Executive committee office holders

You can delegate those powers to the strata manager. Otherwise, this is what the Act says.

Part 3, Section 19:  What happens if chairperson, secretary and treasurer are not appointed?

(1)  An Adjudicator may, on application, make an order appointing a person nominated by the applicant (and who has consented to that nomination) to convene a meeting of the executive committee of the owners corporation if there is not a chairperson, secretary and treasurer of the executive committee of the owners corporation after the first meeting of the executive committee has been held.

(2)  The meeting is to be convened and held within such time as is specified in the order.

(3)  A meeting held under this section is taken to have been held by the executive committee of the owners corporation.

(4)  An order made under this section may include such ancillary or consequential provisions as the Adjudicator thinks fit.

(5)  If an order made under this section so provides, notice of the meeting may be given in the manner specified in the order.

(6)  An application under this section may be made only by an owner, mortgagee or covenant chargee of a lot in the relevant strata scheme.

What does that mean?  I have no idea … but in most cases if nobody wants to be an office-bearer, then it gets delegated to the strata manager.  If you don't have a strata manager, then you trundle along in anarchic fashion until something goes wrong and/or someone complains.

In our complex, we have never had official positions.  Our SM told us this was OK that we didn't need to have someone to be the secretary, the treasurer etc.  We all shared these responsibilities.

This worked as we all have jobs, families and other committments.  I believe this shared responsibility kept everyone on the committee.  When someone got snowed under with their own personal life, the others would keep all running, as we were all in the loop.  This allowed us to go on long holidays, or even just take a month off from the running of the place.

Thanks Billen Ben. Interesting as our SM has told us for 10 years now that it is OK to not have these “official” positions!  But the problem of assigning positions is solved now due to the fact that only one person is on the committee!  The rest of us have given up doing anything for people who do nothing and expect everything. 

I would rather spend my ample free time doing volunteer work for others rather than volunteering to get things done around here.

An existing member of the EC would have to resign before this new person could simply be elected by the current members.

The number of members of the EC is set at the AGM.  The EC is obliged to fill any vacancies as they arise but I don’t think there’s a mechanism for adding new members without holding a general meeting to alter the number of seats on the EC.

So I would say no, they can’t do that unless it’s at a general meeting (which, I suppose, would mean the entire EC would have to be put up for re-election.)

I'm in total agreement with Gilgal1.  My building's EC used to invite interested owners on to sub-committees related to their areas of expertise.

The subcommittees reported to the EC and everything worked pretty smoothly (notwithstanding the obligatory ratbags that every building has).  The newcomers got a taste of strata life and the incumbents got a chance to see what they were made of, should any vacancies arise.

Sadly the sub-committee system faded away when the EC changed.  The current EC is pretty much a one-man show with the EC just basically a rubber stamp for a very forceful character.  Fortunately he's a decent bloke doing a good job but you wonder what will happen when he falls under the inevitable strata bus that gets us all in the end.

“Delegate, integrate and involve” would be my motto for ECs.