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At the AGM the OC decided to elect an EC. Three were nominated, Treasurer, Secretary and Chairperson. It was also decided to have 3 substitutes in case one or other of the Office Bearers are away. Three were nominated and elected as “back-up” for each position. Do we have 3 or 6 on the EC?. The Treasurer insists we only have 3 and the other substitutes cannot attend meetings and have none of the powers of the EC.( NSW)
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Their is no allowance in the act for substitutes and so their election is invalid and so unless they were voted in as committee members they have absolutely no right to participate in EC meeting even if one of the principles is absent.
That’s not entirely correct, and whilst I don’t want to indulge in pedantics about the status of a “substitute” E/C Member as determined by thesculpture‘s Owners Corporation and that of an “acting” E/C Member as permitted under the NSW Strata Schemes Management Act (Sch 3, Cl 3), there is a difference.
So KWP (post #2) and thesulpture’s E/C Treasurer are both correct, in that whilst “substitutes” certainly are not Members of the E/C (only the 3 elected are), any of them (or in fact any other Owner) could with the majority prior approval of E/C be nominated as an “acting” E/C Member by any elected Member who couldn’t attend a particular Meeting.
So whilst the terminology and the procedure taken by thesculpture‘s O/C was incorrect, what it’s effectively done is to provide the details of each E/C Members “acting” counterpart ahead of time, and so long as that’s approved by the other Members attending on the day, it’s compliant.
By the way, the “substitutes” can attend E/C Meetings as non-participating observers, just as any other Owner/s could at their discretion.
Source: Owners Corporation Network NSW (Sydney):
The quorum for an executive committee meeting is at least half of the members. A sensible option to avoid quorum issues is to appoint ‘alternatives’ for each committee member at the first or second executive meeting. (see SSMA Schedule 3, Part 1, 3: Acting members of the executive committee). This person can be an existing member of the executive committee or anyone else nominated by that executive member. However, the nomination must be accepted by the other members. Once accepted the nominated alternative will be valid for subsequent meetings where the nominee can count as part of the quorum. This is a useful tool for avoiding having meetings adjourned for lack of a quorum.
Source: SSMA Schedule 3, Part 1,3:
3 Acting members of the executive committee
(1) A member of the executive committee may, with the consent of the executive committee, appoint an owner or company nominee of a corporation which is an owner to act in his or her place as a member at any meeting of the executive committee.
(2) The owner or company nominee so appointed is, while so acting as a member, taken to be a member.
(3) An owner or company nominee of a corporation may be so appointed whether or not he or she is a member of the executive committee already.
(4) If a person so appointed is a member of the executive committee the person may, at any meeting of the executive 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.
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