Non-owner trying to be on the committee

[Spoook]

I am a chair of 14 units. One of our residents is the son of owners, he wants to be on the committee to be advised of all that is going on. He has had his parents, who do not speak English, nominated for the committee. We recently had our AGM, virtual under the circumstances, and all those nominated were accepted for the committee.
14 units and 7 committee members, not the best but I have no choice. :-(

Anyway, the son says he will have to be his father's translator and, as we do most of our "meeting" and discussion via email, I can not know it is the father that is making the decisions. (seriously, I will know it is not the father)
I could make all the meetings in person and if he turns up without the real committee member, refuse him access. (not the best for relationships)
I will mention, this person is about 21/22 years old and has an attitude. he has already intimidated me on-siteby standing right in my face and TELLING me what has to be done about a particular task. My partner was with me at the time and had to push between us to get him out of my face and the young man just kept shouting "get your hands off me".

Any suggestions?

[chook]

Would have been a lot easier if he wasn't accepted onto the committee, wasn't there a voting process? Now it is a lot harder to remove someone. You are going to have to look into the process of 'removing' someone and I am guessing it wont be easy, the other option is to now wait till the next AGM where you all need to ensure he is not re elected and see the troublemaker on his way.

[Spoook]

No one was voted on the committee, all the nominees were accepted.
I kept quiet at the time, not explaining that getting 5 to work together would be easier than 7. We did vote as to whether we wanted 5 or 7 as the committee, it was moved as 7. Darn.
He is not a real committee member, just a translator for his father, the owner. Whom I doubt will ever come to a meeting.

I suppose. from another point of view, more people to get the work done. In the past, I have been the one to do and arrange all the jobs, this year I will be delegating so the new members can find out there can be a lot of work to do a simple job.
Can't just employ anyone to do the tree trimming, there are so many regs to adhere to as it is a Body Corporate.

An example right now is, trees need replacing, these are a privacy shelter. I asked for suggestions and things like maples were suggested. Er? deciduous tree, no leaves in the winter, no privacy. More education. :-(

[John the builder]

get legal advice

I say the parents have to front this and the lack of verbal skill is their problem/ He can represent them as an owner but not as a committee member?

[Spoook]

He is saying he has to be their translator.
I have asked my lawyer and the advice was, have all the meetings face to face and refuse him entry if his parents are not present.
Great for having a peaceful relationship as two other committee members are also difficult and that are all immediate neighbours. One does tend to sway from side to side with the wind of change so does not really count.

We are due to have a meeting so I guess I will have to explain how a BC works and how a committee works. I think they are under the misconception that the chair is the top. Little do they know the real truth. :-(

[Keithw]

The fact is that he represents an owner, so all you need is written authority from the owner that he is their representative. It matters not whether it is he or his father making the decision, he is their rep.
What would you do if a company owned a unit, say you cant have a representative ?

As you have pointed out. the Chair is not the top of some dictatorship.
All owners have a right to have their point of view considered.
It is the job of the Committee to ensure that the rights of all owners are upheld while also trying to get consensus. That is often the hard part.
The nature of BCs is that there will always be those with a different view, and just as your young representative has no right to insist on their way on something that affects everyone, neither do you, as Chair or as another owner.

What you need to explain to him, and to understand yourself, is that all the owners need to work together to get things done. That is the situation you have all bought into by buying a BC property. If you want to do your own thing then go & buy a freehold property.