BP Strata Meetings Officers

Meetings: Appointment of Officers & Committee

In this, and the following sections, we take you through the agenda of a strata corporation AGM.

Legislation

Section 23—Officers of strata corporation..

(1) A strata corporation must have the following officers:

(a) a presiding officer (to preside at meetings of the corporation); and

(b) a secretary; and

(c) a treasurer.

(1a) Unless all of the units comprised in the strata scheme consist of non-residential premises, the officers of a strata corporation must be unit holders.

(2) Any two or more of the above offices may be held simultaneously by the same person.

(3) Until the first appointments are made to the above offices, they will be held by the original proprietor (or, if the original proprietor is a body corporate, by its nominee or in the absence of a nominee, by its secretary).

(4) Appointments to the above offices must be made by the strata corporation at a general meeting of the corporation.

(5) A strata corporation must not allow any of the above offices to remain vacant for more than six months.

(6) A strata corporation may appoint or engage a person to assist any person appointed under this section as an officer of the corporation.

What does this mean?

Officers: For residential groups, officers must be owners. One owner can occupy two or more positions.

Roles: The Presiding Officer chairs meetings, and the Secretary calls meetings, records minutes and takes care of correspondence. The Treasurer issues levy notices to owners, banks monies, pays bills and informs officers and owners of the state of the finances.

Officers & Committee:

This item follows the appointment of manager if on the agenda. An extract from our pro-forma minutes follows…

ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS: [Section 23]
Following discussion about the various duties of officer bearers the following appointments were made:
Presiding Officer:            ___________________________
Secretary:                    ___________________________
Treasurer:                     ___________________________

Moved____________ / Seconded ____________ Motion carried.

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE: [Section 35]
It was resolved that the Management Committee shall consist of the appointed officers along with _____________________________________________________________________________.

Moved____________ / Seconded ____________ Motion carried.

Limitations imposed:
Please Note: The Management Committee and Officers of the Corporation do not have the power: –
(i) To authorise any dealing with, or any variation of, the common/community property, or to grant exclusive rights in respect of the enjoyment and use of any part thereof of the common/community property.
(ii) To authorise installations or additions (appearance changes) relating to unit properties.
The functions of the Management Committee and Officers of the Corporation are by and large confined to authorising and overseeing the routine maintenance responsibilities of the Corporation, and ensuring that the provisions of the Articles are adhered to by the Corporation, unit owners and unit occupiers.

Best Practice

We recommend that groups try hard to fill all positions, and fill them with three different owners.

We recommend that if the group appoints more than one owner from a unit that this be subject to the persons have a combined maximum vote of (1) one.

If the committee is looking to make an expensive or controversial decision we suggest it invite all owners to the meeting.

Hint

As chairperson:

Vacate the chair if you are intending to nominate for a position
If possible have a meeting member, who is not standing for election, to be the returning officer – to call for nominations and counts the votes
If there is more than one nominee for a position a show of hands or a secret ballot is used to resolve the matter