D R A F T
Annual General Meeting of Members, 28 March 2017
Present: Earlene Bush,
Loreto Doyle, Brenda Duschene, Lisa Finney, Ray Fraser (guest presenter),
Gordon Kennedy, Merrill MacInnis, Yvonne Megens, Anne-Claude Pépin,
Jay Rawding, Aaron Schneider, Ruth Schneider, Julie Tirol (guest),
Mary Ann Wilson, Jitka Zgola
Regrets: Ian Green,
Rosie Smith, Angelo Spinazzola, Paul Weinberg
- Call to order
- Call to order by Chair Jitka Zgola, 7:15 pm.
- Approve minutes of the Annual General
Meeting of 31 March 2016
- Minutes were read; the meeting noted a correction
in the financial report, such that $166.45 replaces $66.45 in Expenses.
It was determined that, next year, the minutes will be posted on the
SABDA web site in advance of the AGM, and a reminder to review the
minutes will be included with the meeting announcement.
- Motion: to approve
the minutes of 31 March 2016 AGM as amended
(moved: Ray Fraser;
seconded:
Gordon Kennedy; carried.)
- Chair's Report (Jitka Zgola)
- Chair's report presented by Jitka; full text is appended
to these minutes as Appendix I.
- Motion: to accept
the report as read (moved: Jitka;
seconded:
Lisa Finney; carried.)
- Questions regarding the Time Bank project announced
in the Chair's report ensued. More community discussion about the rules
and operation of the time bank will be needed. Ruth Schneider suggested
that Ian McNeil be approached to lead the discussion. More information
about the ideas behind the Time Bank can be found at hOurWorld.org. The new St Ann's Bay Time Bank is up
and active.
- Financial Report (Anne-Claude Pépin)
- Financial report presented by Anne-Claude; full text is
appended to these minutes as Appendix II.
- Motion: to approve
the financial report (moved: Anne-Claude;
seconded:
Lisa Finney; carried.)
- Business arising from the
minutes of AGM 2016
- Restructuring of SABDA and a renewal of objectives was
discussed in Chair's report.
- New Business
- During this past year, we have received resignations
from three of our directors, Ian Greene, Rosie Smith, and Angelo Spinazzola.
Their work over the years has been much appreciated, and they will be
sorely missed. Considering the lateness of the announcements (the lack
of time to consider and recruit replacements), we would opt to move
ahead with 5 board members. We extend an invitation to members at
large to join any of our standing committees, or to bring forth ideas
for the formation of new projects.
- Break for Special Presentation
- Ray Fraser, Northern Cape Breton Development
Society and member of the Seawall Trail Society, presented the
Seawall Trail project. This will be
a three- to five-day wilderness hike. The main north-south branch
will expand upon existing trails, and will complete the route from
Meat Cove to Pleasant Bay. An east-west spur trail will begin near
Cape North. These access points connect the trail to communities
in both Victoria and Inverness counties. Ray spoke of the foreseen
economic, social, and environmental impacts of the project, and
the process they undertook to come to the current stage of
development.
- Ray pointed out the lessons that he has learned
that might be applied to our local endeavours, particularly the Time
Bank project. Among these were the value of community consultation,
the need to maintain a flexible outlook, a willingness to accept
change, and the value of reaching beyond our own community
for support.
- We thank Ray for his presentation and inspiration.
- Next Meeting
- Tuesday 27 March 2018; location TBD.
- Meeting
Adjourned (moved:
Jitka; seconded: Loreto)
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Appendix I: Chair's Report
As this has been a year of renewal and refocus, the main body of this
year's report is structured under the four principle objectives that have
spurred our efforts since our last AGM. These are:
- Revitalization of SABDA
- Supporting enterprise
- Infrastructure
- Needs of seniors, community networking systems;
e.g., transportation and services
These objectives were derived through a two-stage process that
started with the community dialogue facilitated by Ian MacNeil, here
in this room last March. A detailed report of that process is appended
to the minutes of our 2016 AGM.
The principle aims were divided between economic development
and social development.
In order to choose from among the suggested aims, we entered the
second stage, which was a survey, a detailed report of which is available
on the SABDA web site.
