St. Ann's Bay Development Association
Meeting of 13 January 2009
In attendance:
Loreto Doyle, Harold Frizzell, Marcelle Lavoie,
Ernie MacAuley, Jennifer MacAuley, Chrissie MacEachern,
Keith MacEachern, Merrill MacInnis, Yvonne Megens,
Aaron Schneider, Ruth Schneider
Regrets:
Carol Kennedy, Angelo Spinazzola, Andy Watt
1) Agenda
Approved with additions (moved: Loreto; seconded: Ruth)
2) Minutes of September 23, 2008:
Approved (moved: Ruth; seconded: Loreto)
3) Financial Report: Chrissie
$6,776.34 in the SABDA account. Two cheques issued
and not yet cashed.
Accepted (moved: Chrissie; seconded: Aaron)
4) New Business:
a) Concerns arising from the Community Survey:
- Cell Phone Coverage—Loreto is still working to get
cell phone coverage improved; this will be an
ongoing effort.
- High Speed Internet—Ernie has written to Aliant, and
has received a letter advising us that high speed customers
must be located within the footprint, and they can't give us
a date regarding when service might be available in our area.
However, their communications confirm that high-speed
delivery plans are driven by volume of demand, which is not a
helpful measure in sparsely populated rural communities.
Meanwhile, Ernie is passing around a petition.
ACTION: Ernie will finish passing the petition
around and then send it in.
- Emergency Plan—Aaron has called Nova Scotia Power
about an Emergency Plan for the community, and spoke to a
Mr. Muise in Sydney who has yet to get back to him.
ACTION: Aaron will call Mr. Muise again.
Discussion occurred around other kinds of emergency
preparedness.
ACTION: Aaron will try to contact Barry Campbell,
EMO Coordinator, to see if he can and will give a presentation and
will coordinate with Lisa Finney about coordinating it around a
Seniors' Lunch.
- Education Programs—Discuss potential education programs:
small engine repair, chain saw maintenance and safety,
GPS, etc.
ACTION: Ruth will draft a notice for the Community
Events bulletin inviting anyone who might be interested in leading a
workshop to contact Harold Frizzell (929.2673 / montfriz@ns.sympatico.ca);
she will send the draft to Harold for approval before putting it in
the bulletin.
- Transportation Survey—The Health Centre is sending
the survey out in the Health Centre newsletter, and has already
distributed it at the last Seniors' Lunch.
- Lecture on Homecare Services—Lisa is going to get a
Continuing Care speaker for a Seniors' Lunch.
- List of people available for casual work.
ACTION: Loreto will put a notice in the
Community Events sheet offering a listing on the SABDA web
site for people who want to do casual labour in
this area.
- Expanding Services at the Marina—Carol was to draft
a letter to the Harbour Authority concerning expanding the
Marina at Little River. She did so, and sent the letter to Jeff
Brownstein. There has been no response as yet.
- Community Talk About NS Coastal Plan.
ACTION: Ruth will research this and report
at the next meeting.
- Down-facing Lights—Andy was to contact Conserve
Nova Scotia. He has contacted Brian Hayes again, and has
received a second response. So far, resources have been
concentrated on converting traffic lights to LED, and they
are now working on street lights. The four areas of interest
they have identified include street lights that are focused
down. Andy is following up.
- Mining Issues—Aaron to track mining issues and
provide updates. Nothing new, but after the next provincial
election, there may be an end to the moratorium on uranium
mining which we would need to oppose. A call to the
Premier's office encouraging maintenance of the moratorium
is a good idea.
ACTION: Aaron will draft a letter to the Premier's
office from SABDA for Marcelle to sign.
b) Earlene Busch would like to move the annual mushroom
event from the Chanterelle Country Inn to the North River Hall,
if the community would see it as an opportunity to
create revenue.
ACTION: Marcelle will contact Earlene
to get her to draft a support letter for SABDA to sign, and to
offer our umbrella support.
Earlene also presented an idea for re-learning skills that
existed prior to the age of cheap energy. There was no
certainty about what steps might be taken at this point. One
suggestion was to look at building a ship the way the Margaret
was built. There is a boat-building workshop in the Fire Hall
this winter. As well, it was noted that people will pay to
come and learn to build something.
ACTION: Loreto will draft a possible addition
to the web site and submit it to the Board.
c) Support for immigrants to our community:
Yvonne and Ton Megens are having difficulty immigrating.
Mark Eyking's office has been contacted.
ACTION: Aaron will talk with Mark Eyking
regarding what the community can do to encourage movement
on this file.
Carol Kennedy sent us a draft of a letter in support of the
immigration of Barbara Weinberg of Cabot Shores.
ACTION: Marcelle will sign and send this
letter to Sandy Hudson of Victoria County, per Barbara's
request. (moved: Merrill; seconded: Aaron)
5) Next Board Meeting: Wednesday
15 April 2009, 7:00 pm.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:15 pm.
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