2017 Annual General Meeting – July 29, 2017, 10:00am
THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) OF THE SANS SOUCI AND COPERHEAD ASSOCIATION (SSCA)
Held at the Community Center, Frying Pan Island, July 29, 2017, at 10:00 am
Directors Present: Irene Chambers, Stuart Hatcher, Katherine Denune, Sue Herbold, Eric Armour, Holly Loell, Gregg Scott, Fred Schweitzer, Naomi Campbell. Absent: Isabel Treichel, Paul Treichel, Bill Mooney, Patrick O’Kell, Alicia Campbell.
Eric Armour, SSCA Board President, chaired the meeting; Eric Armour also acted as Secretary on behalf of Isabel Treichel. Fifty-four persons signed the attendance sheet.
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
The chair welcomed attendees to the 114th AGM of the SSCA. Notice for the meeting had been provided to the membership in the 2016 Yearbook, distributed in May 2017, and a reminder of the meeting was sent to members on July 12th, 2017 via e-mail prior to the meeting. The agenda items for the meeting were featured in a PowerPoint presentation created by the Chair and Board members. The slides accompanying the agenda will be posted in the SSCA website.
2016 AGM MINUTES: The minutes from the 2016 AGM were distributed to the Association members by e-mail prior to the meeting. (The 2016 yearbook listed motions from the 2015 AGM.) MOTION: to approve the minutes of the 2016 AGM by Eric Armour, seconded by John Hamilton, motion carried with no one opposed. Correction should be made to the referencing of GBA Executive Director Bob Duncanson. In the minutes he is referred to as Bob Duncan.
SPECIAL MESSAGE: Eric Armour reminded members that in the past year, there was a change in the President role of the SSCA due to Bert Liverance stepping down to take on the role of a Councilor for the Township of the Archipelago. In a SSCA Director’s meeting held Nov 3, 2016, Eric Armour was appointed to the interim role of President by the Executive Directors. In recognition of Bert’s terms as Pre4sident and on behalf of all the membership, Eric Armour wanted to offer great thanks for the leadership and dedication that Bert Liverance has given to the SSCA for many years. AGM Attendees provided their agreement with great applause.
TREASURER’S REPORT: Al Stratton was unable to attend the meeting, and in his absence, Carol Stratton provided a summary of the 2016 financial report. The full report is filed with the minutes of this meeting.
2017 Financial Statements
MOTION: To approve the report by Sue Herbold, seconded by Rupert Kindersley. Motion carried with no one opposed. MOTION: To approve the Auditor’s report from Kreston, GTA, for 2016 by John Hamilton, seconded by Rupert Kindersley, motion carried with no one opposed.
PROPERTY COMMITTEE REPORT: In Stuart Hatcher’s Absence, Eric Armour provided a report on Property. Bradley Carmichael and Steven James, were welcomed back as custodians of the property. Deck on the schoolhouse and the coverage of the concrete dock area has been replaced. Dion Construction are to be thanked for their efforts helping us with the deck and dock work. Replacement of the schoolhouse roof will occur in the summer with a new green steel roof. The staff (Brad Carmichael, Steve James) have done an excellent job keeping the property in good condition. A new Bell Lease is being negotiated with Bell with an expected new lease amount of $6,000 per year. Planning for the new Community Center is on hold until there is resolution on the sale of Henry’s. Irene Chambers presented a proposal for a Sans Souci Community Multi-Use Sport Court(s) to be separately and singularly funded by contributions from the community, including families outside of the SSCA membership. Note: See motion recorded later in these minutes.
ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE REPORT: Katherine Denune summarized the Environment Committee activities in the past year. She presented the mapping exercise that she has undertaken to map all the Phragmites sites in the SSCA area. She alerted the membership to the serious problems presented by phragmites. Through great volunteer effort, several stances of Phragmites have been cut back. The biggest problems now are with disposing of the cuttings. We need support from the TOA on this. The second biggest issue is access to plants inside the Massassauga Park. Work continues with the park to improve this situation.
MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE REPORT: Gregg Scott reported that membership is up from last year (405 in 2016 vs. 412 full memberships, 9 Associate memberships). He encouraged members to connect with neighbors and friends and encourage them to take out memberships. He reported that our biggest opportunity is to grow our membership in the under 30 segments of the Sans Souci community. He outlined enticements the SSCA is offering for young under 30 memberships.
FIRE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE REPORT: Fred Schweitzer wanted to first thank Tom Denune for his efforts with the coverage of the Fire last Nov in Spider Bay and the Park. Fred asked members to develop their own local group of neighbours to engage in greater participation of a local fire plan. Eric Armour also drew the members attention to the emergency card that was sent out to members for them to update their info and post near the cottage phone.
COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT: Eric Armour congratulated Naomi Campbell on this year’s Yearbook. This was seconded with great applause from all the members present. The 2017 Yearbook was produced with a lesser number of pages lowering production and distribution costs. Eric Armour also talked about the President’s message that was started this year. We continue with E-Blasts but will work to use the president’s message as the main communication mode. The membership directory was posted to the website. Naomi asked that people review the information and provide any updates to Sue Anderson. Eric also reported that SSCA now has an Instagram account for SCCA always looking for content. Eric also reported that there is new Weather Camera mounted on the Dock House that can be accessed via the SSCA.INFO website.
PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT: Holly Loell reported on program successes this year. These included the Book Club, Yoga, Bridge Club, Sailing Club, Church on the Rock and Dock House Lending Library. Holly also reported on the new Regatta Director, Daniel Reszczynski. This year’s Regatta will be held August 5th. Jess Sloss presented on the 3 potlucks held this year. Went very well. The new deck has been a great help towards making the events so successful. The final Potluck is planned for August 19th. Special thanks to Dennis Hauck for his generous support again this year.
NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT: Eric Armour reviewed the 2017/2018 SSCA Board of Directors. MOTION: To approve the 2017/2018 Board of Directors, by Wally King, second by Sandy Phillips; Motion passed with no one opposed. It was noted by Rupert Kindersley that we currently have two board vacancies.
Township Of the Archipelago (TOA): Bert Liverance, councilor for the TOA, gave an update on the TOA’s efforts to battle Phragmites in the area. While the TOA is taking actions as best they can, they need the community to put pressure on Governments to the Ministry of Transportation to battle the spread of Phragmites up and down the transportation corridors that then spreads into the Georgian Bay. Bert also reported on the recent changes to the TOA By-Laws on for Fires and Open Fires as well the new By-Laws for Fireworks.
GEORGIAN BAY LAND TRUST (GBLT): Bill Lougheed provided updates on several of their activities including the Large Landscape Conservation Research project. More specifically, the GBA’s Motus – Preserving Avian Biodiversity project looking at breeding, migrating and wintering locations for every Canadian Bird Species by 2030. The GBLT’s efforts were well thanked by attendees.
GEORGIAN BAY FOREVER (GBF): Peter Singer provided an update on behalf of his successor Anne Randell. Peter outlined the 4 areas of activity for the GBF including Ecosystems, Water Quality, Water Levels and Education. GBF has been strongly involved in the Phragmites issue up and down the Bay. As well, they have been working very focused on fish stock degradation issues. Water Quality has also been a strong interest of the GBF. GBF continues to work on the Water Levels issue looking at options in the St Clair River area. GBF would like to thank the SSCA members supporting the GBF including the many directors and volunteers from Sans Souci on the GBF board.
GEORGIAN BAY ASSOCIATION (GBA): Bob Duncanson thanked many participants on the GBA board from Sans Souci including Rupert Kindersley (GBA President) and Eric Armour (GBA Webmaster). Bob provided an update on several of the GBA initiatives this year on behalf of the member associations that includes the SSCA. Bob wanted to make sure rate payers were aware of the changes this year to the MNRF dock and boathouse permits process. Bob also talked about the proposed elimination of the seasonal rate class which could result in significant increases to member hydro rates. The GBA on behalf of their member associations is taking an aggressive stance with Hydro for better cost management. Bob went on to talk about MPAC evaluations on small islands. He reminded members to study the evaluations closely. On the topic of the Wiiky Land Settlements, Bob gave an update on the progress of the negotiation and the GBA’s direct participation. Bob gave the audience a background on the Wiiky Land Claim. Bob also talked about the GBA and local associations support of the French River pictographs. Lastly, Bob talked about the emerging issue that the GBA is monitoring on possible Nobel groundwater contamination. Bob did also talk about the next 100 years of the GBA and the recent Symposium that has created the concept of the Guardians of the Bay.
FRIENDS OF THE MASSAUGA PARK: Nancy Christie gave an update on the fundraising underway to rebuild the rangers station and the upcoming music event.
OTHER BUSINESS: MOTION: To approve actions taken by the SSCA Board of Directors during the past year; seconded by John Hamilton. Motion passed with no opposition.
VOLUNTEER THANKS: Eric Armour thanked the Members of the Board, volunteers and those that make the association a big success. Eric also mentioned that Canada Day was a huge success with several activities that attracted multiple generations.
CLOSING COMMENTS: Sandy Phillips pointed out the lack of an update at the AGM from the Tennis Committee. Eric Armour made the commitment to ensure that they would be included at Next Year’s AGM with an update as this has been missed in previous years as well.
MULTI-SPORT COURTS: Eric Armour asked for the member support for the Sport Court. MOTION: to approve the go ahead of a multi-sport court with no draw on construction funding from the SSCA by Eric Armour, seconded by Peter Hatcher. Motion passed with no opposition.
FRED SCHWEITZER: MOTION: to recognize his algorithm, coding and hard work by Wally King, seconded by Rupert Kindersley, Motion passed with no opposition.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT: MOTION: Eric Armour put forward a motion to adjourn, seconded by Rupert Kindersley. No one opposed. The meeting adjourned at Noon, attendees were invited to attend the members lunch.
Sans Souci and Copperhead Association