Following is a bit of a rant/grumble which may well not apply to your case, so please don’t take offence. I mean it more as a general comment from an EC member who has seen such comments frequently. You have just provided one example:
As someone who has been on the other side of this sort of thing I find myself wondering about whether there might be more to this. It all sounds rather familiar. I have been on an EC that proposed or is proposing changes to landscaping, a solar project and rules (bylaw) changes. The EC did all the leg work ourselves so the managing agent would not have known a great deal of detail. Frankly it was frustrating to provide quite a bit of information, repeatedly, and to still have people complain that we had failed to communicate. The trouble was that some people can’t be bothered to read material sent to them, won’t talk to us, but are quick to say we don’t communicate. Other times we have called meetings so that people can hear and discuss and debate etc. and we get a complaint at that meeting that we are not consulting, all while failing to grasp that the point of the meeting is to hear the proposal, ideas and reactions.
It seems the only consultation that is sufficient for some people is for EC members to knock on every door for one on one conversations, which is not easy with over 100 units.
You say that plans for the landscaping work were distributed with the meeting notice along with the cost. That does not sound so bad. Perhaps the EC does have quotes but didn’t give them to the manager? Perhaps the EC has not got formal quotes because it does not know if there is support to do the work but has made sufficient enquiries to be confident that $70K would be ample? A vote at the meeting might be approval to go ahead with works up to a certain cost? Perhaps in discussion they expect to have at the meeting it will become obvious that they have developed a good plan with a clear idea about likely costs? Perhaps the EC expects that it is obvious, especially with only 30 units, that anyone with questions before the meeting could just ask them, and did not think it necessary to point this out? Presumably they don’t live far away. We have had owners distribute letters to all other owners accusing the EC of all sorts of dodginess that was undeserved but they would not just come and talk to us to explain their concerns or just ask more about the various proposals.
Before distributing letters to all owners I suggest you talk directly to your neighbours, especially the EC members. Especially in smaller complexes talking can’t be too hard. If talking still leaves you with misgivings about the proposals, then write to all owners, or better still talk to them.