Condo Board Q & A: Voting

Article from Volume 2, Issue Number 1, 2021

By unknown | Other articles by unknown | Regular Column

CCI-NS receives questions from its members and provides answers by our board and industry experts. These are general answers meant to provide general responses. Where you have detailed questions specific to your situation, your condo corporation, or involving legal or financing matters, you should always seek professional advice.

Question:
Is the Chair of a condo board, or even a regular member of a condo board, allowed to give their proxy to another member if they are unable to attend a regular meeting that is not an AGM? There is nothing mentioned in our By-Laws or Declaration to cover the proxy other than at an AGM. Robert's Rules of Order states that unless it is written in the Declaration or a By-Law, there should be no use of proxy other than at the AGM. Is there a rule for Condo Boards and where is it stated?

Answer:
No Board member can give a proxy to anyone to attend a Board Meeting on their behalf. The Board member must be present. An owner can give anyone their proxy to attend on their behalf at any meeting of owners which includes the AGM and all other General Meetings. Any meeting of owners which is not an AGM is a General Meeting. Roberts Rules have no relevance to condominium meetings. The Act, Declaration and By-laws govern condominiums and condominium meetings.

Question:
We have a Board member whose condo fees are in arrears. The other Board members are at a loss as to what to do about her status on the Board. Our by-laws do not address this situation. Do you have any help or suggestions?

Answer:
A Board member is also a unit owner and has voting rights for the two separate and distinct roles. At the unit owner level, if in arrears they cannot vote as a unit owner. At the Board level, a member’s authority comes from being elected by the other unit owners. Once elected to the Board they have full Board voting rights as a Board member at the Board level whether in arrears or not. It’s a strange loophole, but as a result unit owners in arrears can be elected to the Board, even though they may not vote in the election!