Jimmy T has already answered most if not all of your questions, and it seems to me that you’re heading for a whole heap of trouble if you don’t heed that advice and/or if you take notice of what your “casual” neighbour wants to do!
I’m not in any way having a go at you, but perhaps you should have sorted out all the issues involved in strata management before making the decision to self-manage – a task that’s not as easy to do correctly as some might think!
I’m not in the business of pushing other peoples’ barrows, but nonetheless I’d strongly encourage you to contact a Company called Our Body Corp who has recently established an on-line service with all the tools (including advice) to enable Strata Plan’s to self-manage, and at a quoted cost of $84 / Lot / year.
Have a look, because unlike listening to your casual neighbour, it can’t do any harm.