Question: At an EGM, one motion was to add 8 new by-laws. Should each bylaw have been considered in a separate motion? I voted to disapprove the motion because I agreed with some, but not others.
We recently had an EGM via pre-meeting electronic voting. One of the motions was to add 8 new by-laws. Should there have been 8 separate motions so each new by-law could be considered individually, or can all 8 be considered as 1 motion. I voted to disapprove the motion, as I agreed with some of them, but disagreed with others.
Answer: It may be relevant to have various decisions packaged into one motion. Sometimes two decisions need to be made at once.
There are no hard and fast rules on how this motion should have been drafted. Ultimately it is up to whoever submitted it and the outcome they are seeking.
The obvious downfall is the inability to make separate decisions on the merits of each by-law as they have been packaged together into one decision. Had they been separated, each one could have been considered on its merits.
In some cases, it may be relevant to have packaged various decisions into one motion. Sometimes two decisions do need to be made at once.
For example, these by-laws may have been interrelated somehow and may not make sense if one is registered without the other. Another example might be to authorise works and also enter into the contract to do so.
This post appears in Strata News #577.
Tim Sara
Strata Choice
E: tsara@stratachoice.com.au
P: 1300 322 213
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