November 18, 2006
Opening:
The first meeting of the new 2006/2007 Board of Directors of the Woodland
Heights Community Association was called to order at 1:25 p.m. on Saturday
November 18, 2006, at the home of John Kenny by President/Chair L. Bentley.
Present:
Lee Bentley President/Chair a
Bill Boyd Board Director a
Irene Chmil Board Director a
John Hay Vice President a
John Kenny Board Director a
Cyrese Samuel Secretary a
Ian Taylor Board Director a
Alex Troop Board Director A
John Wright Board Director a
A. Approval of Agenda
L. Bentley moved that the agenda be accepted with the possible addition of S.
Mackay providing a financial report. C. Samuel seconded, the agenda was
unanimously accepted and the motion was carried.
B. Approval of Minutes of last Board Meeting
L. Bentley asked that a motion be made to accept the Board Meeting Minutes of
October 2, 2006. J. Hay moved that the minutes be accepted, J. Kenny seconded,
the Directors of the previous Board in attendance unanimously accepted and the
motion was carried.
C. Open Issue
1. L. Bentley reviewed how the Executive Positions and Committee Chairs where
chosen on the former Board. He mentioned that there would be the addition of a
new committee called the "Community Enhancement Committee", which would
require a Board Member to be the Chair. He stated that the Chair of the new
committee would be required to write up a committee mandate.
I. Chmil volunteered to Chair the Community Enhancement Committee. L. Bentley
mentioned that Alliance would be taking on the enhancement of the entrance to
Woodland Heights and that when Woodland Alliance was gone that it would
become the responsibility of the Association members for its upkeep. L. Bentley
noted Leslie McKnight had expressed an interest in joining the new committee.
J. Hay, C. Samuel and I. Taylor volunteered to be on the Community Enhancement
Committee.
J. Kenny stated that he would be interested in continuing to Chair the Nature
Sanctuary Committee. B. Boyd and L. Bentley volunteered to be on the committee.
I. Taylor indicated that he would be interested in continuing to Chair the
Communication/Membership Committee, taking on the new responsibility of being
responsible for receiving/depositing/reporting of all the association dues and
fees.
B. Boyd recommended that before the selection of Executive and Chair positions
continue, that it would be beneficial to hear a brief synopsis from each Director on
their work background etc. to gain a better understanding of their possible
qualifications for different positions. The Directors each gave a brief synopsis.
L. Bentley asked if there was anyone interested in being the Chair for the Club
House Committee. I. Chmil stated that she would not want to chair the committee
because of her stand against it. L. Bentley said that he would be willing to chair
the committee if he was not going to be the President of the Board. J. Wright
expressed that due to his busy schedule at work that he did not feel he could
make the commitment.
I. Chmil asked why the Association Members where not presented with the choice
of whether or not they even wanted to have a Club House. A discussion followed
and L. Bentley explained that the previous Board had addressed the same issue
and that in conclusion it was believed that it was the Board's responsibility to see
that the Club House process was handled the best as it could be, that they were to
try and ensure that Association get the best we can in a Club House for the best
cost.
L. Bentley explained that the Board was not here to try and stop the building of the
Club House nor did they have the authority to do so. He stated that if the question
had been posed, that it would be near to impossible to have total agreement
among every property/ homeowner to release Woodland Alliance of their
contractual obligation to build the Club House, and that even among the Board
Members you would not have total agreement in this regard. Someone made
mention of Gunter Riegel's comments at the AGM regarding his desire to have the
Club House built and that the response of a show of applause gave clear
indication that not everyone would be in agreement to not having the Club House
built.
Discussions continued to have someone volunteer to be the Chair of the Club
House Committee. C. Samuel asked J. Wright if he would reconsider his decision
to not Chair the Club House Committee especially with his background in City
Planning. He responded in saying that he would like to be on the committee, but
that he didn't believe that with his busy work schedule that he would have the
time availability to Chair unless he had a lot of help especially in the area of
administration. C. Samuel stated that whoever took the position of Chair on the
committee would have the benefit of having B. McKnight and all the experience
that he had as the former Chair and his knowledge of the process to date that he
would bring to committee and that there are others who have been involved and
would continue to be involved.
L. Bentley expressed that if nobody was interested in taking on the position of
Chair of the Club House Committee that he would do it, but that would mean that
he would not stand for the position of President. C. Samuel stated that if it came
down to that, that she would volunteer to be Chair of the Committee and that it
was not that she wanted to be, but more so because she wanted L. Bentley to
continue to be President.
After some gentle arm twisting and pleading J. Wright accepted the position of
Chair of the Club House Committee under the condition that he have plenty of
help especially with the administration involved with setting up the meetings etc.
L. Bentley offered that he would help as much as he could, C. Samuel offered her
help on the committee and it was said that B. McKnight wished to be on the
committee as well.
