St. Ann's Bay Development Association

Annual General Meeting

31 March 2016

Present: Loreto Doyle, Brenda Duchesne, Lisa Finney, JP Jolicoeur, Merrill MacInnis, Gerald MacLennon, Ian McNeil, Ton Megens, Yvonne Megens, Jim Piche, Lucy Piche, Aaron Schneider, Ruth Schneider, Rosie Smith, Angelo Spinazzola, Jim Steele, Paul Weinberg, Josephine Williams, Mary Ann Wilson, Tom Wilson, Jitka Zgola, Terrie Zweep

Regrets: Ian Green, Anne-Claude Pépin

Call to Order
Welcome from Chair Jitka Zgola, at 19:00.
Minutes of AGM of April 9, 2015
Motion: To approve the minutes of AGM 2015 (moved: Angelo Spinazzola; seconded: Paul Weinberg; carried.)
Chair's Report presented by Jitka, and incorporated into these minutes as Appendix A.
Motion: To accept the Chair's Report (moved: Jitka Zgola; seconded: Paul Weinberg; carried.)
Financial Report presented by Jitka, and incorporated into these minutes as Appendix B.
Motion: To accept the Financial Report (moved: Jitka Zgola; seconded: Angelo Spinazzola; carried.)
Business arising from the minutes of the AGM of 9 April 2015
- Englishtown Ferry
- SABDA was going to write a letter suggesting a bridge feasibility study be implemented by the Province and CBU. This was deferred, as a study is already underweigh.
- Hike the Highlands Festival and Community Picnic
- SABDA did not end up hosting a community picnic, due to a number of factors.
- The Department of the Environment allocated money in the fall of 2015 to clear the North River trail. This work was started last year, and will be continued this spring. Hike the Highlands will be including North River Falls as part of their festival this coming year.
New Business
- Election of Directors
- A call for new board members was put out to the community. Some community members will instead be joining committees. A slate of candidates was presented, including Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinberg, Ian Green, Rosie Smith, Loreto Doyle, Jitka Zgola, Anne-Claude Pépin, and Yvonne Megens.
- Motion: To elect the nominees as a slate. Moved: Jitka Zgola; seconded: Ruth Schneider; carried.
Break for Presentations
- Lisa Finney—Community Web Site
- Lisa explained her role as Listings Coordinator, and what content will be available on the web site, as well as the fee structure for the first year. Each subscriber will have access to update their own page. In the short term, content will be submitted for review to a coordinator before being published on the site. Continuing support will be discussed by SABDA. A social media coordinator will be responsible for continuing to update content and promote the area and the web site.
- Lisa is submitting comments and change requests to the developer, so any feedback from the community for her to pass along is much appreciated.
- Tom Wilson—Cabot Trail Tourism Solutions Conference and the County's New Broadband Internet Project
- Last week, Victoria and Inverness Counties hosted the Cabot Trail Tourism Solutions Conference. During this conference, tourism operators set goals for the coming year. All reports presented at the conference are available on the County's tourism web site, www.tourismvc.com Highlights of the conference:
  - One presentation was on the proposed Seawall Trail, which pointed out that 2,000 people hiking this trail could lead to $1.4 million in revenue.
  - There was a discussion about the Visitor Information Centres (VICs) operated by the Province which have been threatened with closures. VICs are important in engaging and connecting with visitors.
- Following this conference, the Cabot Trail Steering Committee will meet and determine which priorities they will focus on.
- An application will be submitted to ACOA for $1.3 million in funding for Phase 2 of the Cabot Trail Façades and Viewscapes program, to run over 2.5 years. An estimated 50–60 properties could be involved in this façades program. This phase of the program will be expanded to include communities accessed only via the Trail (Neil's Harbour, White Point, etc.).
- ACOA is interested in helping Victoria County develop a Tourism Strategy, a three year plan, which would include the Cabot Trail and the Bras d'Or Lakes area.
- Tom also presented the results of the online survey of broadband Internet users in the County. Internet usage is increasing in the community. The majority of users are dissatisfied with their Internet speed, reliability, and cost. Cellular Internet is faster than typical local broadband speeds. The County also did a broadband speed survey. This will need to be adjusted in the next survey for better reporting.
- Ian McNeil—Workshop and discussion to refocus on SABDA objectives.
- Ian facilitated a lively discussion on community priorities and shaping the future direction of SABDA. He provided a summary of the discussion, which is incorporated into these minutes as Appendix C.
Date of Next AGM
The next AGM will be on 1 March 2017.
Adjournment
Motion: To adjourn by Angelo Spinazzola; seconded: Rosie Smith.

Appendix A: Chair's Report

SABDA has had another busy year, keeping in touch with outside agencies, participating in various workshops and meetings. With the most generous support of Victoria County through the Tourism Funding program in 2011-2 and the Destination Marketing programme in 2012 and 2014, we have finished developing a web site for the region. The site aims to attract new residents as well as tourists, and serve as a community-builder for the area. Lisa will talk to you more about the web site and how to register your business or agency for a listing on the site later tonight.

