2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Thursday, November 17th, 2011 Larrimac Golf Club, 1148 Route 105, Chelsea Québec 7-9pm

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1 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Thursday, November 17th, 2011 Larrimac Golf Club, 1148 Route 105, Chelsea Québec 7-9pm Minutes 1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Jane Barton. 2. Memorial and Birth Announcements: With much sadness, there were two memorial announcements at this year s meeting. Ms. Dawn Walker, wife of Dennis Peters (Comeau Road) and Dr. Smiley (Baie Regatta). J. Barton indicated that there have been a number of recent births on the Lake: Will Lockhart and Kate Baillie (Elliott); and Mike Kennedy and Christine McClelland (Finn) with a number of new arrivals expected in the near future including Stephen Hoogenraad and his wife. 3. Approval of Minutes of the Spring 2011 Meeting: A motion to accept the Minutes without revision was proposed by Don Lillico and seconded by Janet Bax. 4. Nominations Committee: Jane began the discussion by indicating that the Executive had agreed to guiding principles this year, one of which is that members should always be looking for new people on the lake to join the Executive Committee team. Will Lockhart headed the Nominations Committee for and listed those individuals who have agreed to - P. stand for the Executive Committee for (See Attachment 1, Nominations Committee.Report) Three new Executive members are on the nomination list for his year: Rich Denham, Sarah Humphrey and Gina Holmes. Two members will be stepping down: Janet Bax and Lawrence McClelland. Janet Bax was thanked for her contribution to the lake as President and past president during a time when the lake was faced with the challenge of blue green algae. Her

2 2 ability to work with the municipality of La Pêche was critical to the cooperation and support that the Association has received from the municipality in recent years. Laurence McClelland, who is also stepping down from the Executive Committee, was thanked for his work on the very important navigation buoys and his willingness to continue leading this work on the lake. A motion to accept the nominations was called for and provided by Shawn Ridgeway and seconded by Doug Russell. 5. Special Awards: Leyton Woods Janet Bax indicated that a Special Award is being presented to Leyton Woods in recognition of his duties as the Custodian of the Lake and also the Game Warden. (She indicated that Don Jones had provided Leyton with a boat to allow him to do his patrol). Regrettably Leyton could not attend the AGM to accept his award as he is recovering from knee replacement surgery. Janet will deliver the plaque to Leyton at his farm on Chemin Lac Bernard. There was a hearty round of applause to thank Leyton for a job well done and to wish him a speedy recovery from his surgery. 6. Invited Guest Speaker: Constable Martin Fournel Jane prefaced the presentation by stating that last year, many property owners at the lake met at the Rivermead Golf Club to express their concern about theft and vandalism around the lake. She thanked Constable Martin Fournel for attending the AGM to provide a presentation/talk on legal/enforcement matters as they relate to the Lake and surrounding environs (e.g. new rules for hunters, the security situation at Lac Bernard and other issues that he thinks we should be aware of). The Constable provided a statistical overview of recent calls and complaints around the lake (68 calls 12 complaints); he indicated that in the past several weeks (mid September to mid November 2011) there had been 3 break and enters. He asked cottagers and homeowners not to disturb crime scenes as they can disturb evidence that will assist in the work of apprehending criminals. He indicated additional Neighbourhood Watch signs had been installed around the area. With regard to hunting on private property he directed AGM participants to the website which provides signs that can be downloaded and posted on property (you will need to place in a sealed clear folder to protect against the elements) that indicate the owners of the property prohibit hunting on the property. This posting will better enable the police to enforce no hunting and does not require a written statement to be made by the property owner to the police. The Constable indicated that next year these signs would be available at the police station. There was Q&A regarding a number of related issues such as trespassing, snowmobilers, fisher persons, etc.

