St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Meeting of 21 September 2010

In attendance:
Yves Despois, Loreto Doyle, Marcelle Lavoie, Chrissie MacEachern, Andy Watt, Paul Weinburg

Regrets:
Dennis Laffan, Kurt Yonder

1) Agenda
Approved (moved: Marcelle; seconded: Chrissie)

2) Minutes of 20 April 2010:
Approved (moved: Yves; seconded: Loreto; carried)

3) Financial Report:  (Chrissie)
$6,935.58 in bank as of August 31.
Adoption of financial report (moved: Chrissie; seconded: Yves; carried).

4) Business arising from the Minutes of 20 April:

• Follow-up on Coastal Coalition membership (Marcelle):
  The idea of joining the Coastal Coalition (presented by Jenn Graham at the 2009 AGM) was raised last year. Jenn thought it worthwhile for us to join so that we would:
  
  - receive information on a timely basis concerning Nova Scotia coastal issues (our main issues have to do with shore erosion and people building closer to shore than in the past)
  
  - have help with new landowners, and particularly those building close to shore (which is what people are doing now)
  
  Motion: That Marcelle follow up with Jenn Graham to determine cost of membership. If any Board member who has not reviewed the activities of the Coastal Coalition discovers objections to membership in the next week, s/he will alert Marcelle. Otherwise, Marcelle will proceed with joining the Coalition if the cost is under $75 annually (moved: Paul; seconded: Loreto; carried).
  
  
• Brief on Indian Brook Falls Trail (Paul):
  At the January 2010 meeting, Paul Weinberg brought up the idea of creating a trail to the Great Falls by building and marking a trail to the south of Indian Brook.
  
  Dennis Laffan reported, via Marcelle, that the Cape Breton Pathways Association joined the Nova Scotia Trails Federation and obtained insurance through them at a reasonable price.
  
  ACTION: Paul will contact Cape Breton Island Pathways Association, as previously suggested by Dennis Laffan. He will look into insurance obtained by Cape Breton Island Pathways as members of the Nova Scotia Trails Federation.
  
  Angelo suggests that we set up a workday to continue trail-marking on the proposed route, to be open to anyone wanting to help. The date proposed is October 23, from 9am to 2pm, starting from Cabot Shores.
  
  ACTION: Paul will insert a notice in the Events sheet proposing this date.
  
  
• Trash continues to be a problem in the area:
  Trash was dumped, and then picked up by the County at Barachois River outlook. This is apparently a popular site for local surreptitious dumpsters.
  
  The Fire Department got a permit from NS Dept. of Transportation in order to organise a community roadside cleanup last spring. They got bags for pickup, and "permission" for people to enter the ditches. (Safety vests are a good idea.) Fire Dept. members volunteered to collect any bagged debris collected by the community, and delivered it to the transfer station.
  
  As well, Englishtown organised a community roadside cleanup.
  
  Proposed: that we organize a spring garbage collection at our April 2011 meeting:
  - Contact Steve MacDonald of the Highways Department for bags, permits
  - Obtain some orange safety vests
  - Find ways to engage the community in the idea
  
  
• Investigate placement by Province of public garbage bins (Loreto):
  At our last meeting, we decided to ask the County to consider placing and maintaining bins for garbage, to be located in obvious places like roadside lookoffs, now that we own our own collection vehicles. As well, we wanted the County to advocate with Nova Scotia Highways to place road signage indicating the presence of public washrooms along the Trail (most Nova Scotia parks do have washrooms), and to increase the number of such facilities.
  
  Loreto spoke with Merrill on our behalf. Merrill did raise both issues at Council. However, Council placed some reliance on the Cabot Trail Working Association to deal with the signage and washroom issues (a government grant for signage was largely given to this group to manage non-traffic signage). The Association has recently lost its leader, when Kim Lemky left the province. This item appears to be in limbo. Loreto reported that she has asked Merrill for an update, but has not yet heard from him.
  
  Discussion: Various people mention that some provincial park toilets have been locked, lately; others at Plaster and Smokey Parks appear to remain open. We speculate as to reasons; perhaps cost-cutting.
  
  ACTION: Loreto will continue to investigate. (See Appendix I for historical info from County Council.)
  
  
• Nova Scotians for Equalisation Fairness:
  This item was brought to us by Aaron Schneider several months ago; he has not attended a meeting lately. We're not sure what action we should take or consider. The issue is the amount of Federal transfer payments that is distributed outside the HRM, and whether support should be given to the Charter legal challenge raised by John Morgan (mayor of CBRM). More information is available at nsef.ca

5) New Business:

• Chrissie is stepping down as Treasurer—She confirms that she is not resigning from the Board, but only from the office of Treasurer. Andy suggests we put out a notice to the community to recruit for her replacement as Treasurer.
  
  A concern is raised about the nearness of the upcoming Cabot Trail Writers Festival, operating as a committee of SABDA, and its need for an uninterrupted ability to write cheques just now. Currently, Chrissie is a required signer on the Festival bank account; it has proved enormously difficult to make changes to the bank account at the East Coast Credit Union.
  
  Motion: that we accept Chrissie's resignation as Treasurer, but continue her role as a signing authority for the duration of the Writers Festival and other emergent issues, until a new treasurer is in place (moved: Paul; seconded: Marcelle; carried)
  
  
• Minute-taking—Kurt has previously agreed to take minutes at our next meeting, which is the November AGM.
  
  Angelo agrees to take minutes in January, if he is available, with Paul offering to back us up if Angelo is away.
  
  

6) Next Board Meeting: Our next meeting is the AGM, to take place Tuesday 2 November 2010, at 7:00 pm, in the Tea Room.

ACTION: Chrissie will confirm availability of the Tea Room.

We discuss various possibilities for a presenter at our meeting, settling on either Bruce Nunn for a useful discussion of coyote issues, or BethSheila Kent about birds in Victoria County.

ACTION: Angelo will contact BethSheila to check on her availability and willingness. We believe that the business portion of the meeting should be first, and will be brief, so we can ask our presenter to begin around 7:30 pm. If BethSheila is not available, someone else (task not assigned) will contact Bruce Nunn.

Next Business Meeting: Wednesday 12 January 2011 at noon at St. Ann's Bay Health Centre (subject to confirming availability of the space with Lisa Finney).

7) Meeting Adjourned at 8:30 pm (moved: Loreto)

Appendix I

Details about recent Council discussions on the subject of public toilets, garbage bins, and signage.

From Council Meeting Minutes, 9 August:

"Councillor MacInnis expressed concern that the garbage containers at the Englishtown Ferry have been removed... staff are unable to find the time to empty the containers due to the busy traffic season. He has contacted Mike Wambolt, Supervisor of Ferries, Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, expressing concern and suggested Council members do the same."

From Council Meeting Minutes, 10 May:

"Councillor MacInnis expressed concern with the ongoing problem of garbage in the ditches of the roadsides in his district and other areas of the County. He has an organization [this is SABDA] interested putting boxes in designated areas where garbage can be placed rather than thrown on the road. They are suggesting that the Municipality collect the garbage from these boxes.

"Discussion also took place on the lack of public washrooms around the County.

"It was indicated that the Cabot Trail Working Association has begun an initiative to locate public washrooms/rest spots around the trail and the placement of garbage containers in the areas of public rest areas would be an ideal location. Councillor MacInnis will contact the Cabot Trail Working Association in this regard."

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