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No you can't operate without a secretary because you have a legal obligation to conduct at least one general meeting per year and send out an agenda beforehand and minutes thereafter. Whoever does that is, by default, the secretary, whether you call them that or not.
Most Strata Managers' contracts allow them to act as de facto office bearers in the absence or failure of anyone properly elected to that position. In fact, they may have a legal obligation or right to do so under the Act (maybe one of our strata management friends will advise).
Many strata plans actively delegate EC powers to their strata managers (such as the issuing of Notices To Comply, for instance). However, a decision by a general meeting to resume those powers puts the strata manager back on to the bench, so to speak.
As for paying someone “off-site” to fulfill this role, you pretty much are if you get the Strata Manager to do this – they're not going to turn up at your meetings for free. But, yes, there are people who will provide a consultancy to ECs but they may have to be elected to the EC as an owner's proxy.
The one firm I know who provides this kind of service is Strategic Strata Services (www.strategicstrata.com) but I'm sure there are others as this is going to be a growth area in the future.