leif – I’ve been reading your posts and waiting for somebody more informed than me to advise you about the rules surrounding the operation of fire doors / stairs.
So far as I’m aware though, the doors on each level should be locked on the inside so that residents there can enter the stairway, and doors at ground /street level should be locked on the outside to prevent unauthorised access.
Depending upon your building’s construction date, the specific requirements for fire safety would be shown on the Fire Safety Schedule that’s provided by Council concurrently with a Certificate of Occupancy.
In answer to your question about “who is in charge of changes”, those undertaken on the fire doors can only be determined by way of a Special Resolution at a General Meeting, where ≥75% of those in attendance must be in favour in order for the change or alteration to occur.
So your Strata Manager’s advice was incorrect, in that your AGM was the correct forum for a decision to be made (or rejected) about removing the locks on the building’s fire doors, and furthermore, I believe that the actions now undertaken would be contrary to the rules surrounding the operation of fire doors / stairs.
How to handle this depends in part upon whether you submitted a Motion that was included on the Agenda for the AGM, so could you please advise.
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PS – Stratafied’s post arrived as I was typing this, and it should be noted that there can be no “general business” on the Agenda of General Meetings; hence my question about a Motion.