Any owner is allowed to contact the strata manager. In many OCs, this is preferred as Committee members may not want their contact details shared with other owners.
That said, there are reasons why your Committee might not want you contacting the strata manager directly. For a start, this costs money if the strata manager sees your email as an “extra service” and the Committee may be tightly managing costs. The Committee might also be in dispute with the strata manager for some reason and wanting to manage communications while the dispute is ongoing.
As the only lot owner who lives in the building, it would be wise for you to get onto that Committee.