SCA Board of Directors Meeting
July 11th, 2011
7:00PM – 10:00PM 

Invited Guests:
Nicole Parent 

Meeting convened at 7:00 p.m.
           
1. Guest Speaker – Nicole Parent

Nicole is the Chair of the City of Ottawa Forest and Greenspace committee, and gave a presentation to the Board about some of the ongoing issues with the local trees in the community.  There is damage being done to the trees by the maintenance crews using weed trimmers, which will eventually cause the trees to die.  She has asked that the SCA also get involved by speaking with Monarch and the Golf Course to ask for help.

Karin proposed that the SCA pay for tree guards to protect the trees that are in the park areas.  All were in favour of the tree guards. 

The second problem Nicole addressed is the ash tree population that is being killed off by the Emerald Ash Borer.  We can still save the remaining ash trees that have not been infected yet, by giving them and injection every one to two years.  She has asked that the SCA speak with Monarch and the Golf Course and ask that they do these injections to save the trees.

2.  Portfolio Updates

A. Parks and Recreation

1) Tree Grant for Kilbirnie Park:  Karin to begin putting together the proposal for the tree grant. 
 
2) Weeding in Kilbirnie Park: The weeding was started but not yet finished.  Karin will follow up with the City to see whether this is going to be done.  There are some residents who have offered to do some gardening work in the park.

3) Sand in Kilbirnie Park:  The sand is to be topped up in the park.

4) Picnic tables and benches for Kilbirnie Park:  Karin will look into purchasing 3 new picnic tables and possibly some more benches for Kilbirnie Park.  The picnic tables are $1,000 each and the benches are $777 each not including installation.  This will be paid for from the gazebo funds which were not used because of the stimulus funding.

5) W.C. Levesque Park:   The gazebo is to be repainted by the City.  Two new picnic tables are needed for under the gazebo.  If the City will not pay for the replacement with composite picnic tables, then the SCA will go ahead and purchase them.  The cost of new composite picnic tables is $1,000 each.  The bleachers by the soccer fields are in need of repairs or should be removed permanently if repairs are not possible.

6) Park Improvements:  Several ideas were discussed for park improvements at W.C. Levesque Park.  It was decided that since this will be a major investment (anywhere from $15k to $30k) and would therefore require major fundraising, we will put this idea on hold for the time being.

7) New Bunker for Storage:  Still waiting for the final word on whether the Stonebridge Golf Course will allow us to build a bunker on their property.  If not we will have to use City property, which means an estimated cost of $8,000 to comply with City requirements.  Use of golf course property would significantly reduce the cost of the bunker. 

8) Parking on Shadehill Cr.:  Karin to follow up with Tom Carmody, who is in the process of preparing the required paperwork to have the parking restriction implemented.

9) “Children At Play” Signage:  Spencer asked about having more signs installed near the park areas.  Karin will look into the cost, and if the City will not pay for them perhaps the SCA could cover the cost.

B. Events and Activities

1) Movie Night:  There have been two movie nights so far, one on June 25th and another one on July 9th.  The popcorn machine was not working properly on the last movie night, so it needs to be determined whether it was the machine or the outlet, and the problem needs to be resolved before the next movie night.

2) Fun Day: Spencer and Lisa are getting all the final details arranged for the Fun Day which is this Saturday.  Concerns discussed were about garbage collection, recycling, parking capacity, and traffic control.  Spencer is working on all these issues to ensure that the day goes smoothly.  So far about $5,000 has been raised from sponsors, plus the SCA has agreed to contribute $2,500 towards the costs, which is what it usually costs the association.  All proceeds will go to CHEO.

C. Memberships and Communications

1) Website updates:  Wendy would like to post a photo and short bio of each of the executive directors on the SCA website.  The photo should be head and shoulders only, and the bio should be very brief, two or three lines.  Also the President’s Message needs to be updated.  Each executive director is to provide Wendy with their photo and bio.

2) Community Flyer:  We will send out a flyer in the mail to all households, updating everyone in the community on our events and accomplishments over the past year.  The timing of the flyer will coincide with the annual meeting in the fall.  We agreed that there would be no sponsors for the flyer; it will be fully funded by the SCA.  Spencer offered to try and get better pricing by contacting the printing company he normally uses, which means we would put a small logo on the bottom corner in exchange.  All were in agreement with this cost-saving strategy.

3) Annual General Meeting:  The AGM will be held in the fall.  Possible dates discussed were either the first week of October or after Thanksgiving.  A date will be chosen closer to the time so that we can coordinate with school parent-teacher interview dates. 

4) Guest speaker at AGM:  We discussed the pros and cons of having a guest speaker at the AGM.  It was decided that there are lots of SCA initiatives and accomplishments to discuss; therefore it would be best not to have a speaker so as to allow more time for SCA matters.

5) Rotating Ads:  It was agreed that we would put up a free ad for a given time period for any sponsors that donate goods and services to the SCA.

6) Website domain:  As a follow up to the previous meeting, Wendy has confirmed that we do in fact own the domain name.

D. Safety and Security

1) Executive Director:  Ryan O’Neill has stepped down as Director of Safety and Security due to lack of time available to commit to this role.  He would like to stay on with the Board as Director at Large.  All were in agreement with this decision.

2) New Director:  Spencer Warren volunteered to take over the position of Director of Safety and Security.  All were in agreement that Spencer will take on the new role.

3) Cambrian and Kilbirnie intersection:  This intersection is to be made into a four-way stop.  Spencer has already been in touch with the City about this issue and the stop signs are going to be put up within a few weeks.

4) Bus stop on Kilbirnie:  The bus stop at Kilbirnie just past Cambrian is to be moved further up the street, as this has been causing traffic problems because of cars waiting to turn onto Kilbirnie while the bus is stopped.  Spencer has requested the change and found a suitable point to relocate the stop where no homeowner will be affected.

Meeting adjourned at 9:32pm.