St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Annual General Meeting

9 April 2015

Present: Loreto Doyle, Dr. Fitzgerald, Vince Forrestall, Susanna Fuller, Dennis Laffan, Anne-Claude Pépin, Matthew Smith, Rosie Smith, Marion Thompson, Mary Ann Wilson, Tom Wilson, Jitka Zgola, Terrie Zweep

Regrets: Ian Green, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul  Weinberg

1. Call to Order
   Welcome from the Chair, Anne-Claude Pépin, at 19:00.
2. Guest Speaker—Susanna Fuller
3. Susanna gave a presentation on the outcomes of the One Nova Scotia/Ivany Report on Nova Scotia's economic future. This was followed by an informal discussion of initiatives that have worked in other places, and ideas of what might work in St. Ann’s. Ideas included hiking trail maps, encouragement of homesteading on County lands, walking trails along the Cabot Trail, and new home care and maintenance initiatives.
4. Approval of Agenda
5. Motion: to approve the agenda (moved: Rosie Smith; seconded: Loreto Doyle; carried.)
6. Minutes of AGM of March 25, 2014
7. Motion: to approve the minutes of AGM 2014 (moved: Loreto Doyle; seconded: Rosie Smith; carried.)
8. Chair's Report
9. The Chair's Report was presented by Anne-Claude Pépin, outgoing Chair, and is summarized as follows:
10. SABDA continues to focus on how it can support small businesses in the area, as well as increasing the level of services for residents. The potential Ingonish school closure, the Englishtown Ferry, and Canada Post services are all of concern to SABDA, and letters have been drafted and will be mailed shortly to the Provincial MLA and Ministers, Federal MP, and Municipal Council.
11. SABDA continues to connect with various associations and bodies such as NS Tourism, NS Innovation, and the Cabot Trail Steering Committee.
12. SABDA hosted many business management courses that were well attended, and plans to organise more in 2015.
13. The St. Ann's Bay Region web site is expected to be launched this year.
14. Motion: to accept the Chair’s Report as read (moved: Anne-Claude Pépin; seconded: Loreto Doyle; carried.)
15. Financial Report (Jitka Zgola, Treasurer):
16. The opening balance was $10,007.55 and the current balance is $7,693.55.
17. Latest expenditures include:
    • $3,105 for web site development
    • $281.75 for operating expenses, such as NS Registry of Joint Stocks registration and web site domain name registration
    • $319.00 for social media marketing workshop costs
18. Recent Credits are:
    • $1002.00 LaMPSS business workshops
    • $250.00 donation from Victoria County Council
    • $140.00 revenues from a training course
19. Outstanding debits include:
    • $1,149.00 for web site development
    • $3,000.00 in costs for recent social media management workshop
    • $180.00 to Jitka Zgola: reimbursement for trainer’s fee, Mar 24 workshop
    • $205.00 in costs of AGM
20. Credits not yet deposited include:
    • $3,000.00 Victoria County grant for social media tourism marketing
21. Current equity is $3,548.55
22. Motion: To approve the financial report by Jitka Zgola; seconded: Anne-Claude Pépin,; carried.
23. Business arising from the minutes of the AGM of 25 March 2014
    • No old business.
24. New Business
    • Englishtown Channel
    • There may be an opportunity for SABDA to approach the Cape Breton University MBA program for an economic impact study of continuing the ferry vs. building a bridge. Dennis Laffan was involved with Pathways, who commissioned the school to do an economic impact study, and it really kick-started the Pathways initiative. SABDA could draft a simple letter to the University, asking if they would be interested in being involved. Other groups would likely be interested in being involved, such as the Ingonish Development Society.
    • Public-private partnership, like the Cobequid pass.
    • Motion: for SABDA to write a letter to CBU, asking them to conduct an economic impact study on the impacts of having a ferry versus a bridge Moved: Dennis Laffan; seconded: Tom Wilson; carried.
    • Action: Anne-Claude will draft and submit a letter to CBU. The Victoria County Council will be copied on the letter
    • Hike the Highlands Festival
    • Hike the Highlands is coming to the area for a Fall stay—North River Big and Little Falls, and Indian Brook Falls. None of these trails is in great shape. For liability reasons, no one other than DNR staff is permitted to bring power saws in along the trails. Vince Forrestall has applied for a grant for students to do some simple trail maintenance, like marking the trails and doing some hand clipping. Hike the Highlands guides will also be hiking the trails before the festival.
    • SABDA has been reluctant to be involved in terms of organising a trail clean-up, as we do not want to set a precedent of the trail being maintained by the community rather than the Province, as previously agreed. However, we could be involved with a small community clean-up, and organise refreshments.
    • Community Picnic
    • Motion: that SABDA will host a community picnic day, as a SABDA promotion, and to bring the entire community together, from Wreck Cove to South Haven to Englishtown. This could be done in conjunction with the North River Falls clean-up, or otherwise Moved: Dennis Laffan; seconded: Anne-Claude Pépin; carried.
    • Action: SABDA will bring up this issue at the next regular meeting, to discuss details such as size, timing, and location.
25. Scheduling of 2016 AGM
26. The 2016 AGM will be held on 1 March 2016.
27. Adjournment
28. Motion: To adjourn by Rosie Smith; seconded: Loreto Doyle.

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