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Our Executive Committee is quite incommunicative but always extra-secretive about the Annual General Meeting, especially when it will occur and the agenda. (I realize the AGM has to be a month either side of the date of the last one.)
Apart from the obvious notion of them wanting to stay in power, they obviously don’t want any input in the agenda from anyone else, however quite frankly the way our place is run leaves much to be desired.
I have asked our strata manager (Fob Off Fred, some readers may remember) to ensure I have the opportunity to contribute a motion or two for the AGM. Is there anything else I might do to make sure I get the chance, or anything else our EC or strata manager SHOULD be doing, please?
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You know approximately when the AGM will be held. The EC might not be being secretive, they might be still working out who of the EC has which days available, when the managing agent can attend as well and when the usual venue can be booked. That aside, why not just write to the EC with your motion to be placed on the agenda of the next general meeting, whenever that may be? Copy your letter to the managing agent and anyone else you care to if you are concerned that they might ignore it.
If your proposal requires background information or detailed explanation you could provide a page or two to be mailed out with the meeting notice whenever that occurs, presumably in the next few weeks if you are getting close to the AGM anniversary. The EC cannot refuse to list any motion that you put. Having said that, if the EC does not support your proposal they could put a motion of their own in opposition to yours or include their own statement about why your proposal should not be supported. That would not be inappropriate since a function of the EC is to develop strategic matters for the OC. Once it is on the agenda your proposal can be debated and it can’t be left off the agenda.
As PeterC has said, you know when your AGM should be each year give or take. So if it is usually held at the end of May, send your motion in mid April. And do send copies to EC, SM. If you want more people to be involved other than those on the EC, why don’t you put a note on the notice board telling everyone to put in their own motions for the AGM.
Our AGM’s have been held in the same month, on the same day, about the same date for 12 years. And yet still, we have owners who come to the AGM with their motions. This despite the fact that the agenda is sent out well in advance, plenty of time to add motions. I have given up on my complex. But try to get the message across to owners in yours. They may be more responsive.
No – you can’t add items to the agenda once the notice of meeting has been sent out.
The Act provides a mechanism for putting motions on the agenda for the AGM. If you want to have motions put on the agenda, send them to the strata manager and cc the secretary of the Executive Committee, and tell them you are doing this in accordance with the Act.
You have some idea when the meeting will be held, so make sure you send them about six weeks prior.
Re the EC being uncommunicative, they are required to give 72 hours notice of any EC meetings and you are entitled to attend those meetings. If they are not giving notice of the EC meetings you should ask why. If they are not providing minutes of the EC meetings you can also ask for those.
I got the sense that Struggler was syaing there was plenty of time to add motions to the agenda BEFORE it was sent out. Or was it just the way I read it?
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
Can you just propose a motion from the floor on the night in NSW? In the ACT only higher classes of motions require certain periods of written notice.
No, it applies to all motions and I am surprised that ACT legislation allows for certain types to be moved without notice, which is effectively what that is. That cuts across the general law of meetings. How can someone put in a directed proxy if they don’t have notice of a motion/resolution?
@scotlandx said:
No, it applies to all motions and I am surprised that ACT legislation allows for certain types to be moved without notice, which is effectively what that is. That cuts across the general law of meetings. How can someone put in a directed proxy if they don’t have notice of a motion/resolution?There are safeguards if a motion is passed by a ‘reduced quorum’, that is fewer than 50% of owners actually present at the meeting. A directed proxy is not possible on such a motion so the only votes are those of people present at the meeting. A discretionary proxy vote is possible only if the form used allows voting on any motion.
My reference to adding items to the agenda refers to my past post on Flat Chat re my EC sending out a note to a chosen few in the complex just 4 or 5 days out from the AGM asking for any additional items. I am now a non entity in this complex for pointing out that you cannot just add items, especially only inviting a few a couple of days out without any other owner aware of items to be discussed, especially those owners like myself who would not be there and would only direct their proxies to vote on those items listed on the agenda.
Our AGM went ahead. Items that were not on the agenda were discussed. The minutes were sent out with items missing (which items – I am not sure because I was not there and didn’t know what was discussed so therefore don’t know what is missing – can tell because it goes from (1) (d) to (1) (f) so e is missing)
I was informed, rightly or wrongly, that if there was a call for owners input after they received the agenda, all owners should have been contacted, all owners should have been informed and a list of any other concerns from owners sent out to all owners well before the AGM so that everyone knew what was going to be discussed. The owners here will never put their two cents worth in before the agenda is sent out. They have been here long enough to know what to do. I have told them enough times what to do. I give up.
As I said, our meetings are the same times, within about a week of past date each year. The SM sends out the agenda a good 3 – 4 weeks before. It’s not rocket science. But they just don’t get it.
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