ANNUAL GENERAL
MEETING MINUTES
Present:
Board of Directors:
Bob
D’Arcy
Harold
Fletcher
Graham Argyle
Joan Pedlar
Approximately 26 members of the Association were present
representing a quorum.
1) Call to order
– President,
a) The President
made welcoming remarks and verbalized the proposed agenda for the evening.
2) Presentation
– Dave Crosby of the Sunshine Coast Regional District made an interesting and
enlightening presentation regarding the water situation in the SCRD and,
particularly, in
·
New 8 inch mains are to be installed in upper SH during 2004 and 2005
which will result in increased pressure for many homes and better flow for fire
safety.
·
The new treatment plant will come on-line
officially on June 4th with an open house and tours
·
Conservation is urged as supplies are limited and may be worse with
expected dry summer.
·
Toilet replacement subsidization program continues.
·
A volunteer meter installation program will be
announced in detail in 2005.
----
A break for refreshments from
3) Adoption of
agenda – a printed agenda was available to all attendees and was adopted.
4) Minutes of
AGM, May, 2003 – were printed and available to all. Moved
for adoption by Hess, seconded by
5) Rules of Order
– were outlined by the President in the event that votes were
needed.
a) The head table of
the officers of the association was introduced
b) Special thanks
were given to Joyce FitzPatrick and her merry band for the refreshments.
6)
President’s report – outlined items to be covered and then proceeded:
· Picnic
for 2003 was cancelled and board would have to decide if it is worthwhile
holding in 2004
· Short-term
rentals – history was outlined and current status was advised with residents
encouraged to make their own submissions. A bold but unrecorded prediction of
the final outcome was made!
·
Power Outages – an update on the position of BC Hydro and the supply.
IMPORTANT – call the 1-800 number when it goes off and
don’t assume that Hydro knows or that your neighbour called. Hydro has no other
way to know of an outage.
· Seascape
Condo – explained that SHCA had supported the Downtown Business Association and
donated to an information advertisement in opposition to the project.
·
· Call
for volunteers for: Board, picnic, newsletter delivery, trail building and
maintenance
· Interface
with council and other communities explained. Sechelt Community Association
Forum (was G8) is attended and Secretary Bob D’Arcy is current Chair. A member
of the board of SHCA attends most every Council and Committee meeting held by
the District – the only community association to do so.
· Fire
situation – could be dire again this year. If someone is backyard burning or
has a burner sending out sparks, speak to the person and if they fail to put it
out then call the District and report it with calling the fire hall as backup.
· Things
that go Bump! – notes on
bears and cougars and raccoons. Don’t feed any of them. We have no conservation
officer now.
The President asked for his report to be adopted. Carried.
7) Treasurer’s
report – Harold Fletcher read the financial report a copy of which was appended
to the agenda. He gave an update to this date supplementing the fiscal year
report.
8) Committee reports
a) Parks –
i)
Hidden Grove – a full update was related including the current status of
awaiting completion of a forest use survey by the province.
ii)
iii) New directional sign to
Hidden Grove from forestry road leading the tree farm.
iv) Overall
– work parties will be working on trails in
b) Davidson then
outlined a meeting held with fire officials on the situation regarding
interface fire hazards in
c) Emergency
Preparedness and Communications – Paul Pedlar
i)
Paul outlined the gestation of the CB emergency system in place in
lower
ii) A rundown on
the fine organizational work for the community with plans for kits to explain
procedures, marshaling points, home equipment and resource inventories.
iii) As plans develop it would
be hoped to expand the program to the rest of
(Note a full copy of this report
follows as an addendum)
The President interjected a special thank you to:
a) Gertrude Pacific
for her tireless efforts on the Hidden Grove and other parks projects
b) Secretary Bob
D’Arcy for performing his duties
c) Treasurer Harold
Fletcher as he leaves the board after many years of fine service
9)
Nominating Committee Report – The President reported on a
committee made up of himself and Joan Pedlar and then called for new board
applicants to give a brief introduction of themselves:
· Fran
· Graham
Argyle – been here about 7 years and former planner for UBC
· Joan
Pedlar – moved here 2 years ago although owned home here for longer. Worker
with disabled children
·
These four combined with the continuing board members:
10) Open Discussion – Question and
comments from the membership were entertained:
a) Several questions
on the short-term rentals matter and in additions to brief answers reference
was made to material available at www.sechelt.biz
b) There was a
discussion regarding the state of tree cutting regulation in public lands in
Sechelt and the board members are working on proper clarification in light of
some confusion at the District.
c) Supportive
remarks were made for Woodburn’s hopes to improve pedestrian safety in the
community.
