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Our strata manager (NSW) says that if more people nominate for the committee than number of committee positions, then he has to adjourn the meeting and post us ballot papers which we have to post back with our signature in wet ink.
This is a very big strata firm with 15 companies.
I challenged him on this and he replied that he “had been caught out before”.
It seems to me he is grossly inconveniencing the owners to cover himself if a sore loser accuses him the election was rigged.
Or is there something I do not know?
Every AGM a motion to decide the number of committee members is always made first, followed by the motion to take nominations.
Thank you.
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I can see the strata manager’s point. If the OC has decided to allow elections by electronic means, then they have to be done according to the regulations which insist that every owner votes by writng the names of the people they want to elect on a blank piece of paper – ie, not a voting slip with pre-printed names – to which they also add their name, the capacity in which they are voting (owner or proxy) and their signature.
I can’t see how else an election that allows electronic voting could otherwise be conducted legitimately. The SM or secretary could send out a sheet with the names of all the nominees, but wouldn’t the actual votes have to be lodged as described in Section 10 of the Act while Section 14A(a) says an election can’t be decided by pre-meeting electronic voting but Section 10 says the notice of the meeting “may” specify the electronic voting may be allowed.
Having said that, I’m guessing the strata manager just wants the owners to agree on filling the seats with who’s available to avoid having to gather and count the votes.
A smart compromise would be to allow the hand-written votes at the meeting, collect them uncounted, and then allow those attending electronically to send in their votes within 24 hours.
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The strata legislation assumes that the election of a strata committee occurs at the AGM meeting itself, with the office holders being elected from within the committee at the strata committee meeting held immedately afterwards.
You may well call BS but the law is not what you have selectively quoted. The idea of limiting the number of nominations to the number of seats and vice versa is all well and good, but what if there are people who want to be on the committee who aren’t part of the ruling group, for instance.
At our last AGM, the rusted-on committee, hand-picked by our chair using the provision for replacing retiring members, had not faced an election in about 10 years. When one other owner tried to join, I suggested that one of the members who complained about “having to take part” and others who didn’t make it to all the meetings should withdraw to avoid the vote that they were grumbling about having to administer. This was met with sullen silence.
And how do people who are participating in the meeting remotely and therefore “in attendance” vote?
Perhaps the committee or OC could agree that an email in a specified format, received during the meeting would be accepted as a valid vote. Otherwise, you have to find a way of letting people vote or face a potential barrage of legitimate complaints about election fixing.
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I call bullshit on this. The election of the strata committee is carried out at the AGM, when the number of nominees are more than the number of committee members, and that number is decided at the meeting in the adjacent motion.
It is inconvenient to have an election, and it slows the meeting down. But there are a number of strategies to handle this.
First, the motion to decide the number of committee members can set the number as the number of nominations. If the two numbers match, then every nominee goes on the committee. The NSW legislation does limit the membership to 9 owners, but usually committees are less that this. So, revisit the committee membership number, and all the nominees can be on the committee.
Otherwise, take a pad of paper and a bunch of pencils to the meeting, and suggest, lets vote now – and hand everyone with a vote (ie include proxy holders) a sheet, to write down the committee members they want on the SC. Collect the sheets, and watch the strata manager tally the votes, and declare the winners.
Or suggest that the owners vote with a show of hands, as each nominated person’s name is read out. Two hands if the person is holding a proxy. Secret ballots are not required, and this is a very common approach.
The strata manager’s approach of sending out and later collecting ballot papers is nonsense. The strata legislation assumes that the election of a strata committee occurs at the AGM meeting itself, with the office holders being elected from within the committee at the strata committee meeting held immedately afterwards.
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A different aspect of this issue has been raised HERE. This is perilously close to double-dipping. Please pick one thread and stick to it.
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