St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Annual General Meeting

3 November 2009

In attendance:
Veronika Brzeski, Gordon Douglas, Loreto Doyle, Donna Frizzell, Chrissie MacEachern, Duncan MacEachern, Aaron Schneider, Ruth Schneider, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinberg, Kurt Yonder, Susan Zettell, Jitka Zgola; Guests Jennifer Graham and Yvette Michaud

Regrets:
Marcelle Lavoie

1) Welcome from the Chair
(meeting chaired by Ruth Schneider for Marcelle; minutes recorded by Loreto for Ruth)

2) Agenda
Approved with correction to move tonight's election to "New Business" (moved: Aaron; seconded: Chrissie)

3) Minutes of December 9, 2008's AGM:
Read and approved (moved: Loreto; seconded: Aaron)

4) Business Arising from the Minutes of December 9, 2008:

Community survey was reviewed, and actions were taken in areas we believed we could influence:

• Cell coverage—Loreto has lobbied Aliant for improvements, but with no results yet.
  
  
• Internet—high speed was an issue; it has now ostensibly been made available to all (MacAulay residence may not have it, even yet). Aaron raised concerns about the cost and speed of "high speed", as compared to other parts of the world—he feels that we pay far too much, and don't get very "high" speed in return. ACTION: Aaron will investigate and monitor speed and cost.
  
  
• Emergency preparedness—a course in emergency planning in Baddeck was cancelled "for lack of interest"; it was scheduled for a weekday in fishing season, and had 10 students signed up...
  
  
• We presented a course on small motor repair and maintenance (Marcus and Abe Bona).
  
  
• We presented a course on chain saw maintenance and use.
  
  
• Our CAP site presented geocaching instruction sessions.
  
  
• We created and administered a transportation survey. At this time, we contemplate no action; the problems seem to be expensive and difficult to overcome.
  
  
• Web site—we have put up pages inviting knowledge exchange, and advertising for handy-man services.
  
  
• Harbour authority—they have not responded to our offer to help with whatever their issues and needs may be.
  
  
• Andy inquired about down-facing street lights. There are no developments as yet, except that the province in general intends to replace street light bulbs with LED units, and there is a Nova Scotia manufacturer at work creating such bulbs.
  
  
• Mining issues—Aaron continues to monitor this item, and is available to inform anyone who cares to know what he has found.

5) Financial Report: Chrissie

Joint Stocks has been paid, annual return has been filed for this year.

The current account balance (at 30 September 2009) is $7,162.57.

Financial Report adopted as read (moved: Chrissie; seconded: Angelo; passed)

6) Break for a special presentation:

Jennifer Graham of Ecology Action Centre (EAC) speaks about coastal ecosystems, Coastal Coalition of Nova Scotia, and the Province of Nova Scotia's "Sustainable Coastal Development Strategy" and "Water Resources Management Strategy".

She asks for our help as a group, and as individuals, to continue to lobby governments for responsible action on coastal and water issues.

• http://www.ecologyaction.ca/content/coastal
• http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/water.strategy/
• http://www.gov.ns.ca/nse/

5 minute break

7) Chair's Report: Marcelle

In addition to this AGM, SABDA meetings were held in January, April, and September this past year.

The Report from the Chair is appended and incorporated into these minutes as Appendix I.

Chair's Report adopted as read (moved: Ruth; seconded: Chrissie)

8) New Business

Election of Directors: new Board to be elected for the next two years.

• Chrissie MacEachern, Marcelle Lavoie, and Angelo Spinazzola of the current board have agreed to stand for re-election.
  
  
• Yves Depois, Loreto Doyle, and Paul Weinberg have agreed to stand for election.
  
  
• Call for nominations:
  Several nominations from the floor were declined; Kurt Yonder (nominated by Angelo, nomination accepted); Amy MacInnis (nominated by Ruth, nominee not present)
  
  
• Motion to close nominations (moved: Susan; seconded: Aaron; passed)
  
  
• Motion to acclaim nominees (moved: Aaron; seconded: Ruth; passed). Slate acclaimed.
  
  
• Potential new Board: Yves Depois, Loreto Doyle, Marcelle Lavoie, Chrissie MacEachern, Amy MacInnis, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinberg, Kurt Yonder

ACTION: Newly elected members not present will be asked to confirm that they accept their election to the Board. [NOTE: This last has since been done; all members-elect have accepted their election to the SABDA Board.]

9) Next regular business meeting: Tuesday 5 January 2010, 7:00 pm at the St. Ann's Bay Community Health Centre.

10) Meeting Adjourned: at 9:00 pm. (moved: Duncan)

Addendum—Appendix I

Chair's Report

This year SABDA held its usual 4 meetings, the fourth being tonight's Annual General Meeting. We began the year addressing concerns arising from our community survey.

One was cell phone coverage in the St Ann's Bay area which will be an ongoing effort.

High speed internet coverage to the whole community was lobbied and is gradually being made available to the pockets where it was not.

Barry Campbell came to speak at a senior's lunch in March concerning emergency measures in our community and as a result several firemen went to a course in Baddeck in May to learn planning for emergencies.

For education programs there was a small engines evening at the fire hall presented by Marcus and Abraham Bona; Dennis Lafan presented a session on chain saw maintenance. These were very well attended.

There were two GPS sessions at the CAP site in April.
There was a presentation on Community Services and Homecare at a senior's lunch.

We have investigated possibilities of public transportation in the community but this has come to a dead end. There isn't enough need to justify the cost at this point.

A local reading group organized a Writer's Festival in North River in Oct. For the sake of acquiring funding they joined SABDA as a subcommittee so they could use our name in affiliation when writing letters of request to sponsors. The Festival was well attended and received some very supportive feedback.

I had the good fortune to attend the Celebrating Communities Conference in Truro this October past. Our own Ross MacDonald is the organizer of these conferences which celebrate individuals, groups, businesses, and youth in communities much like ours who have taken steps to enhance aspects of their communities. The speakers are very inspiring, and over all we can come away with new approaches, new ideas, and perhaps a fresh way of looking at our own community.

Loreto has continued to improve our web site. There is a 'Help for Hire' page, a 'Skills Exchange' page, and a page with the minutes to all of our meetings. It is easy to navigate, and easy to read. Worth visiting.

In October there was a tidying up of the old Trail over Barachois mountain. It is quite good condition. The North Branch brook has to be waded which is doable in the summer.

That wraps up our year and hopefully as time goes on more and more people in the community will take pleasure in attending meetings and enjoy sharing their ideas.

Submitted by Marcelle Lavoie

^ top