Our board members have been busy:

Thanks to Ian Green for representing SABDA at the Immigration Summit hosted by the Province in Halifax last October.
Thanks to Loreto Doyle for participating in the work of the Cape Breton Partnership's Prosperity Framework Culture Sector Leadership Team on SABDA's behalf. This team, now in its second year, is one of several organised by the Partnership to advance the goals of the One Nova Scotia (Ivany) Coalition on rebuilding our economy. The team is currently conducting research into the economic contributions and needs of the culture sector in Cape Breton. Loreto also participated in the Cape Breton Partnership's Digital Industry Conference, CBU's Open Conversation on Arts and Culture workshop, the Prosperity Framework's Elevate Business Day conference, and the annual Cabot Trail Tourism Solutions conference.
Thanks to Paul Weinberg for acting as liaison between SABDA and the Cabot Trail Steering Committee, as St Ann's regional representative on, and Chair of, that team. This group, successor to the Cabot Trail Working Association, is responsible for the most recent Facades programme that helped Cabot Trail businesses spruce up their outdoor look, and is currently working on a new Facades project to assist businesses in and just off the Trail, and a new Viewscapes project to open up views around the Trail. The Committee provides and maintains the destination kiosks located around the Trail, including the parking lot at St Ann's Bay United Church.
Thanks to Angelo Spinazzola for attending the Trans-Canada Trail community meeting in Baddeck hosted by Jessica Farrell.
Continuing a successful series of business development and training offerings, SABDA delivered a well received all-day Tourism Product Packaging workshop in May, with the assistance of Tourism Nova Scotia. We followed that up in November with a 5-day business management Tools and Tips workshop in partnership with the Ingonish Development Society, sponsored by the Nova Scotia Department of Labour and Advanced Education. Thanks to Loreto for making these happen.

Numerous letters of concern, interest, or support have been sent to Municipal Council and provincial and federal governments regarding the Englishtown Ferry fee hike and the need for a reliable service; regarding potential school closures in Victoria County; regarding the County's Community Transportation Study completed in 2014; in support of cooking courses proposed by the Health Centre (that grant application was awarded; courses will begin soon); in support of a new Façades Programme for Cabot Trail shopfronts.

A donation of $250 was made to Greenwood Church to support the Syria to Baddeck initiative to sponsor a refugee family into our region.

Several successful festivals will return to the region this year (2016):

Victoria County Winter ActiveFest: February 12–March 20
Englishtown Mussel Festival: June 25
KitchenFest: July 2–9
Classics for the Cabot Trail Fesitval: August 28, September 1, 4, 11, and 25
Hike the Highlands Festival: September 9–18
Cabot Trail Acoustic Festival: TBA
Cabot Trail Writers Festival: September 30–October 2
Celtic Colours International Festival: October 7–15

Appendix B: Financial Report

Income
Bank balance at 25 March 2015 Bank balance at 31 March 2016		7,693.55 8,866.93

Victoria County Product Packaging workshop grant LaMPSS workshop grant Victoria County Social Media Marketing grant (2014)	382.00 6,340.00 3,000.00
Total		9,722.00

Expenditures
Product packaging workshop LaMPSS workshop trainer fees, rent, refreshments Cost of 2014 AGM Operating expense, registry renewal, domain name registration Web site completion Donation, Syrian refugee fund	382.00 5,240.00 211.75 166.45 2,300.00 250.00
Total		8,550.20

Accounts payable : cost of 2016 AGM		(450.00)

Special fund
Social media fund (grants and SABDA's contribution to 50/50 grant)	10,000.00
Total cost of web site to date:
Allocated to populating web site Allocated to social media	7,005.00 3,250.00
Balance		(255.00)

Current equity		8,161.93

Appendix C: Community Priorities Workshop Summary

On Thursday 31 March, at its Annual General Meeting, the St Ann's Bay Development Association (SABDA) began a community dialogue to update its strategic plan. The goal is to decide upon priorities for the next two years. The group's mission is to enhance the short term and long term economic and social growth of the community.

SABDA's current strategic plan lays out six key directions:

Develop health services.
Enhance quality of life for seniors.
Develop programs for youth and families.
Develop education programs.
Maintain and improve infrastructure, communications, safety, services, and transportation.
Create employment opportunities.

Participants in the strategic planning session held at the Celtic Team Room in River Bennett held a two-part discussion. In small groups, they listed social and economic development priorities for the community. Then, as one group facilitated by Ian McNeil of Cape Breton's Prosperity Framework, they discussed top priorities and next steps.

These economic development ideas emerged:

Create a "free store".
Work to make tourism a "year-round" industry.
Slow down tourism traffic to encourage local stays with measures like the addition of public washrooms.
Enlist all residents in being tourism ambassadors.
Improve the look of local properties.
Build and add to trails infrastructure.
Invite an entrepreneur to start an apple cider production facility.
Learn from the example set by Big Spruce micro-brewery.
Take measures to encourage "attitude change" to increase entrepreneurship.
Lobby federal government and support provincial government in removing caps on immigration.
Lobby for improved road conditions and bicycle lanes.
Encourage immigration, as well as the attraction and retention of young people.

These social development ideas emerged:

Support seniors with an assisted living program.
Encourage singles as well as seniors to consider living in the area.
Consider creation of a child care service.
Consider forming a dating service!
Share resources, car-pooling, meal-making, and shopping.
Create newcomer ambassadors, welcome wagons, mentoring, sharing of information about local businesses.
Create a privately or publicly owned local transportation option.
Revitalize SABDA itself through more engagement of residents at public events and an on-line survey, creation of an achievable action plan to accompany the strategic plan and build relationships with economic development groups and political representatives to advance these priorities.

Next Steps