Question:

How to have an AGM or an SGM in 2021?

Answer(s):

What is the difference between an AGM and an SGM?

Annual General Meeting: An annual meeting where the owners of a multi-unit community get together to elect council members, participate in decision making, and approve annual operating budgets. AGM’s are typically held within two months of fiscal year-end.

Special General Meeting: A meeting where the owners of a multi-unit community get together to address a specific issue, orders of business, concerns, and conflicts.

What is the best way to meet in 2021?

Due to the pandemic, you may be finding that you are not able to host large community meetings. You need to ensure that you are adhering to the provincial health guidelines when hosting your AGM or SGM. You also need to assess the comfort levels of your community. Making arrangements for virtual meetings that will ultimately replace an in-person AGM or SGM is essential for success right now.

The BC Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General has issued an order that will allow all Strata Corporations to conduct electronic meetings. This is in effect regardless of whether Strata Corporations already have a bylaw that permits electronic meetings. Please ensure that you have chosen the right technology, rehearsed your meeting, and have considered voting procedures.

Voting Procedures:

This may seem simple but you need to be clear on which medium you will be using to vote and that everyone understands this before the meeting starts. Begin with the end in mind. There is a multitude of issues that can arise here. Voting by raising your hand, verbal voting and restricted proxy are all acceptable.

Note: Be sure to take all proxies (people who have given their voting rights to another individual) into consideration when tallying up your votes. 

Once voting is complete an accurate count will be recorded in the meeting minutes.

If you found this blog post to be helpful then you may also be interested in checking out our previous post titled “The essential three people on your strata council.” We are sure that other roles are critical to the management and maintenance of an amazing Strata, but these are the big 3 that own most of the responsibility. We wanted to ensure you had a complete understanding of each role. You may be moving into a Strata or starting in one of these roles yourself. We wanted to write this article to serve as an easy-to-understand guide and/or summary about these three essential roles.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! We pride ourselves on having the best customer service in the industry.