2013 Annual General Meeting – July, 27 ,2013
Click here for a copy of the presentation provided at the 2013 Annual General Meeting held on Saturday July 27.
MINUTES OF THE 2013 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) OF THE SANS SOUCI AND COPPERHEAD ASSOCIATION (S.S.C.A.)
Held at the Community Centre, Frying Pan Island, July 27th 2013 at 10 am.
Directors Present: Bert Liverance, David Ashley, Naomi Campbell, Barb Czerny, Carolyn Singer, Helen Notzl, Gregg Scott, Peter Storms, Stuart Hatcher, Susan Herbold, Paul Treichel, Fred Schweitzer,
Absent: Chris Goulding, Craig Losos, Natalie Scott
CHAIR, SECRETARY AND CONSITUTION OF MEETING
Bert Liverance, President, acted as Chair and Secretary.
The Chair & President welcomed all attendees to the 110th Annual General Meeting of the Sans Souci and Copperhead Association. As a Notice of the Meeting had been provided to the membership in the spring of 2013, the Chair declared the meeting to have been regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business.
The agenda items of the AGM were featured in a PowerPoint presentation created by the S.S.C.A directors. Following the AGM, the presentation will be posted on the S.S.C.A. website. Bert Liverance reminded us of our wonderful community and the organizations that are working together to help protect and preserve Georgian Bay.
MINUTES OF THE 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting held on July 28, 2012 were included in the S.S.C.A. 2013 Yearbook. A motion was made to approve the minutes in the 2013 yearbook. No amendments were suggested to the minutes. Motion carried.
TREASURER’S REPORT
David Ashley, Treasurer for the S.S.C.A. referred to the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2012. These statements were provided to the membership in the spring and will be posted following the AGM on the S.S.C.A. website.
David Ashley moved that the financial statements as presented at the 2013 AGM be approved. Motion carried. He also moved that the SSCA annual dues be increased to $165 per year to compensate for the increased GBA dues and cost adjustment since the last dues increase. Motion carried.
PROPERTY COMMITTEE REPORT
Stuart Hatcher, Chair of the Property Committee, walked through a history of the S.S.C.A. property and structures. He then talked about present condition of the structures, the activities using the property and the demographics of our members. Stuart recommended that the Property Committee begin a process to analyze the S.S.C.A. property. The Guiding Principles of the analysis are: the structure(s) should be 1) Low Maintenance, 2) Multi-purpose, 3) Multi-generational – structure designed to last 5-10 decades, and 4) Portion of funds raised put in trust for ongoing maintenance. The Process will be transparent, democratic and inclusive. There will be two Committees: Survey Committee and Fund Raising Committee. The Committee will have a Town Hall and Surveys to determine member’s desires and present the findings in 2014.
Stuart moved that members grant the Property Committee the authority to expend contingency funds for planning after due process including establishing member’s consensus and funding interest. The S.S.C.A. board will review the survey results to give approval to expend funds for planning. The Property Committee will present the results at the 2014 S.S.C.A. AGM. Motion carried.
ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE
Carolyn Singer, Chair of the Environment committee presented a report on water levels. We have seen 13 years of lower than average water levels on Georgian Bay. Levels were 73cm below average in January (42cm lower than 2012). Heavy rains and snowmelt boosted water levels by 24cm in April and another 13cm in May (3cm below last year’s level but 50cm below long-term average). Currently water levels are below their all-time average but are just above Chart Datum.
The International Joint Commission report released this spring recommended that Canadian and United States governments increase water levels by as much as 25cm over a 10 year period (considering structures in St. Clair River). Climate change has been determined to be the most significant issue (in addition to problems caused by dredging and erosion in Lake St. Clair River). Fluctuating water levels usually benefit wetlands, but the Bay levels have dropped so far for so long that they’ve cut off fish access to about a quarter of Georgian Bay’s wetlands (Pat Chow-Fraser – McMaster University).
Georgian Bay Forever is raising funds to complete an Economic Impact Study to measure the financial impact of low water levels. Members are encouraged to donate.
Carolyn then shared water quality results. SSCA volunteers completed water testing in 2010 and 2011 and water quality was found to be very good at all sample locations. Volunteer water testing continues to be completed by the Township of the Archipelago (TOA) at several locations across the Bay (including Sans Souci, Woods Bay and the South Channel).
Members are encouraged to take advantage of free drinking water testing provided by the Ontario government! Test bottles are available at the Dock House. Samples will be boated into Parry Sound. The sample must be taken on the same day! Please drop off samples in the fridge at dock house for pick-up.
Lastly Carolyn shared the TOA Gypsy Moth Study. Since 2003, volunteers in the TOA have assisted Bio forest Technologies with a study to monitor gypsy moth populations. The TOA numbers trapped in 2012 were found to be up 12% from the prior year to the highest levels since 2003, but the company advises that there was no real defoliation apart from a few hot spots.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
Naomi Campbell, Chair of the Communications Committee presented a report on the new S.S.C.A Web site. She also announced the Yearbook was sent to members on time this year. Based upon feedback from members we are going to limit the number of emails we send to members.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
Gregg Scott, Chair of the Membership Committee presented a report on membership. We have approximately 450 members.
