The Hellenic Community of Melbourne (HECM) held an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGM) on Sunday 21 July to consider amending its Bylaws.
The General Assembly was the culmination of an 18-month process for the revision of the Statutes, as decided by ECM members at the 2023 Annual General Assembly (AGM).
Over the past 18 months, ECM has solicited member proposals and subsequently extended the date for submitting proposals, invited and met with members to discuss changes to the Bylaws, engaged the services of renowned experts in the review of Bylaws in not-for-profit companies, Piper Alderman Solicitors, and arranged an open information meeting of interested members with these solicitors to explain the proposed changes.
The process led the ECM Board of Directors to ask last Sunday's EGM to consider 3 proposals aimed at presenting an updated version of the current Statute before discussing the changes as proposed by ECM members.
The meeting was attended by more than 120 members and observers who considered 3 consecutive motions.
The meeting called for an initial vote on a technical change to the current Bylaws, which would allow the updated and proposed changes to be considered.
At the meeting, which was presided over by the Treasurer of ECM, Prof. Marinis Pirpiris, a summary of the process and the proposed changes was presented and members who spoke for and against the proposals were also heard.
The meeting then voted on the first Motion and while the majority of voting members – 60% – voted in favor of the Motion, it did not meet the 75% threshold required for the changes to pass and therefore the meeting closed.
The rate for some change at an EGM is high, and the outcome of this EGM is in line with the long history of EGMs that have failed to effect change over many years.
ECM wishes to thank all the members who participated in the process and in the EGM.
He would also like to thank Ian Nathanial, Michael Corker and the Piper Alderman staff for their work and expertise in the Charter renewal process.