3 3 Constable Fournel provided the MRC Des Collines online information: a) Website b) Facebook Page: Publique-MRC-des-Collines-de-lOutaouais/ Committee reports. 1. Treasurer s Report All AGM participants were provided the following for the Treasurer s Report: by Hilary Casey :(See Attachment 2 Owners' and Residents' Association of Lac Bernard unaudited Financial Statements as at September 30, 2011 and Draft Budget for year 1 October September, 2012). Jane indicated that this report provides an excellent overview of the Associations assets and expenditures. She thanked Hilary for her considerable efforts. Hilary pointed to revenues from the memberships (279 best ever) and the environmental grant from the municipality. She spoke briefly to expenses: ($1.5K for water testing; $3.2K to re-build the canteen at the regatta site. There are plans for the clubhouse dock and re building of the outhouse from the Clubhouse Funds. Following discussion and clarification, the Chair called for a motion to accept the budget and associated documents moved by Bryce Moir and seconded by Dennis Peters. 2. Regatta report Prior to calling upon Steve Kulba to provide his report Jane thanked Steve and his wife Susan for leading another very successful regatta association day - this year. Steve indicated that there were 250 tickets sold for this year s event with an estimated 300 hundred persons in attendance during the course of the event. This represented an increase of 25% in raffle ticket sales. Canteen sales increased by 37% with thanks to Doug Russell and Marie Williams. Steve pointed out that that the event would not have been a success without the many volunteers including the Asselin family, Brian Lauzon, Christine McClelland and Mike Kennedy and others. He also thanked the fire department for their time and their equipment as well as the many individuals and businesses that donated prizes for the raffles. Steve has agreed to keep working on the regatta for another year and hopes that next year the day will be even more a reflection of the interests of the Association members and not just a time for games and races. Some of the possible new ideas for the Association/Regatta Day include, among others Steve mentioned, the possibility of having a retailer there to sell sports equipment and representatives of the municipal governments. A presentation of revenues and expenses for the Lac Bernard Regatta is provided in Attachment 3 Regatta 2011: Financial Update.

4 4 Steve indicated that for next year s Regatta / Association Day is planned for August 4, A motion was called to accept the report motion by Don Butler and seconded by Will Lockhart. 3. Logo items The Logo Team (Christine and Mike) were unable to make this year s AGM. Jane thanked them for their continuing efforts to manage this effort. Jane mentioned that, as is apparent from the Budget, logo items are an ongoing source of revenue for the Association. She also mentioned that there has been change in the logo from a unilingual Lac Bernard to a bilingual Lac Bernard Lake. Of the course the existing stock is still unilingual but as it is sold, it will be replaced by the bilingual items. 4. Web Committee/communications: Will Lockhart provided an overview of initiatives that had been reviewed and approved by the Executive in August 2011 to increase outreach and increase communications for the Association. (See Attachment 4: Lake Bernard Association: Towards an Enhanced Association Web Site) He stated that Sarah Humphrey, with her background and expertise in marketing and communications, is joining the Executive and it is hoped that she will be head of a new Marketing and Communications Committee. He spoke to a new web design for the Association s site, a quarterly newsletter for members and a new history section for the site. He agreed to float the idea with this new Committee of a gmail address for members to use to send in ideas for the newsletter. A motion was called for to approve the report. Motion by Bryce Moir and seconded by Shawn Ridgeway. 5. Membership Committee In John McDonald s absence, Will Lockhart provided the report. He indicated this year s membership total is 279 members the highest number of members to date. Will said that next year s goal is 300 members. He pointed out that the regatta provides a good membership opportunity, as do Association meetings. This year s newly instituted sector membership coordinators network was very successful in raising membership participation. New membership marketing strategies are expected to be implemented e.g. 3 year or life time membership options, early bird prizes, etc. (See Attachment 5 Membership Committee Report).

5 5 A motion was called for to approve the report. Motion by Don Butler and seconded by Steve Kulba. 6. Clubhouse Don Butler delivered the report on behalf of Gaye Moffett in her absence. (See Attachment 6 Lac Bernard Lake 2011 Summer Clubhouse Report). Don indicated that in 2011 there were 10 bingos at the Clubhouse that were attended by approximately 26 persons per event -- of all ages, Regatta Day bingo being the best attended with 65 persons. The revenues and expenditures of the clubhouse are reflected in the Treasurer s report. Next year work will completed on a dock and to replace the outhouse and a plaque will be created and hung in the clubhouse to honour those who participated in the Save the Clubhouse Fund. In the ensuing discussion of the report item discussion and decisions on the use of the Clubhouse, Jane indicated that discussion within the Executive had taken place on this issue. Over the winter, proposals will be prepared for the Spring meeting on new ways for Association s members to use the clubhouse. Some of the ideas already on the table are: playgroup on a weekend morning where parents can share hosting toddlers playgroup activities/ movies for little kids, movies etc. A motion was called for to approve the report. Motion to approve the report was made by Joanne Butler and seconded by Steve Kulba. 7. Environment. Jane Barton directed AGM meeting participants to the materials at the back of the room which illustrated the results of the sampling this year also available on the lac Bernard website under water sampling. Jane gave a verbal report. 1. The car that sank into the lake near the inlet at the beginning of April and was retrieved from the lake in July was mentioned. While the car did cause some pollution in the lake, its retrieval prevented a very bad pollution problem and the provincial government employee at Urgence Environmentale, who hired the company that handled the retrieval, was commended for making himself available to answer questions and concerns of local residents. 2. Busy sampling schedule this year actually too busy. The Environment Committee and many others who helped with the sampling participated in the MRC H2O sampling, continued the provincial RSVL sampling for the 4th year, continued the monthly sampling of all of the bays for the 4th year and started shoreline sampling which will be continued each year with one-quarter of the shoreline covered each year. 3. The MRC, the provincial and the monthly sampling of the bays provide the lake with views of the overall environmental health of the lake water which was excellent almost everywhere for all of the parameters sampled.

