Larry – From my understanding of the Act, the Secretary calling for a meeting to be held by phone, is not valid under the circumstances that you have described. From your description of the circumstances, any such meeting would be Out of Order (see below at(4)).
In answer to your other queries:
(1) A detailed Agenda for the Committee Meeting must be provided by the Secretary but this does not mean that all Motions must be determined before hand. If actual attendance at the meeting is required then an Agenda may include Motions but legislation does not require it to contain Motions.
(2) If, however, a Motion was proposed by a Committee member and Seconded by another member prior to Notice being given of the meeting by the Secretary then the Secretary must include the Motion on the Agenda.
(3) It is the Secretary’s role to call a meeting. However, Committee Meetings can also be called when over one third of the committee members submit a request in writing to the Secretary that they would like a Committee Meeting to be held.
(4) There are various ways that committee meetings can be held – by attending in person, or by phone, or by written approval of Motions with no actual attendance required etc. However, all other methods, apart from meeting in person, must be approved by the Committee. The Secretary does not have the authority to make a decision to hold a Committee Meeting by phone. The unauthorised phone meeting would be breaching the Act and can be ruled Out of Order. If a majority of the Committee only wants to hold ‘in person’ meetings then that is the only way that a Committee Meeting can be held.
(5) When no attendance is required at a Meeting then all Motions need to be submitted for inclusion on the Agenda prior to the meeting. These types of meetings require that valid notice must be given to each member (with the required motions) and the majority of members must approve the motion(s) in writing to the secretary (by way of a voting paper).
(6) Proxies can be used at Committee meetings. To prevent your majority being lost by a member not being able to be present at a meeting, a Committee member may act as a proxy for another committee member who is unable to attend the meeting. The proxy giver would need to notify the Secretary in writing prior to the meeting that they have given their proxy to another member. The proxy recipient would, of course, need to agree.
(7) After opening the meeting, the Chairperson would note the Apology of the absent member and would state the name of the member Present who has the proxy for the absent member. Proxies should be recorded in the Minutes.
(8) You, as Chairperson, can rule a Motion out of Order if it conflicts with the Act or the by-laws, or is unlawful or unenforceable. This may be useful if the ‘ulterior motives’ that you refer to are unlawful.
(9) How was the Secretary appointed to the position of Secretary? Was this decision made by the Owner’s Corporation at the AGM or was it this decision made by the Committee? In NSW, once the strata committee is elected, it is usual for the members of the committee to decide who is to hold the officer positions of Chairman, Secretary & Treasurer.
(10) If your committee is unhappy with the current Secretary then the officer position of Secretary can be ‘unmade’ in the same way that it was ‘made’ i.e. by majority vote of the Committee members. Another Secretary can then be appointed by majority vote of the Committee members. NB: The Committee member’s names are not changing – the only change is the designated officer roles within the Committee.
(11) Committee Motions can be vetoed by the owners. There are two opportunities for this to arise. (a) From Motions yet to be resolved, as reflected on the Meeting Agenda, and (b) From Motions that have already been resolved, as reflected in the Minutes. In both situations the Motion must not proceed where the secretary has received a notice opposing a motion (in writing) from owners who represent more than one third of the aggregate unit entitlements for the strata scheme.
NB: This is why it is necessary for the Minutes of the Meeting, including all resolutions made, to be made available to all Owners within 7 days of the Meeting being held. It enables the owners to object to Committee decisions should more than one third of them wish to do so.
A detailed guide to serving on the Strata Committee is here:
https://www.netstrata.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2017-A-Guide-to-serving-on-a-Strata-Committee.pdf