L. Bentley expressed that the members' dues payments collection and reporting
duties, were to be done separate from the Treasurer and he asked that the
responsibility be added to the mandate of the Communications/Membership Chair.
I. Taylor accepted and all the Directors agreed.
Bill Boyd asked what the responsibilities of the Treasurer where and in receiving
a brief overview of the position he volunteered to take the position of Treasurer.
C. Samuel asked if anyone would be interested in being the Secretary, as she
desired that someone else take the position. There were no expressions of
interest. L. Bentley stated that due to the good job that she had done with the
minutes in the last term that he had hoped that she would stay on in the position.
C. Samuel accepted to continue in the position of Secretary.
L. Bentley asked J. Hay if he would be the Audit Chair. J. Hay agreed. J. Hay was
asked to bring in the former Treasurer Sandy Mackay to do a Trust Fund review.
L. Bentley was selected to continue as President.
J. Hay was selected to continue as Vice President.
Action Item Completion Date
1.1 I. Chmil is to put together the mandate for the Prior to Jan/20/2007 newly
formed Community Enhancement Committee.
1.2 I. Taylor is to add new responsibility of Prior to Jan/20/2007
members' dues payments collection and reporting to the mandate of the
Communication/Membership Committee.
1.3 J. Hay is to ask S. Mackay to come in to do a Prior to Jan/20/2007
Trust Fund review at the next Board Meeting.
2. L. Bentley introduced FOCA as being the next item on the agenda for the
meeting. B. Boyd asked what FOCA was about. J. Kenny gave a brief overview of
the organization.
J. Kenny gave a review of the FOCA Annual General Meeting that he had attended
in Toronto on November 11th, as the Board Representative of the Woodland
Heights Community Association. He stated that the meeting touched on many
interesting topics such as the Mining Act; hydro rate; waterfront taxes; property
assessments and property taxes which result from those assessments. He stated
that a Speaker from Environment Canada talked about storms, how they happen
and how to use an emergency radio system for weather to know that storms are
coming.
J. Kenny stated that in the afternoon he also attended the AGM for WRAFT/
CAPTOR, a coalition of hundreds of groups seeking fairer property reforms. He
stated that WRAFT/CAPTOR had an expert on taxation give a presentation on a
model for fairer taxes.
J. Kenny stated that the rate for membership with FOCA was increasing and that
the President or another Board Member could get a special discounted
subscription of the Cottage Life Magazine of which $10.00 would go to FOCA.
L. Bentley stated that the primary reason we went with FOCA was to get
Insurance, which was the best rate even with the added cost of membership with
FOCA included.
L. Bentley nominated J. Kenny to be the Board's representative with FOCA. J.
Kenny declined saying that he has been attending the meetings for 12 years, 10 of
which he was on their Board, and that he felt is was time for him to step down. He
offered to do it in the interim but desired that someone else would be the
representative.
I. Taylor offered to be the Board's representative to FOCA.
Action Item Completion Date
2.1 J. Kenny is to see the Treasurer to be reimbursed November/30/2006 for the
$40.00 registration fee for attending the "FOCA" AGM.
2.2 I. Taylor is to check with Bob Maynard of January/20/2007 Atriens Counsel who
handles the FOCA Insurance to see if there has been an increase in our insurance
costs.
3. There was a discussion regarding the reclamation to the former process of the
Affinity Program. It was agreed that any Service Provider would have to give a
discount and/or "special" Woodlands-specific service and a written description of
the service they are offering. As well someone from the Board should refer them.
4. There was a discussion regarding the mailing address for the Association. The
Post Office was no longer delivering mail to the Hemlock Address due to the fact
that there was not a physical building on the lot. It was stated that a letter would
have to go out to those who send mail to the Association. It was also stated that
the amendments to the By-laws and new Directors information would have to be
sent the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services.
Action Item Completion Date
4.1 C. Samuel to send out a letter of change of address Prior to Jan/20/2007 to
those who send the Association mail.
4.2 C. Samuel to send the amended By-laws to Prior to Jan/20/2007 Ontario
Corporation.
4.3 C. Samuel to send change of Directors to the Prior to Jan/20/2007 Ministry of
Consumers and Business Services.
5. The Board discussed the frequency of which they would like the Board
Meetings take place.
L. Bentley recommended that the meetings be scheduled for every second month.
J. Wright asked if an ad-hoc meeting could be called if a committee required a
decision from the Board. L. Bentley stated that such meetings could be called
however, when possible, decisions could be made via email communication
between all the Directors.
The Board agreed to have their next meeting at 1:30pm on Saturday January 20th
at the home of I. Taylor at 12 Deerfoot Trail.
Action Item Completion Date
5.1 All Directors are to attend the next Board Meeting January/20/2007 at 1:30pm
on Saturday January 20th in the home of I. Taylor at 12 Deerfoot Trail.