We thank all those who participated. We also thank those who
contributed to the lucky winner's grand prize, a kayaking outing for
two from North River Kayak Tours, a night for two at the
Sleeping Moose, two pairs of hand-knit socks by
Rosie Smith, and a pair of hand-thrown mugs from Singing Pebbles.
In the survey, the most frequently sited items for intervention were:
- Revitalization of SABDA by increasing community
engagement
- Supporting entrepreneurship
- Improved infrastructure
- Support to seniors and networking systems with
regard to transportation and services
- Retention of youth
SABDA's efforts, this year, have been directed to the first four
of these:
- Revitalization of SABDA
- Supporting enterprise
- Supporting improvements in infrastructure
- Addressing needs of seniors, community networking
systems;
e.g., transportation and services
Revitalization of SABDA
We now announce all SABDA board meetings and invite members to
attend. We've restructured the meeting schedule, reducing board
meetings to 4 per year, including the AGM. So that members can put
their full energy into projects of their interest, we've established a
flexible committee system. Each committee works on its own, seeking
board support or community support as needed, and reports to the
board at scheduled board meetings. If any particular aspect of a project
takes on more weight and requires more attention, another committee
can form and draw support from the community at large.
Members at large are invited to present prospective projects at any
board meeting. We currently have committees for the web site, political
action, training, transportation, and the Time Bank. We have found this
structure is more respectful of members' time and energy, and imparts
a new vitality to the work.
Supporting Enterprise
There are several ways in which SABDA has contributed to the support
of local enterprise this year.
The Web Site Committee has continued work
on the Shores of St Ann's web site.
Jay Rawding has been contracted to coordinate completion and maintenance
of the web site. There are currently 20 listings on the site, and another 25
businesses and non-profit organizations have been approached and are in
the process of subscribing. In the coming year, all interested businesses
and not-for-profit organizations in the area will be represented on the site.
Jay and Lisa Finney, startup listings coordinator, will be in touch and will be
looking for bios, photos, social links, web sites, and any other media that
would be feature-worthy. By participating, contributors will be actively
collaborating to spread information about this community to broader
audiences. Lisa and Jay are available to help and advise as to what makes a
high-quality profile.
SABDA applied for and received a grant of $3,000 from Victoria County's
Tourism Department for web site and social media marketing of the community.
Of that, $1,000 went to support the development of the St Ann's Community
Facebook page.
In June, SABDA sponsored
Tips For Productive Meetings, a seminar
with Alastair MacLeod. 22 businesspersons and representatives of local non-profit
organizations attended.
That same evening, SABDA also hosted a talk by Bernadette MacNeil, Manager,
Marketing and Development at Port of Sydney, regarding the experiences that
our community might offer to cruise ship passengers. As a result of this
discussion, local tourism-oriented businesses were surveyed, and 30 responded,
offering details of the services they might offer and the conditions they could
accommodate. This information was compiled into a booklet that the Port made
available to tour operators. This resulted in one new tour operator requesting
a familiarisation tour that Loreto Doyle conducted in the community.
The Training Committee once again designed
a 40-hour training programme funded by the Nova Scotia Department of
Labour and Advanced Education, focusing this time on customer service. As
registration numbers were not adaquate to run the program, it was cancelled.
Should there be renewed interest, the committee will reapply.
SABDA sent a letter to council in support of the new
Cabot Trail Façade, Streetscape, and Viewscapes, Phase II
programme. A letter also went to The Honourable Mark Furey, Minister of Business,
thanking him for reversing the closure of the Port Hastings and other
provincial visitor information centres.
As part of our commitment to back development and
maintenance of infrastructure this year, SABDA sent letters to Counsellor
MacInnis supporting Robert Dauphinee's proposal to establish a re-use shed at
the Baddeck Solid Waste Management Facility, and to Pam Eyking, MLA
Victoria-The Lakes, asking for her efforts to resolve the issue of inordinate
hikes in the fare rates at the Englishtown ferry.
In keeping with our objective to address the needs
of seniors in the community, SABDA wrote a letter in support of the
Health Centre's Arts Builds Community
application for Canada's History Award for Excellence in Community
Programming.
SABDA introduced, and sponsors, A Minute for Fitness,
a short exercise program conducted at the Health Centre's
Seniors' Lunches that has been a great
success. We received a grant of $400 for equipment from Victoria County's
Facility Access Fund for Senior's Fitness.
