Urban Spaceman said:
Suggestions on how to conduct a coup at May's AGM or sooner would be welcome.
The only way to organise an effective coup is to get the proxies. The only way to get the proxies is to convince the absentee owners that there is a problem that is affecting the value of their properties. That is a much more effective argument than silly old ideas like right and wrong and fairness.
So do some groundwork and find local sales that make recent sales in your building look bad. Get strata managers, lawyers and real estate agents to confirm that increasingly, badly and irrationally run buildings are losing value because people are looking very closely at the minutes of buildings before they buy because they don't want to be trapped in a dysfunctional building (and you can quote ME on that).
Then put all that in a brief and succinct letter to each owner, complete with a proxy form and a stamped addressed envelope, telling them that the value of their property is being harmed by bad management at an EC level.
Send them out in time for owners to respond but not for the incumbents to get their act together. If possible, phone some of the people and have a chat. Suggest they come to the AGM to see for themselves and if not, plead with them not to send a 'blind' proxy to the chair. They might think they're voting for stability – in fact they're voting for dysfunction.
Despite that DON'T get into personalities (as far as possible).
DON'T make it look like a grab for power – offer three or four alternative names for people to send their proxies to (and give them good reasons why they should choose the people you suggest).
Don't make any more fuss about anything before the AGM so the incumbents don't know what's afoot.
And, finally, be careful what you wish for…