6. The Board discussed the AGM follow up items.
J. Kenny stated that Sarah Brown, of the Department of Public Works, said that the
40 km speed limits were only for school zones and that a speed limit of 50 km
could be posted in Woodland Heights. The Board suggested that it would be
appropriate to have a sign posted at each entrance and one at the mailbox at the
top of the hill.
C. Samuel stated that she had seen signs posted in other communities that
showed children were at play please slow down, she asked if some similar type of
sign could be given consideration to send a message to drivers to slow down
while driving through our community.
L. Bentley asked C. Samuel to contact Sarah to see if we are allowed additional
signage and if so what type.
J. Wright recommended that someone speak to Roy regarding the construction
trucks that are speeding through Woodland Heights. L. Bentley stated that Alex
Troop would be the best person to bring the concern to Chris House, the owner of
HDL.
I. Chmil stated that now that construction was finished on Canal Rd. that perhaps
there would be a slow down of the amount of traffic coming through Woodland
Heights.
L. Bentley stated that the Town of Huntsville had authorized certain roads for
snowmobile usage. He asked J. Kenny to contact Sarah Brown in regards to
snowmobiles and ATV's coming through Woodland Heights.
I. Chmil said that she had hoped that ATV's would be allowed in Woodland
Heights. J. Kenny also stated that he would have input to a discussion on ATVs
as he would require transportation to do the trails through the Nature Sanctuary.
Action Item Completion Date
6.1 C. Samuel is to check with Sarah Brown regarding January/31/2007 signage.
6.2 J. Kenny is to check with Sarah Brown regarding January/31/2007
snowmobiles/ATV's coming through Woodland Heights.
D. Other Business
1. J. Wright stated that the Club House property took a beating in the storm and
asked what was going to be done to clean up the fallen trees, which were leaning
on other trees putting them in jeopardy. C. Samuel mentioned that Chuck
MacDougall had notified property owners to let them know that trees needed to be
cleared and they had people come in to clear them and that perhaps Chuck was
the person to contact about the Club House property regarding the fallen trees.
2. I. Taylor handed out copies of the updated communications list.
3. L. Bentley handed out copies of the Statement of Revenue and Expenses (see
document titled "The Woodland Heights Community Association Statement of
Revenue and Expenses for the Year Ended August 31, 2007").
4. I. Taylor stated that he had gone to Motel 6 and the Best Western to try and get
the measurements of their pools. He stated that the pool at Motel 6 was 28' x 12'
which he felt was much too narrow and the Best Western's pool was 36' x 16' a
nice size for a group of people. He concluded that a 36' x 18' pool as proposed for
the Club House is not a bad size. J. Kenny asked about the kidney shaped pool at
Deerhurst Resort. I. Chmil stated that she had an indoor kidney shaped pool that
works well and that she would check the measurements on it. B. Boyd stated that
kidney shaped pools are more maintenance. L. Bentley said that the use of a
retractable cover to prevent heat loss evaporation would be beneficial to saving
operation costs.
5. I. Taylor had mentioned that he had heard about a big advertisement to be put
out by Alliance and he asked if anyone else had heard about it. No one present
had heard anything about it.
6. J. Kenny asked if the Draft of the AGM minutes were going to be put on the
website. L. Bentley asked C. Samuel to do any revision required to the draft copy
and send it to the previous Board Members and new Board Members for their
review prior to putting them on the website.
7. C. Samuel asked if anything was going to be done to show our appreciation to
the Directors who had completed their term. I. Chmil said that a gift would not be
appropriate. L. Bentley stated that he had personally thanked them and would be
pleased to send a thank you letter.
Action Item Completion Date
D1.1 J. Wright is to contact Chuck regarding the fallen January/31/2007 trees on
the Club House site.
D6.1 C. Samuel is to send revised draft of the AGM November/30/2006 Minutes to
the past and present Board of Directors prior to putting the draft on the website.
D7.1 L. Bentley is to send a thank you letter to the January/31/2007 retired Board
Members.
E. Agenda for Next Meeting
1. Approval of Agenda - Lee Bentley
2. Approval of Minutes - Lee Bentley
3. Community Enhancement Committee Report - I. Chmil
4. Club House Committee Report - J. Wright
5. Communications/ Membership Committee Report - I. Taylor
6. Nature Sanctuary Committee Report - J. Kenny
7. Treasurer's Report - B. Boyd
8. Trust Fund Review - Guest S. Mackay
9. Signage update - C. Samuel
10. Types of motorized vehicles allowed in Woodland Heights - J. Kenny
11. Other Business
Adjournment:
The meeting was adjourned by Chair, L. Bentley. The next board meeting will be
held on January 20, 2007 at 1:30 at the home of I. Taylor located at 12 Deerfoot
Trail.
Minutes submitted by: Secretary - Cyrese Samuel
Approved by: