Clive2000,
There must be a contract (agency agreement) otherwise as per the property stock and business agents act, the strata manager can not be acting for your OC.
I would suggest, if possible conducting a search of the strata records contained in the office of the strata manager, or if you are on the ec, just ask the strata manager for a copy of the current agreement.
Mostly a strata manager will be happy to assist where and how they can, but typically, based on average management fees, are managing a significant number of properties with a whole bundle of issues occurring at any given point of time, so can be quite time poor. It’s a matter of making sure that the SM finds your strata scheme as important or more then the next