St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Meeting of 11 January 2011

In attendance:
Yves Despois, Loreto Doyle, Dennis Laffan, Ian Green, Marcelle Lavoie, Aaron Schneider, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinburg, Jitka Zgola

Regrets:
Kurt Yonder

Marcelle welcomes Jitka Zgola to the Board at her first formal appearance as our new treasurer.

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

2) Minutes of 21 September 2010:
Approved (moved: Yves; seconded: Loreto)

3) Financial Report: Jitka

Two payments made this period: $28.03 for the SABDA Joint Stocks Registry renewal; $100.00 to Beth Sheila Kent for her presentation to our AGM.
$6,808.07 in the SABDA account at 30 November 2010.
Financial report adopted as read (moved: Jitka; seconded: Yves)

4) Business Arising from the Minutes of 21 September:

Clearing on the Indian Brook trail
Some work was done by Angelo, Paul, and Barbara Weinberg, and two WOOFERs (and Paul's dog, who helped eat our lunches). The work commenced in November of 2010. Quite a few alternate trails have now been marked.

Paul has decided not to pursue the idea of making this a public trail; he has had very little luck getting a positive, definite response from the government departments who would have to step up, and insurance appears to be a very expensive item: $1,000 per year to cover trail volunteers, but no "slip-and-trip" for trail users.

He notes that there are quite a few Geocaches on this trail, so it is clearly being used, and will be used, by several people.
Our Coastal Coalition membership
Marcelle reports that she would like to forward the e-mail she receives from the Coalition to the members of the board of SABDA. Angelo, Loreto, Paul, and Jitka agree to have their names on her e-mail list.
AGM Birding presentation
Beth Sheila Kent, whom we paid to make a presentation on birds at our AGM, experienced technical difficulties at the AGM, and could not make this presentation (she did produce an alternate presentation at the time). She has offered to do the planned presentation on birds at a later date of our choosing.
Viewscapes support
A letter of support for the Viewscapes project of the Cabot Trail Working Association was sent out to James Eldridge, who was hired to manage the local project work this season.

5) New Business:

Minute-taker
We must select a volunteer to take the minutes of our next meeting. Angelo has decided to do them again, since he had such a great time with these minutes. He says that this is the most fun he has had since the time he counted Blue Jays on the Murray Road.
Formalising the minutes process
Because our secretary (Yves, who cannot yet take notes in English because we talk too fast) appoints a minute-taker at each meeting to be his deputy, and because our minutes are then transcribed for publishing to our web site by Loreto, the minutes go through a lot of hands, making error more likely. Loreto has asked that we formalise a process.

So, the minute-taker will forward his/her notes to Loreto, who will transcribe them for the web. She will ask the minute-taker to review her work, and when the minute-taker is satisfied, Loreto will forward the minutes to Yves for his final approval before we publish them.
Viewscapes programme and the Cabot Trail Working Association (CTWA)
At our AGM, James Eldridge and Dennis Laffan asked SABDA to assist them in attempting to keep the Viewscapes project going. This is the work that clears trees and brush to open up views and sight-lines along our roads, and is a project of the Cabot Trail Working Association. The CTWA no longer has funding for this project, and no longer has a paid coordinator. These two facts threaten continuation of the project, which we all agree is very important to the community. We invited the CTWA to send a representative to our meeting to talk about how we might help the project.

Ian Green, member of the CTWA board, joined us tonight. He shared a bit of history of the Association. Apparently, there was a fund of some $400,000 granted by the Province six years ago. This has been used up to undertake several projects: highway signage, trail displays (these contain the Cape Breton maps produced by the CTWA, as well as business brochures), and at least one "facades" project done in Cheticamp (this is intended to revitalise the exteriors of businesses along tourist routes). Other funds were used for other projects; for example, funding from Service Canada/ECBC paid for the Viewscapes projects.

Diana MacKinnon is the present chair of CTWA. Due to the present lack of funds, CTWA now holds itself in an advisory position. Ian relayed that CTWA has suggested that each interested local organisation take responsibility for its local area. If there is money found, the question is who will manage it. One option would be to contract management out to a third party.

Straight Highlands RDA has applied for and will administer a new facades program of $500,000 for around our part of the Cabot Trail; this is still in a quite preliminary state. There is also a study being done to assess the number of washrooms on the Cabot Trail, which will hopefully be completed even though there is currently no money to do anything with the results of the study.

CTWA is keeping its web site alive with the little money it has. It is also working on publishing the Cape Breton map for 2011.

Ian suggested that we can best help right now by having a voice in the CTWA and also the Northeast Highlands Chamber of Commerce. This means that we should have someone attend their meetings, representing SABDA.
Spring Clean-up
Moved: That, on Saturday 30 April, which is the day before Earth Day, SABDA organises a roadside garbage clean-up between South Haven and Wreck Cove. This would be in coordination with the North Shore and District Volunteer Fire Department (moved: Dennis; seconded: Paul; carried).

ACTION: Paul will coordinate the planning of this effort (he notes that he will not be here for the actual event).
Red Island Trail upgrades
Dennis Laffan has suggested that SABDA send a representative to meet with the Arbouretum Society and the St. Ann's Bay United Church to discuss the further development of a fully accessible trail on Red Island. Marcelle and Paul have agreed to attend such a meeting on our behalf (Loreto is already a member of the Arbouretum Society, and cannot represent SABDA as well).
Cabot Trail Working Association - discussion
We decide to defer a decision on the matter of attending CTWA and Chamber meetings, as no-one present has spare time just now, although we agree that it's a good idea to keep a proven fund-raiser/manager on the rolls.

6) Next Board Meeting: Tuesday 5 April 2011, 7:00 pm, at St. Ann's Bay Health Centre.

7) Meeting Adjourned at 9:30 pm.

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