The vacancies for the Officer posts have always seemed to be this way in my 30 years a member. Many societies have a VP (or two) with one ‘on the way up’ getting their feet under the table, destined to be P, and one immediate past P ‘on the way down’ able to help as needed. These may be ex officio but the individuals will have arranged the spare time and commitments accordingly. There is an advantage to having some continuity with the T role I think.
It is a sign of an active society that the candidate numbers for Council are greater than the number of positions available. So if an election is required for part of the board there will be no extra expense for the non-contested positions. Indeed there may be a legal requirement to show that there is a non-zero approval from the membership for each position.
I don’t feel that Buggins’ Turn is a healthy situation and, indeed, any member should feel able to stand for election to provide their input and views. However, and controversially, I feel that decades’ stints may deprive an organisation of fresh blood and new ideas. As far as I can see, each observing section is fairly active and some rotation in duties could be encouraged? (Though these aren’t elected positions anyway.)