The Role of Chairperson
Owner meetings require a chairperson to control and direct the proceedings.

The chairperson carries the authority to keep order and maintain progress in line with the agenda.

The role of the chair is similar to that of an umpire, referee or speaker of the house; be aware of the rules of conduct and be capable of enforcing them when necessary.

It would be expected that a member of the board of directors would chair the meeting. However many owner meetings are chaired by the corporation's lawyer who gets paid for his time.

Mao Zedong knew the power that came
from chairing party meetings.


This is because many directors lack the confidence, skills and qualities required of an effective chair or they want an "expert" to control the meeting and deal with any unexpected questions or unpleasant owners.

Something to watch for
Lawyers don't chair AGMs for free. They charge by the hour, some charge travel time, some don't. Many owners don't realize that.

Some lawyers will bring a junior lawyer to the AGM to act as a scrutineer. The junior lawyer gets needed practical experience which is good for the law firm but what the owners don't realize is that the law firm may be billing the condo corporation for the "student's" education. Some firms do, some don't. Ask.

A newly elected board, that was facing a serious operating deficit and was struggling to pay for basic repairs, found that the condo paid $3,500 for the corporate lawyer and the junior lawyer to attend their AGM.

Sometimes the condo's district property manager will chair the meeting. Some of them get paid to do so. Again, that is something that is kept from the owners.

Cheaper alternatives
If you don't mind helping a lawyer make their monthly payments on their BMW, then continue to use a lawyer as chair.

However, if a board wants to save some money, they can find an alternative to using their corporation's lawyer as a chairperson. They can:
1.
Phone a few lawyers and shop for a fixed price.
2.
Hire an experienced property manager or a condo consultant to chair the meeting.
3.
Have the president chair the meeting. The best of them, if they take their duties seriously, should be able to chair the meeting, especially if the condo has a copy of Robert's Rules of Order or Nathan's Company Minutes on hand to use as a guide.

Planning the agenda
The agenda is a precise statement of what the meeting has been called to accomplish, and this more than anything else is the definitive tool for controlling a meeting.

Prior to the owners' meeting, the chair should consult with the board to shape the agenda. This process enables the board to determine what will discussed and in what order. This consultation may also alert the chair to any hidden agendas among the directors or the owners.

The agenda for all owners' meetings must be mailed to all the owners as an attachment to the meeting notice. No issues of any importance can be voted on at an owners' meeting if it has not been included in the agenda mailed to all of the owners.

During the meeting
The chair should be concerned with the process of the meeting and not the issues it has been called to address. Foremost among these is to insure the agenda is followed and to preside with an even-handedness. If the chair gets embroiled in the substantive debate concerning one or more issues, he and the board loses credibility and once lost credibility can prove impossible to regain.

Start formally
Gaining and maintaining control among the owners is a lot more difficult than losing it. It is also more difficult to move from informality to formality than vice-versa. Therefore, whilst the chair should always be friendly and courteous, it is often good practice for him to start on a formal basis.

The chair may then choose to relax when he feels that he has control over the proceedings.

Influencing the meeting
One Toronto lawyer starts the AGMs that he chairs by stating that if everyone cooperates, they can all be home to watch the last period of the hockey game.

This informs the owners that he wants to meeting to move quickly and implies that anyone who asks too many questions is not being cooperative.

There are a number of tools the the chair can  use to influence the outcome of a particular debate. When the debate is going against the board, the chair can recognize owners who are in favour of the board's position so they can influence the other owners.

The chair can also limit the number of questions from any single owner so the board's more elegant or better informed opponents are silenced. The chair can limit the length of time any speaker can have.

It is best when the chair can exert influence without expressing an opinion. In extreme circumstances, the chair may decide that it is necessary to sacrifice
impartiality for what he sees as the importance of helping the owners decide on a preferred course of action.

It is often more productive for the chair not to demonstrate too much enthusiasm for any idea that has been tabled. This approach will limit hostility and blunt accusations of being biased in favour of the board.

Handling disruptions
Meetings are sometimes disrupted by one or more individual’s intent on
making their point even if this involves shouting down all other participant’s, including the chairperson.

When a meeting is disrupted it is the responsibility of the chair to deal with the problem quickly and restore order. Troublemakers could be asked to leave or the meeting could be adjourned.

A large turnout at the meeting can present more of a problem, particularly if the disruption has been pre-planned so it is important that the chair takes firm control of the situation from the outset and establishes his authority.

The chair should also be know the rules of order that is being used and be aware of the procedures that can be invoked to control or direct the business of any meeting.

The courses of action open to the chair in the face of serious disruptions from the floor are:
1.
Asking the troublemaker, or ringleader, to desist.
2.
Requesting the same thing, but in official language, quoting any relevant procedural or legal clauses.
3.
If the disruption continues the chair should request that the troublemaker leaves the meeting immediately.
4.
The final course of action is to have the troublemaker forcibly removed, preferably by the official security at the venue.
5.
If a group of owners gets to unruly, the chair can adjourn the meeting and it can be re-scheduled at a future date.

Removing the chair
The meeting can remove the chair by a motion calling for the chairperson to vacate the chair or a motion of non-confidence in the chair. Before doing so, be sure there is someone at the meeting who has experience and will accept the position if the motion passes.


top  contents  chapter  previous  next