws require that a least four officers plus directors for the coming year be elected no later than December 31. Those officers are president, president-elect (to follow the elected president), secretary and treasurer. Excerpts from the relevant section of the Standard Club Bylaws are at the end of this article.
Start right away – you need time to assemble a nominating committee, confirm with possible nominees their willingness to serve, present a slate of candidates at a meeting and publish the slate in a bulletin — all at least one month before the election at a meeting (in December.)
An effective Rotary club has its president line in place for at least 2 years in the future, so it’s important to not only elect a president for the coming year, but also a president-elect.
An effective Rotary club also has a Board rotation/replacement process in place. Depending on Board terms (2 or 3 years), some number of seats need to be replaced every year. A Board position is a good way to get an emerging leader up to speed on the workings of the club.
The president, immediate past president, president-elect, secretary, and treasurer are automatically members of the Board.
IMPORTANT: The nomination process, securing commitments from those nominated and the election process are all responsibilities of the Board of Directors — it’s not the incoming president’s responsibility to fill any of these positions. The president is responsible only for securing committee chairs.
Excerpts from Recommended Rotary Club Bylaws:
Article 2 Board The governing body of this club is its board of directors, consisting of, at a minimum, the president, immediate past president, president-elect, secretary, and treasurer.
Article 3 Elections and Terms of Office Section 1 — One month before elections, members nominate candidates for president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and any open director positions. The nominations may be presented by a nominating committee, by members from the floor, or both.
Article 5 Meetings Section 1 — An annual meeting of this club is held no later than 31 December to elect the officers and directors who will serve for the next Rotary year.