Meeting of 13 September 2011

In attendance:
Loreto Doyle, Marcelle Lavoie, Anne-Claude Pepin, Rosie Smith, Paul Weinburg, Jitka Zgola

Regrets:
Yves Despois, Angelo Spinazzola, Kurt Yonder

Anne-Claude agrees to act as recording secretary for this meeting.

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

2) Minutes of 3 April 2011:
Approved (moved: Loreto; seconded: Paul)

3) Financial Report: Jitka

Current balance of $6,729.44 in the SABDA account; there is an outstanding bill payable to Marcelle of $8.97.
The Cabot Trail Writers Festival has formed its own Society; the subaccount for the former committee has been closed out.
Financial report accepted (moved: Jitka; seconded: Loreto).

4) Business Arising from the Minutes of 3 April:

Good Health Festival
Paul reported that the Festival went well. A letter would be appreciated in support of future events. Paul will let us know if and when he will like to have this.
Earth Day Roadside Clean-up
The roadside cleanup went well, with good participation. It was noted that there was no truck to pick up bags along the "loop".
Cabot Trail Working Association
Jim Steele replied positively to the letter we sent asking him to be our liaison to the CTWA.

NOTE: Subsequent to this meeting, we heard from Jim that, more recently, he has stepped down from the CTWA board, and therefore can not serve as our liaison.
St. Ann's Bay Arbouretum Society
Loreto applied for funding for the feasibility study of the Red Island Trail upgrade proposal. Cape Breton Pathways has provided a quote of under $3000 for the study. No funding has yet been secured. Efforts will continue.
Records Storage
A storage box has been purchased for our records; it is not yet stored at North River (Angelo's offices), but there is no urgency.
Wind Power, Alternative Energy
Dan Rosco of Scotian Windfields (scotianwindfields.ca) will be invited to speak to the community, probably as part of a Green Energy conference to be planned for the North Shore. Mi'Kmaw Alternative Energy, the CanSolAir distributor at Whycocomagh, will also be invited.

Loreto reports that CBU's new environmental research centre is not yet up and running; she will monitor events.
Rural Transportation
We were not able to get definite information on the scheduled conference in Richmond County; no one attended.
On-line Meetings
The necessary software is still available to the community free of charge until December 31, and possibly thereafter. Members of the community should be advised that they can access the service via their CAP site; it is available to all community groups and small businesses.

5) New Business:

Protected Areas
Anne-Claude explained the "Protected Areas" programme for Nova Scotia, which currently proposes expansion of the French River protected area, among others. There will be public hearings at some point in the new year. More information is available on the Province's web site: gov.ns.ca/nse/12percent

ACTION: Anne-Claude will write a brief paragraph for the Events sheet, explaining the purpose of the programme, and inviting community members to access the Province's web site to contribute their opinions. Friends of the North Shore will liaise with SABDA to keep us posted on updates at the Province.
Non-profit Governance
An on-line course from Dalhousie University College of Continuing Education is offered September 27 through February 27 for 30 hours per week. Cost is between $1000 and $1500. It was suggested by a community member that SABDA might want to fund someone from the community to attend this course, who would then consult to various community groups to improve all of our outcomes. A discussion concluded that, first, the time is too short to promote such a plan this year. Also, the commitment required by a student is quite large, we do not immediately know where all local groups could obtain funding to hire this consultant, and "our" trainee would have no particular ties to keep him or her here to consult. Instead, the services of a graduate of this course may be useful to the various organisations within this community.

ACTION: Marcelle will look further into locating and hiring such a consultant.

6) Next Meeting (our AGM): Tuesday 6 December 2011, 7:00 pm, at the Celtic Tea Room.

ACTION: Marcelle will confirm space availability, and arrange a lunch.
ACTION: By previous agreement, Kurt will be recording secretary at the AGM.
We agreed on a guest presentation on "Encounters with Wild Life". ACTION: Jitka will contact the Department of Natural Resources to arrange for a speaker.

7) Meeting Adjourned at 8:45 pm (moved: Loreto).

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