It's unfortunate the all previous year fiscal business wasn't closed out by the previous officers before the new officers stepped in. However, it does appear that your board properly handled the approval of the purchase and that the new board isn't playing fair. It hardly seems worth the new board's time to fight over $100, why do you think they are doing so? Bad ju-ju? Personal grudge match? What?
Can you conduct a one-on-one meeting with the new president with your school principal to see if he/she can mediate the issue?
If this is not successful, you're probably out of luck. You'd most likely win the judgement if your former board were to file a small claims court suit against the current PTO board in order to recover the $100, but it would cost about half the amount you're owed to do so.
Thanks for feedback - further info. - a meeting did actually occur/brought to order at the time of the decision by the previous 3 PTO officers. As per the By-Laws on Special Meetings which "may be called by the President and any 2 PTO officers" and "PTO Board - Quorum - Half of the PTO board members plus one constitutes a quorum" and the Expenditure is of an amount much less than the $250 which as per the By-Laws "All expenditures exceeding $250 as well as any that exceed a budget line item must be voted upon at a general meeting". And the action was motioned, seconded & passed formally. Therefore the 3 officers felt they were acting appropriately. Sadly written/physical minutes for this meeting were not typed up until after the action took place - but is that not always the case!? Is the word of 3 officers to be doubted just because written minutes were tardy or because the Treasurer feels slighted that her involvement/vote was not sought until after the fact?
Something to be addressed in the future - the By-Laws do not address board transitions.
Interesting question. I posted your query on the Robert's Rules of Order forum board. It's entitled "New board vs. previous board". You can see it (and their responses) here:
3 officers (out of 4) of the previous PTO board voted to approve a $100 expenditure to buy items for the school. An "executive" decision was made so that they could take advantage of a same day sale. The 4th person (Treasurer) was contacted ASAP to be made aware of the transaction & there were sufficient funds to cover the amount spent.
All this happened during transition between outgoing & incoming PTO boards. There was no formal meeting or minutes. But proper receipts were presented for reimbursement. The incoming PTO board had not yet taken over since it consisted of only a President & Treasurer - so even in a joint board situation the vote would still have carried 3-2. Now the new PTO board is in office & they have just denied full payment of this previously approved expense. PLEASE - any advice on how this should be handled? Does Robert's Rules say anything regarding honoring past board decisions?
