Big Rideau Lake Association Board Minutes (DRAFT) Place: Portland Community Hall Date June 13, 2015 Time 9:00 am Persons Present Regrets Doug Good Brian Hawkins Mary Sue Evans Beth Evans Doug Kirkland Buzz Boles Bill Belanger Hugh Burrows Toby Spry John Callan Lyse Prendergast Mary Ann Calzonetti Prepared By: Mary Sue Evans Welcome Role Call Action By Doug Good A quorum of the directors being present the meeting was declared to be regularly called at 9:09 a.m. Doug welcomed everyone. Approval of Minutes All On a motion by John Callan seconded by Beth Evans and unanimously carried, it was resolved that the BRLA Board approves the minutes from April 25, 2015. On a motion by Toby Spry seconded by Hugh Burrows and unanimously carried, it was resolved that the BRLA Board approves the minutes from May 16, 2015. Our Lake Our Legacy Page 1
President s Report Doug Good The Docks are now installed at Cow Island. Doug thanked Toby and Doug A for assisting. Thirty bags of dirt have been delivered. Ten are for the fireworks and twenty for Beth to be used at the day camp. Doug G thanked Hugh for his service on the board. Doug K thanked Hugh for his voice on Adam Lake and the board appreciated all his work. We do have a name and contact of the person who will be replacing Hugh. Treasurer s Report Brian Hawkins Housekeeping General liability insurance on Cow Island. Cow does not have coverage in the winter Overnight camping has no effect on our insurance for members using the island. The building cannot be used. If being used for camping a form should be created for signatures saying that that they agree to take their garbage etc. RLEF will not take over Cow Island The new business cards were distributed at the meeting Brian met with RVCA and picked up 200 Rideau Lakes Subwatershed Report brochures and it will be distributed at the AGM Finances The 2014 CRA assessment has been received and accepted as presented The new format is in place. Donations revenue now shown by source rather than destination Donations are up 16% from last year Insurance is a huge issue. Last year we paid over $7K Cost to cultivate and maintain membership and the website Total administration is $13K and we have raised $11K Total expenses are behind $1700 from last year There is an issue with sailing camp. We still have 9 spaces left There are 3 sponsors in arrears Camp Otterdale, Greenshield and Rideau Ferry Harbour We have a strong balance sheet and it shows a Our Lake Our Legacy Page 2
decrease in equity. A week ago the Association sent out 165 emails to those who have yet to renew. Since that email 9 have paid through paypal. This is shows us that we need to keep reminding people. We have now broke the 200 membership marker 2016 Membership Fee Increase It has been many years since there has been an increase On a motion by Brian Hawkins seconded by John Callan and unanimously carried, it was resolved that the BRLA Board bring forward to the AGM an increase in membership fees for 2016 to $75. RLEF Fundraising Last RLEF meeting was all about 2015 fundraising. Brian emphasis is this should be lake association fundraising drives with added benefit of tax free donations through RLEF They agreed to look for single, actionable specific issue to focus on Brian met with RVCA to explore shared opportunities Jennifer Trant & David Bearman submitted an idea to RLEF for comment. Launch a $200,000 Shoal Marker Endowment Fund in conjunction with 100 th Anniversary Garden Tea Party on Grindstone Island. Jennifer gave permission to present this to the BRLA Board Brian acknowledged that we remain diligent to make sure we don t confuse fundraising with mission Government Affairs Doug Kirkland Doug would like to re-establish a relationship with Parks Canada. Our Lake Our Legacy Page 3
Environmental Report Buzz Boles Committee vice chair Peter Hannah is well versed in township regulations. Fishing and cormorant studies are continuing. Marine Safety Toby Spry All the Buoys are out. One went adrift and is still missing. Someone has installed a solar light on one of the buoys near Big Island and Toby will take it off. People think the safety buoys are navigation buoys. We do have stickers saying they are private. It was mentioned that we have a sticker that says do not tamper. Communication Lyse via email Lyse has started tracking the website statistics. In April there were 424 visits to the website; in May 490 and as of June 11the there were 260 visits. These are people who logged on the the home page of the website. There