FIRE & SAFETY COMMITTEE
Fred Schweitzer, Chair of the Fire & Safety Committee shared the Public Health Providers in our area including the phone number, location, days of operation and hours. He recounted a good experience at a Nursing Station. There are first aid supplies in the Dock House including a back board and defibrillator. The defibrillator will talk you through its operation.
The Fire Procedures for 2013 are inclusive from 24/7 Victoria Day to Thanksgiving. The phone for the Fire Coordinator is 705 346-1333. When you call provide your name, phone/cell # and island location including fire zone. After you call the S.S.C.A. Fire Coordinator phone the Ministry of Natural Resources at 705 564-6056. The Fire Coordinator will call those in applicable fire zone, Henry’s and LeBlanc’s.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE
Holly Loell, Chair of the Program Committee, presented a Day Camp update. The busy time is starting now, so camper numbers should be increasing steadily. The Day Camp will have great themed weeks that include last weeks Nature Week, where the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve education coordinator came to talk about endangered species, played games & brought a live fox snake. Pirates Week included a sailing expedition on a 33’ Nonsuch was a huge success! There are many more exciting themed weeks ahead… such an amazing opportunity for the SSCA Kids!
She shared that there are other great programs & events include: Yoga, Sailing Camp, Potluck Dinners, Book Club, Bridge Club, Paddling Group. Also, ‘In the Works’, we’re working on computer classes & Thai Chi, however the organizing of this has proven to be difficult, so we’ll keep working on this for next year. We’re planning bringing Boot camp back!
The SSCA 67th Regatta will be on Saturday, Aug 3rd, 2013. The rain date is Sunday Aug 4th. The Annual Arts & Crafts Show featuring Georgian Bay related paintings, crafts, photos, poetry & more begins 11:30 a.m. inside the Community Centre. Entries must be dropped off by 9:30 a.m. You can drop of items Friday evening between 5-7 p.m. There will be a Picnic Barbecue Lunch at 12 noon in front of the Community Centre. The Annual Regatta will begin at 12:30 p.m. and include all of your favorite events including: Swimming, Canoe Races, Egg Toss and more. Sponsors & Volunteers are needed. Please contact: Holly Loell at (705) 746-8263 hsloell@gmail.com.
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE
Sue Herbold, Chair of the Nominations Committee, presented a slate of Nominees for the S.S.C.A. Board of Directors: Carolyn Sherk, Patrick O’Kell, Holly Loell, Isabel Treichel. She made a motion to approve all of the proposed nominees and give the S.S.C.A. board the authority to fill the remaining vacancies. Motion carried. She then shared a list of the S.S.C.A. committees and encouraged members to volunteer.
CLOSING
Bert Liverance made a motion to approve all Board Actions for the prior year. Motion carried. He then shared a slide remembering Dave Chantler and Peter Harman. Bert then said thank you to all of the SSCA Volunteers, SSCA Staff, and SSCA Members. We would not be the community we are without you. He moved that the meeting be closed. Motion carried.
After our meeting we had guest presenters from Georgian Bay Forever and Stop the Drop.
GEORGIAN BAY FOREVER (GBF)
David Sweetnam, Executive Director GBF & Georgian Baykeeper, advocated a comprehensive system wide approach “the possibility of operating regulation structures to benefit the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system as a whole to keep the entire system within observed historical extremes on all lakes under more extreme climate conditions in the future.” The challenges are: it costs money with no upside in terms of potential private-public partnerships and future revenue streams, such as hydroelectric projects have provided in the past. Therefore we need to know the economic impact of inaction. GBF’s economic impact study picked-up as the inaugural bi-national project. It will be conducted by the Mowat Centre at the University of Toronto is leading the study.
STOP THE DROP
Colin Dobell, Executive Director of Stop the Drop, shared the mission of Stop the Drop, ”To establish online-community-based public engagement efforts around the Great Lakes in support of effective long-term action on water levels.” The Phase One Objective of Stop the Drop is to have 15,000 – 20,000 participants by end of summer 2013 including all Bay-users – cottagers (all ages), boaters, renters, occasional users, and shoreline users. We will engage the Public in this issue and continuously gather facts/perspectives from diverse players: Self-paced education, dialogue “stand up and be counted” and mobilization via a “Ladder” of activities. The goal is to make “Public Opinion” visible and unavoidable to Leaders. Our information will be made available to all “advocates” including: numbers of folks who care, demographic breadth or “carers”, diversity of user type and usage site, and provide visibility where they vote (each level of government)
Click here [SSCA – Financial Statement – Dec 2013] for a copy of the 2013 Financial Report.
Sans Souci and Copperhead Association