11) Adjournment – moved by
Davidson and carried at
Refreshments
Were Served
These minutes by Secretary Bob
D’Arcy prepared
Sandy Hook Emergency Program – Report by
Paul Pedlar
On Saturday April 24, 2004, 6 neighbours from the lower portion of Sandy
Hook got together to discuss the current emergency program and its
future direction. We first discussed the Emergency Citizen Band network. Aggie
Stevens, coordinator for the lower Sandy Hook CB network, outlined the program
and the current status: Paul Pedlar is an active part of the network: Rick and
Ann Hamilton are currently working to resolve equipment problems. A concern
was raised regarding the current CB emergency network as to the
equipment being used and how successful the network might be in an emergency
situation. At present there do not appear to be standards regarding aerials and
transmission capabilities, and this results in inconsistent signals. Questions
were also raised regarding accessing funding for new and/or upgrades to
equipment.
More members would make the network much stronger and if anyone is interested
they can contact Aggie or Paul. If anyone in the upper part of
The discussion also raised the issues about the use of cell phones in an
emergency situation. We agreed that if the emergency was local, cell phones
could be a part of the plan: however, in a major disaster cell phones might not
be operational. We also addressed the quality of the signal for cell phones and
discussed contacting Telus mobility to get an update
on the possibility of improving the current signal. G.P.S. satellite phones
might also be an alternative, but no one was certain of the availability of these
phones in our area.
The next part of the meeting dealt with a review of the emergency preparedness
program that was started in September of 2000. We are very fortunate to have
the entire original group still a part of our neighbourhood.
The originators are: Sandra Sharkey, Tom Nash
with Deanna Pilling, Janice Talbott and Lynne Nash
joining them as participants. In September of 2000, a representative of the
Provincial Emergency Program, Pat Harvey, gave a presentation, distributed
materials and set goals. The plan was outlined in a workbook that was adopted
and formed the basis on which the group proceeded. At that time, community
resources identified were: people with first aid training; equipment that might
be needed in an emergency; personnel who could operate equipment, etc. The
consensus from the initial survey was that most neighbours are very
self-reliant and would work well in an informal structure. A formal structure
did not seem appropriate and a network of individuals was adopted.
Some of the items identified in the report of 2000, were:
-Assembly locations
-Phone list and skills of neighbours
-Need for multi-taskers, not specialists
-Neighbourhood must be self-reliant - outside help may not
always be feasible
The discussion then focused on the current state of
our emergency plan and
areas to be addressed. The consensus was that the plan must continue and
we need to address the following areas:
1. Updating the current neighbourhood telephone list.
2. Updating the information on the neighbourhood property map system. A letter
will be distributed in
3. Implementing neighbourhood-training programs: first aid; how to operate
chain saw: operation of fire fighting equipment, etc.
4. Fire prevention, fire protection and the operation of fire fighting
equipment:
We would like to make fire prevention information available to all residents.
We would like to enquire about residents being able to own fire hoses and
access fire hydrants in the case of the district volunteer fire
department not being available.
Another concern is the status of the water pressure in the hydrants and the
upgrading of this service.
5. Regular meetings:
It was agreed that the emergency committee should meet twice a year to
review plans and directions. This will help to ensure that it continues to be a
viable operating committee.
6. Janice Talbott will contact Bob Stubbings, Provincial Emergency Awareness Coordinator, for
more information on emergency planning, training programs and funding.
7. Offering Upper
8. develop an emergency awareness information package
that will be given to all existing and future neighbours in