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Ask the Chairman - Does the lodge chief have a vote on the council executive board

        Ask the Chairman

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Q. Ray,

I have a question. Does the lodge chief (youth member) get to vote on issues on the council executive board? This is assuming that the nominating committee chooses the lodge chief to be an executive board member.

This might be a local bylaw question, but I thought I would see if you had any thoughts on the question.

A. Your suspicion is correct, that this is definitely a decision that is in the purview of the local council. The National Council models this practice for possible adoption by local councils, in that the National Executive Board votes each February to include the OA’s national chief as a full-fledged and voting member of that body for the length of his term. In addition, the National Order of the Arrow Committee encourages the participation of the lodge chiefs on the local council executive board, but it is entirely up to the local board nominating committee to recommend adoption by the full council board at their discretion. Nationally, we are aware of no situations where a lodge chief is voted to be given visiting rights at the local council board meetings and does not have a vote.

Ray