St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Meeting of 20 April 2010

In attendance:
Yves Despois, Loreto Doyle, Dennis Laffan, Marcelle Lavoie, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinburg, Kurt Yonder

Regrets:
Chrissie MacEachern

1) Agenda
Approved (moved: Loreto; seconded: Angelo)

2) Minutes of 5 January 2010:
Approved (moved: Loreto; seconded: Marcelle)

3) Financial Report:  (Chrissie via Marcelle)
Little activity since last meeting. $6,895.07 in the SABDA account.

4) Business arising from the Minutes of 5 January:

• Pews at the North River Church:
  Angelo visited the Church and concluded that it would be inappropriate to remove the pews. The idea, to approach owners to donate them for a fundraising sale (for local trail maintenance), is shelved for now. He has, however, compiled a list of pew owners for future reference.
  
  
• Arbouretum Society:
  This group is set up again and running, confirmed by Loreto and Dennis.
  
  
• Coastal Coalition:
  We had wondered whether we should join this organisation, after its presentation to us at our AGM.
  
  ACTION: The board agrees to individually get informed on the nature of the Coalition and its work, and then discuss possible membership at the next meeting. Dennis will suggest to the Stewards of St Ann's Bay that they may wish to be involved with this group.
  
  
• Indian Brook Trail:
  Paul is in contact with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Department of the Environment in Baddeck. They plan to walk the trail site with Paul, and see what is possible.
  
  ACTION: Paul will continued to follow this investigation.
  
  
• General Liability Insurance:
  We know that the Health Centre pays about $1,000.00 a year for general liability insurance. The board has some concern about the need for such insurance, given its cost and the nature of our work.
  
  ACTION: Dennis will contact the CB Island Pathways group (of which he is a member) for information about how they handle this issue. Their work with trails raises some similar risks to those that SABDA may face in its work for the environment and community trails, etc.
  
  
• SABDA Directors and Officers Liability Insurance:
  The Health Centre pays about $550 per year for this. The general feeling is that this is a more important insurance to think about, to protect those who volunteer for the board. There has been talk in the past of a government bill to relieve Society boards from the same kind of liability faced by business boards (one such bill died with the last government; we don't know if a new one has been introduced). No final decision was made. Discussion deferred to the next meeting.

5) New Business:

• SABDA file storage—We have no set standards or location for storage, and currently depend on board members to sort and store our records. We agree to consider a more efficient storage system.
  
  ACTION: Marcelle will contact Ruth and Chrissie to locate past files. Further discussion will take place at the next meeting.
  
  
• Nova Scotia for Equalization Fairness—Aaron, who brought this item to our attention, was not at the meeting. We don't know specifically what he wants to do about this tax issue, so discussion was postponed to the next meeting.
  
  ACTION: Marcelle will ask Aaron to bring his intentions to the next meeting.
  
  
• SABDA Tree Planting—We were approached by the Arbouretum to donate a tree for this year's additions on Arbour Day, at a cost of $50.
  
  Motion: Move to make such a donation: moved: Angelo, seconded Paul, passed.
  
  ACTION: Chrissie will write a cheque to Dennis Laffan for the corresponding expense.
  
  
• Trash at Barachois River overlook—A complaint about heavy dumping and a report of its subsequent cleanup were made to the board; different areas are well known for the same problem.
  
  ACTION: Paul will contact Merrill to see whether the fire department plans a cleanup day (it has organised them in the past). Paul will also contact the Cabot Trail Working Association to see how we can incorporate a cleanup day with a "spring festival" they have in mind.
  
  Loreto will contact Victoria County (Merrill) about the possibility of placing Garbage facilities along the Trail, especially at the known sensitive places (like look-offs), and of adding those locations to regular garbage collection routes. Also, she will suggest increasing toilet facilities along the Trail, and placing road signage to indicate the locations of these facilities.
  
  
• SABDA Secretary—The board has approved making minute-taking a rotating assignment. Paul has volunteered to take minutes at our September meeting, and Kurt at our November meeting.
  
  ACTION: Yves will contact Chrissie to see if she is interested in this position, perhaps even exchanging the roles of secretary and treasurer (especially if she will not be responsible for Minutes!).
  
  

6) Next Board Meeting: Tuesday 21 September 2010, 7:00 pm, at St. Ann's Bay Health Centre.

7) Meeting Adjourned

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