St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Meeting of 3 April 2011

In attendance:
Loreto Doyle, Marcelle Lavoie, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinburg; Guest Ash Young

Regrets:
Yves Despois, Jitka Zgola

1) Agenda:
Approved with one modification; we will hear from Ash Young first, so that he can leave the meeting (moved: Paul; seconded: Loreto)

2) Minutes of 11 January 2011:
Approved (moved: Angelo; seconded: Marcelle)

3) Presentation from Ash Young:
Ash is assisting with event planning for the upcoming Good Health Festival being promoted by Cabot Shores. This festival is intended as a fund-raiser in support of breast-cancer patients who will be sponsored for stays at Cabot Shores. Note: Paul declares that he has a conflict of interest, and will not vote on any motion raised in connection with this agenda item.

Ash reviewed current plans for the weekend Festival that is expected to start July 9, 2011. He then asked SABDA for a letter of support for this venture.

Motion: that we provide Ash Young and Cabot Shores with a letter of support for their Festival (moved: Angelo; seconded: Loreto)

4) Financial Report: Jitka via Marcelle

$6,758.57 in the SABDA account (6758.41 at 28 February plus $0.16 interest in March).
Financial report accepted as read.

5) Business Arising from the Minutes of 11 January:

Earth Day Roadside Clean-up
We wish to encourage the community to clean up our ditches and roadside in celebration of Earth Day. We are promoting the hours of 9:00 am through noon of April 30 as the day. We submitted an Community Events sheet announcement, as well as announcements at the Men's Breakfast (by Paul) and at St. Ann's Bay United Church.

ACTION: Marcelle will ask Mike Crimp to do garbage pickup the day of the event.

ACTION: Angelo will provide garbage bags (courtesy of North River Kayak), and his business will be a pickup location for those who want bags.
Cabot Trail Working Association
Paul attended the recent Association AGM, and reports that they have formed a new board. Our local members are Ian Green and Jim Steele.

ACTION: Marcelle will ask Jim Steele if he will act as liaison for SABDA and the Association, so that we can keep up to date, and offer assistance where we can.
St. Ann's Bay Arbouretum Society
Marcelle reports that the Arbouretum has asked for SABDA's assistance in raising funds to pay for an assessment of the Red Island Trail (which is managed by the St. Ann's Bay United Church, and which may become incorporated into the Arbouretum). The Cape Breton Pathways Association is capable of doing a conditions assessment, and construction plan/cost analysis, to determine the potential to bring the Trail to a "fully accessible" rating. Such an assessment and plan would cost less than $5,000. Note: Loreto declares that she has a conflict of interest (is a member of the Arbouretum board), and will not vote on any motion raised in connection with this agenda item.

Loreto earlier sent around a notice of funding available from the Department of Seniors, and Paul suggests that this may be a source of funds for the Trail assessment, given the heavy use of the Trail by local seniors.

Motion: that SABDA agree to attempt to source funding for a Trail study (moved: Paul; seconded: Marcelle; carried)

ACTION: Loreto will write proposals in order to secure the necessary funding.

6) New Business:

Records Storage
This is actually older business that is being raised again. SABDA is getting to be quite old (began in 1992, and became a Society in 1993). Over time, records have been collected, stored, lost, relocated. We wonder whether, given no permanent location, we can develop a strategy for records management. For a start, Angelo has volunteered to store SABDA records indefinitely, provided that they are packaged in Rubbermaid (or similar) containers, taped up against "creatures".
Wind Power, Alternative Energy
Paul discussed recent changes in Nova Scotia law that will make it possible for some people to potentially receive payment for privately generated electricity. This is new legislation that will be reviewed in 2012, so now is the time to find out what it means, and how it can work.

ACTION: Paul will ask Dan Rosco of Scotian Windfields (scotianwindfields.ca) to attend a future SABDA meeting, to do a presentation on the benefits of privately generating power in our community (Dan has an interest in wind power, specifically).

ACTION: Loreto will check out CBU's new environmental research centre to see if that might be a source of information on this topic, and report back to the board.

More information about "feed-in tariffs" is available on the Internet; for example, here:
canrea.ca/provincial-updates/nova-scotias-feed-in-tariff
Minute-taker
ACTION: Marcelle will ask Kurt Yonder if he will take minutes at our next meeting.
Rural Transportation
Loreto indicated that she had been contacted regarding the upcoming "Rural Active Transportation Summit", about which still little is known. However, it is being organised in Cape Breton by the provincial government and Richmond County, indicating that someone is perhaps taking rural transportation issues seriously. Loreto is suggesting that we should consider sending a representative, if the conference develops into something interesting. Early information includes the dates (June 9 and 10), location (Dundee Resort), and cost ($100; includes snacks, lunches, dinners).
On-line Meetings
Loreto mentioned the success of a recent test of on-line meeting software conducted in the County. She doesn't know the cost of use (tests were free), but, if affordable, it is an excellent alternative to in-person meetings. Far better than the old conference call, and relatively simple to provide for participants who have Internet access. ACTION: Loreto will try to find out what is still available to the community, and what it would cost to use this tool in future.

7) Next Board Meeting: Tuesday 13 September 2011, 7:00 pm, at St. Ann's Bay Health Centre. ACTION: Marcelle will confirm space availability.

8) Meeting Adjourned at 8:45 pm.

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