6 6 4. The shoreline sampling is intended to show where there may continue to be problems with septic systems, and this year, while the samples showed that there have been improvements in water quality along the shore since 2008, and almost all of the samples had results that were excellent by Quebec standards, there are still a few areas where the results were troubling. The results of the shoreline sampling were shared with the municipality of La Pêche and they have committed to help find the sources of the troubling levels of ecoli we are seeing and to help address them. 5. Next year, shoreline sampling will start in Mitchell Bay and end in Turtle Bay. 6. The Bay Contacts are doing a really good job of keeping track of water quality at the lake. In spring 2011 near Horseshoe Island, a sample was taken and analyzed for us which turned out to be pollen. In 2010 in the western bay, a sample was taken by a bay contact which turned out to be a benign kind of green algae. This fall, a sample was taken on the northwest shore which was analyzed and found to have, again, no blue green algae in it. We are very lucky to have Christine McClelland on the Environment Committee and to have her contacts at the Ottawa University who are willing to analyze samples for us. 7. A proposal will be developed for review by Association members in Spring 2012 to address the lake s shoreline and make use of some of the BGA funds that have been provided by members. The shoreline is eroding and has been for years but the erosion may be exacerbated by lack of shoreline plants, more wave action from new kinds of boats, a large beaver population that is cutting the shoreline trees. The proposal will incorporate ideas from the work on shorelines carried out in the 1980s at the lake. 8. Jane reported that in discussion with Low, M. Schnob reported that he had not completed the schedule of septic inspections at the Lake that had been planned for She indicated that efforts would continue to collaborate with the municipality to get the inspections done. She also reported that, in meeting with the municipality of La Pêche, a report of the work completed in 2011was in preparation and M. Marchildon promised to provide it as soon as he could. A motion was called for to approve the report. Motion to approve the report by Don Lillico and seconded by Marie Williams. 8. Road access update Rich Denham gave a verbal report on the road access issue. He indicated that the issue is complex but that environmental quality and quality of life issues are central to the Association s involvement in the issue. He mentioned the three main locations currently receiving much of the focus: Paddy s Bay; Sawmill Bay and Cecile Roy. Paddy s Bay has recently been purchased, gated and landscaped and access to nonresidents may no longer be an issue in the summer but outcomes in the winter (ATV and snowmobile) remain to be seen. Sawmill Bay continues to attract much attention (both negative and positive) and for many on the Lake it is a source of concern in terms of security and environment (e.g. invasive species). It is, however, one of the few places

7 7 residents at the lake can use to bring in their boats and take them out if they do not have access to the lake on their property. With respect to Cecile Roy, Rich reported that nearby residents will be erecting a fence to control access and are in communication with nearby residents. In response to one member s question about where she could bring in and take out her boat even indicating a willingness to pay, advice was that everyone should talk with their neighbours to find places where boats can be put in and taken out on the lake. Rich continued by stating that plans and actions are ongoing to identify the smaller access points and to work with owners to erect signage regarding appropriate NO TRESSPASING/invasive species signage. A motion was called for to approve the report. Motion to approve the report by Marie Williams, seconded by Tom Houston. 8. Other business Cadastre: In response to the issue raised by Don Lillico of the meetings being held in Masham regarding the provincial government s new cadastre description of properties in La Pêche, it was agreed that the information received in the mail by some of the property owners would be sent to the Association members by and put on the listserve so that anyone who is not aware of this effort, can be made aware. Danny Sivyer made the point that it is very important that the cadastre description of property be checked before it is registered with the province in case there are discrepancies between the cadastre description and the existing descriptions people have for their property. Format of Association reports: in response to a request from a member, it was agreed that in future, all reports will be made available as pdfs which can be opened by all computer systems. 9. Adjournment A motion to adjourn the meeting was put forward by Don Lillico and seconded by Rich Denham.