FAQx – 138 East Hastings

If you are an owner and cannot or do not wish to attend meetings and vote, you may assign someone else to vote for you. When that person votes for the owner, it is called a proxy vote. Legally, there is no limit to the number of proxies one person may hold — collecting many proxy votes is called proxy farming.

No. The termination of Scott was not discussed at a bimonthly council meeting: Those meetings are every two months and a lot of work gets done in-between. The pre-AGM council discussed amongst themselves. And it appears the post-AGM council did the same. They both arrived at the same decision.
Council Minutes reflect what was said at a council meeting. So since this was not discussed at a meeting, there would be no record of it in the minutes before the decision.

The building manager position has been a contractor position like every other contractor. We have not had employees at strata to my knowledge.

Building Manager as an Employee
1. Strata would have to insure them. For a building manager position, the person would have to be bondable.
Is the person who wishes to be an employee bondable?

2. This would be an extra cost to strata – accounting and record keeping that we would be paying for.
Does strata wish to incur all the extra cost of accounting for employees for just one employee?

Better Idea – Stay Contractor and Join the Canada program for Self-Employed EI
Scott said he only wants to be an employee for the EI. Not for any benefits.
Canada now has a program for self-employed people (contractors) to pay into EI
Any self-employed person now may join this program, pay into EI and be eligible for EI.

Why is This a Better Idea?
1. The manager remains as a contractor.
2. As a contractor, the manager may write off business expenses: office, vehicle, safety clothing, gas, insurance…
3. As a contractor, the manager can decide how much they wish to put into EI and save the rest.
4. Basically, as a contractor the manager has more flexibility (have people work for them to fulfill the contract, as Scott does, etc.), can still write off business expenses (which one cannot as an employee) and pay into EI so they are covered. Win Win.

The units owned and rented out by FJL Housing Society do not have washers and dryers. And some other units do not have washers and dryers. In 2019, when I moved into the buildling, Scott told me that strata spent thousands of dollars sending a plan to the city to put a laundry area in one of the bike rooms (I think that was the location). The city rejected the proposal and turned it down; with the city and consultants the winners of the money we spent pursuing that.

Washers and Dryers are Not an Assurance Against Pests
It has not been shown that a washer and dryer will keep pests under control. This has already been proven by the pest company report about a unit on the third floor that did have access to the illegal washer and dryer unit setup in the loading bay. The pest control report about the unit was not favourable as to overall cleanliness of the unit which is the first step in pest control

Similar To People Having a Car and No Parking Space
While it is unfortunate that some units do not have washers and dryers in them, I equate it to parking spaces. Some people have a vehicle yet do not have a parking space with their unit, so they must find a space to rent.

If FJL wishes to propose a solution to their units not having washers and dryers, then strata will listen and work with them and possibly a commercial space that could accommodate washers and dryers. But it is not the place of strata to provide washers and dryers for any unit which does not have a setup, anymore than it is strata’s job to provide parking spaces to units that do not have those.

It has been suggested that council have committees to help the workload. That’s a great idea except no one I’ve asked has offered to be on one. eg. Garden committee. I was asked to oversee the garden plot rentals this year. I do not garden. People asked me about things at the garden. I contacted Charly but never heard aything back. I asked people if they would consider forming a garden committee and they could bring issues and requests about the garden to me and I would take them to council. People thought it was a great idea, but no one stepped forward. And I get that. We are all so busy. Absolutely I get it.

So while the idea of committees is great, it is hard to find anyone with time. And everyone on council is already working very hard just to keep up with all the current issues. If anyone out there wants to form a committee about anything to help out at the building, council would welcome a conversation.