are three pages that are consistently visited more than any others: #1 is the Members Login page, #2 is the Events page and #3 is the Recent News page. A distant 4 th, 5 th and 6 th are the Photo Gallery, the Forgot Password page and the Links page. The least visited page is the Corporate Sponsors page. Sailing Camp Toby Spry Toby contacted Melanie O Brien at Ontario Sail and she sent out to various organizations that we have spaces left our second week. No responses yet. We have opened it up to the general public. Toby will print out flyers and will put up at the marinas and at various locations in town. Mary sue will contact Brenda to post on Twitter and Beth will post on Facebook. We will review for next year and possibly have it for one week only. Our Lake Our Legacy Page 4
AGM Start time will be 9:30 with the social starting at 9:00 am. RVCA will speak first and then we will go into the full meeting. 100 th Anniversary All Doug G Mary Ann is interested in a beer tent. We will have to get our own license and we have potential for supplies, tent and server. Elgin lions club will be the servers Forfar Community Hall has a structure and Doug G will ask if they can donate a canopy for the day Three wagons from the Lower Beverly Park Group were granted. We will be responsible for insurance Township of Rideau Lakes has a rental agreement that we will have to complete We have to have an agreement from Parks Canada they will provide docks and they are looking for numbers. Wooden boat magazine invitation is in there for people to bring their Dowsett boats to the event H20 Zone for the kids Brian will look into the insurance for the wagons OTHER BUSINESS All Cow Island $300 for 2 flotation billets for the small dock $20 cleat repairs and tie ring replacement Replacement of plastic sign destroyed last year Buildings: Outhouse will need to be moved this year or next as the pit is getting filled Outhouse is in need of painting Storage shed will need to be painted. Cost of paint and brushes etc for the two buildings $50 - $100 Main building is definitely in need of a paint job as the 5 year period for primed siding is about to lapse Solar system needs a maintenance check by Our Lake Our Legacy Page 5
preferably by installers Require the two gable vents installed in the main building by Frank Smid Is it possible to find some youth workers locally that would assist in the painting project for a combination of volunteer house required to graduate from high school and some wages? Doug A has used the camp staff in the past and they were paid to paint in the afternoons after day camp and with supervision did a very good job. Day Camp We have all requirements except the NLS. We are liable if they don t have NLS. The kids will not be able to swim. Beth will re-do the form indicating that Fireworks We need people to set up and clean up. Budget has been cut $2K from last year. Three fire marshals will be on the island. The fire department will be on the lake. Lake 88.1 will announce rain date if needed and we will have this posted on Twitter, Facebook and the website. We received the Rideau Lakes Subwatershed Report for 2014. The Big Rideau Lake is luckier than other lakes because of the deep water. The report said that nutrients that are going into the lake are causing the problems ie. humans and agriculture. There was blue green algae reported at Rideau Ferry Appeal of Rideau Lake Township Doug G received a letter from the Rideau Waterway Land Trust. They are concerned about the long term effects that the recent committee of adjustment variance decision A-8-2015 will have in encouraging development on the undersized waterfront lost and island in the townships. They are encouraging the BRLA to appeal this decision to the Ontario Municipal Board by filing an appeal by June 15, 2015. It was agreed that the BRLA appeal this decision. This lot has never had a dwelling on it. The environment committee moves unanimously for the board to appeal this Our Lake Our Legacy Page 6
decision. The fee is $125. The board thanked Peter Hannah for attending the meetings and providing technical advice. On a motion by Buzz Boles seconded by Doug Kirkland and unanimously carried, it was resolved that the BRLA Board agrees to make an appeal to the OMB regarding the decision of the Rideau Lakes Township adjustment committee approval. Subsequent motion passed to limit expenditures to $500 requires board approval. Next Meeting Saturday July 4 th Hall 9:30 am AGM Portland Community Our Lake Our Legacy Page 7