Transportation, especially for seniors, was cited as a major want in
this area. In January, each member of Victoria Council received a letter
from SABDA outlining the importance of transportation and urging the
institution of a ride-sharing programme in the county as recommended
in the
Mobility Strategy Business Plan
that the County Council commissioned in 2014. Several councillors
responded expressing interest in the issue. The letter was tabled in
Council. Council offered to review any local efforts. Our
Transportation Committee was formed
and joined by Councillor MacInnis to take this on.
In December, SABDA submitted an application to the Department
of Seniors' Age-Friendly Communities Grant
for the purpose of establishing a Time Bank
in St Ann's Bay. A time bank is a system whereby members share
their talents and services, record their contributed 'earned' hours, then
'spend' them later on services they want from other members. Everyone's
hours are equal. There is no barter. These are friendly, neighbourly
favours. It is a matter or reinforcing and restoring local community
currency based on relationships.
We received a grant of $10,250 to set up and run the Time Bank.
The program is based on free web-based software that we have
already subscribed to. Next steps are to establish an advisory board,
contract the services of a part-time coordinator, publicise the program,
and recruit membership. As ride-sharing is a part of the offers/requests
system of the time bank, our Transportation Committee will use figures
generated from this program to promote the cause of a county-wide
ride-sharing program in the future.
Members of the SABDA board have been attending meetings and
representing the community at various agencies. Several of us attended
the Engage Inverness conference at
We'koqma'q in May. Last week, we had representatives at the
Business Now conference, introducing
its new Economic Development Officer, Patrick Austin, and presented
by CBREN (the Cape Breton Regional Enterprise Network)
in Baddeck.
Paul Weinberg represents SABDA on the
Cabot Trail Steering Committee, a group
focussed on tourism interests around the Trail. Loreto Doyle is a member of
the Cabot Trail Facades, Streetscapes, and Viewscapes
project management team, the Cape Breton Partnership's
Culture Sector Leadership Team, which is
developing a Cape Breton-wide sector economic strategy, and Victoria
County's Tourism Strategy Steering Committee.
This year has, unfortunately, also seen the resignations of three of our
board members, Ian Greene, Rosie Smith, and Angelo Spinazzola. We thank
them all for their contribution.
^ top
Appendix II: Financial Report
Opening balance 24 March 2016: |
|
|
|
8,866.93 |
Revenue |
|
Victoria Co. "Facility Access Fund for Seniors" grant |
|
400.00 |
|
NS Dept of Labour "Workplace Education" grant |
|
5,900.00 |
|
Victoria Co. "Digital & Social Media Marketing" grant |
|
3,000.00 |
|
NS Dept of Seniors "Age-friendly Community" grant |
|
10,250.00 |
|
Net Revenue |
|
19,640.00 |
|
|
Expenditures |
|
General administration |
|
31.15 |
|
Operating expenses |
|
252.51 |
|
2016 AGM expenses (rent, refreshments) |
|
403.75 |
|
Facebook contact—Terrie |
|
1,000.00 |
|
Community web site listings coordinator—Lisa |
|
1,750.00 |
|
Community web site coordinator—Jay |
|
1,250.00 |
|
Fitness gear for "Minute for Fitness" programme |
|
287.52 |
|
Net Expenditures |
|
|
4,974.93 |
|
|
Surplus/(Deficit) |
|
|
14,665.07 |
|
|
Assets |
|
Bank |
|
23,532.00 |
|
Accounts Payable |
|
AGM 2017 expenses: |
|
. Donation to Seawall Trail Foundation |
|
100.00 |
|
. Hall rental |
|
60.00 |
|
. Food-Cabot Shores |
|
125.00 |
|
|
|
286.00 |
|
|
Restricted Assets Allocation |
|
To seniors' Minute for Fitness programme |
|
112.48 |
|
To populating community web site listings—Lisa |
|
500.00 |
|
To coordinating community web site—Jay |
|
1,250.00 |
|
To NS Dept of Labour "Workplace Education" workshops |
|
5,990.00 |
|
To Time Bank project |
|
10,250.00 |
|
Unallocated residue, Victoria Co. "Digital & Social Media Marketing" grant |
|
250.00 |
|
Total Restricted Assets |
|
|
18,352.48 |
|
|
|
18,637.48 |
|
Unrestricted Assets |
|
4,894.52 |
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|