@Stratademocrats said:
The Strata Manager … responded: “I don’t understand what the issue is here? There were 4 members present in person and 2 members gave proxies. That’s 6/9 present. As long as the proxies were provided before the meeting the timing is irrelevant, and if the meeting was invalid we wouldn’t have allowed it to occur.”Can you tell us where in the SMA or regulations it states that proxies are not valid?
This is quite complicated and there’s a bit of chicken and egg about it all but I have posted relevant extracts below which I will try to unpack now.
It’s not that proxy votes are specifically banned for strata committee meetings, it’s that there is no provision in the Act or Regs for proxy votes at committee meetings. There can be alternative voting arrangements, and “Acting Members”. But not proxies, per se.
The critical issue is that the committee has to agree to accept Acting Members (who can include existing members voting on absent members’ behalf) but they have to first be agreed by the committee which has to be quorate to do so. The proposed Acting Members are not counted towards the quorum.
To be quorate there must be at least half the members present. Absent members can be considered “present” if they have stated in writing that they intend to vote by means that have already been agreed at a general meeting as being permissible. This would include by Skype, phone or electronically. NB: These alternative means of voting would have to have already been accepted at a general meeting.
My understanding is that written votes can’t be considered towards the quorum unless a vote in writing has been accepted at a general meeting as a form of attendance under Section 4 (1).
So I would put that right back at the strata manager and ask them to show you the section of the Act or regulations that allows proxy votes to be considered as counting towards the quorum.
Schedule 2: 12 Quorum
(1) Quorum required for motion
A motion submitted at a meeting of a strata committee must not be considered unless there is a quorum present to consider and vote on the motion.
(2) When quorum exists
A quorum is present at a meeting only in the following circumstances:
(a) in the case of a strata committee which has only one member, if the member is present,
(b) in any other case, if not less than one-half of the persons entitled to vote on the motion are present.
(3) A person who has voted, or intends to vote, on a motion or at an election at a meeting by a permitted means other than a vote in person is taken to be present for the purposes of determining whether there is a quorum.
Section 4 (1)
person present at a meeting includes a person who is not personally present but is able to vote at the meeting by another means specified under clause 28 of Schedule 1 or clause 10 of Schedule 2.
Schedule 2: 10 Manner of voting
(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote must be cast in person unless the strata committee, by resolution, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means.
Note. A person may be present at a meeting even if not actually at the meeting (see section 4 (1), definition of person present).
Schedule 1: 28 Manner of voting
(1) A vote at a meeting by a person entitled to vote or by a proxy must be cast in person unless the owners corporation, by resolution passed at a general meeting, determines that a vote may be cast by some other specified means.
34 Acting members of strata committee
(1) A member of a strata committee may, with the consent of the strata committee, appoint an owner or company nominee of a corporation that is an owner who is eligible to be a member to act in his or her place as a member at any meeting of the strata committee.
(2) The owner or company nominee appointed is, while so acting as a member, taken to be a member.
(3) An owner or company nominee of a corporation may be appointed whether or not he or she is already a member of the strata committee.
(4) If a person so appointed is a member of the strata committee, the person may, at any meeting of the strata committee, separately vote in the person’s capacity as such a member and on behalf of the member in whose place the person has been appointed to act.