Mid-Willamette Valley Jewish Community
March 17, 2016
Beit Am Board Policy on email votes
Issue: While e-mail affords an efficient way for the Board to make quick decisions, the use of email does not provide an effective forum for meaningful discussion.
Two alternative approaches to making quick decisions between regular meetings are explicitly authorized by the by-laws:
1) a decision by the Executive Committee, limited to emergency matters only, or
2) in a special meeting of the Board which requires five days notice.
Policy:
1. The Board will attempt to anticipate the need to make decisions between regularly scheduled meetings so that the character of those decisions can be discussed at regular meetings and any controversial issues can be identified and addressed. Email votes should be limited to matters where the need for a rapid decision is clear.
2. Email motions will be initiated only by the President or in the absence of the President by the Vice-President. The email must be sent to the email address on record for each director, and must state the action to be taken very clearly in the form of a Decision or Resolution.
3. Oregon law requires unanimous votes when using email. Our policy is that affirmative votes are required from all occupied board positions for an email motion to pass. Thus an email vote can pass even when there are vacancies on the board.
4. Each member voting in favor of a motion shall reply to the email motion with a statement similar to “Yes, I vote in favor of the Decision (or Resolution).” The secretary shall maintain a record of these email consents with the minutes.
5. Any individual board member can request that an email motion be deferred to a regular meeting or to one of the alternative mechanisms (listed above) for making decisions between regular meetings. If such a request is made, then no email vote shall be held.
6. The results of an email vote shall be included in the minutes of the previous board meeting where they will be recorded as having been taken as an email vote with the date of the vote specified.