SIRRA Annual General Meeting, May 31, 2015 Approved at 2016 AGM Page 1

Saturna Island Ratepayers and Residents Association
2015 Annual General Meeting
Date: May 31, 2015
Location: Saturna Recreation and Cultural Center
Board Members Present: Eva Hage, Ron Hall, Michael Fry, Valerie McMillan, Bill Schermbruker
Regrets: Ingrid Gaines, Dian Johnston, Jeanne Crerar, Joan Hoskinson
1. Call to order
The meeting was called to order at 11:00 am by President Eva Hage. Quorum was confirmed. There were 18 members present.
2. Approval of Agenda
Motion to approve the agenda, Ron Monk. Carried
3. Approval of Minutes of 2014 AGM
Motion: to approve SIPOA May 31, 2014 AGM minutes, Paul Brent. Carried
4. Business Arising from Last AGM
Transitional documentation from SIPOA to SIRRA (Saturna Island Ratepayers and Residents Association) has been completed. The website has been updated. There is still some updating needed to the SIPOA calendar. The calendar is self administering, simply contact Ron Hall for a password to post notices.
5. Committee Reports
5.1. President’s Report
Eva Hage presented her report (attached). Following Eva's presentation, Valerie McMillan extended thanks to her for her years of service to the island and to SIPOA, especially during the transition from SIPOA to SIRRA which took many, many hours.
5.2. Financial Report
Ron Hall presented the financial report (attached). He reviewed revenue and expenses. There was discussion of the ferries sign campaign and possible negative impression they may create for visitors. Suggestion that they now be taken down.
Motion to adopt the financial report, Ron Hall Carried
5.3 Membership Report
Val McMillan presented the membership report (included on financial report sheet.) Since becoming SIRRA, there were 4 new memberships in response to the more inclusive nature of the organization. Numbers in arrears were discussed. A proposed approach to this will be addressed under New Business. Eva also noted
Saturna Island Ratepayers and Residents Association
SIRRA Annual General Meeting, May 31, 2015 Approved at 2016 AGM Page 2
that Mayne Island with three times the population has about 100 members compared to Saturna's 225, which represents a larger proportion of the population.
Val stressed that this is important as SIRRA speaks on behalf of all residents.
Motion to adopt the membership report, Val McMillan. Carried
5.4 Communications Report
In Dian Johnston's absence, this report was read by Eva Hage,. The report is attached.
Motion to accept the communications report, Eva. Carried
5.5 Roads Report
Michael Fry presented his report on Saturna Island road issues (attached). Discussion related to issues with Harris Road.
Motion to accept the roads report, Michael. Carried.
5.6 Ferries Report
Eva Hage presented the Ferries Report (attached).
Motion to approve the ferries report, Val McMillan. Carried
6. Nominations to the Board
The SIRRA Board terms are three years and are staggered. The constitution states that no member may serve more than three consecutive terms. Eva Hage's team is up and she is not standing for re-election. Val McMillan has agreed to continue for one more year and Ryan Dentry have agreed to stand. There were no further nominations from the floor. Ryan Dentry and Val McMillan were elected by acclamation.
7. New Business
SIRRA Dues Payment Incentive Proposal
Ron Hall described the reasons for the incentive proposal (attached). The current membership rate is $30 for a three year term. The proposal is to reduce the fees and also to differentiate the fees for new members or based in duration or mode of payment when renewing. Each membership entitles the holder to one vote on SIRRA business. If two residents in same household both want individual votes they can each choose to join or simply have a household membership with a single vote. With the current financial footing of the organization this incentive will not have a negative financial impact.
Motion by Paul Brent, be it resolved that, beginning in 2016, the payment of SIRRA dues be as follows:
1. Payment made via cash or cheque:
i) new member: $10 for 1-year term; $25 for a 3-year term
ii) renewal: $15 for a 1-year term; $25 for 3-year term, or
Saturna Island Ratepayers and Residents Association
SIRRA Annual General Meeting, May 31, 2015 Approved at 2016 AGM Page 3
2. Payment made via PayPal:
i) new member: $20 for a 3-year term
ii) renewal
a) prior to March 1st: $20 for a 3-year term
b) on or after March 1st: $20 for a 2-year term
Carried, unanimously
8. Next Meeting
The SIRRA Board will determine the date and time of their first meeting. Next year's AGM will be set sometime in May 2016.
9. As there was no further business, the AGM was adjourned at 11: 40 am.
Guest Speaker Following the AGM business, Bob Fitzgerald spoke about business and social transformations on Saturna: the bus cafe, more young adults and families living and working on island, increased activity by SIMRES and other groups on Saturna. He then described his idea to develop a site with facilities for tents and boaters on the property above the pub and dock area to meet the needs of that visitor group. The presentation sparked active discussion, questions and suggestions for consideration.
President’s Report – May 31, 2015
At the last AGM exactly a year ago, our members voted with overwhelming majority to expand the membership to include residents in addition to property owners. This was done to reflect broader based interest as well as being able to speak with an even more powerful voice on behalf of islanders and property owners alike.
The transition took longer than expected (nothing is ever as easy as it appears on the surface) but finally, we have a new name, revised constitution, a new website. Our list serve is still called SIPOA, but is in the process of being changed. You can find a copy of our revised constitution on our website.
Every year we canvas our members for issues that are near and dear to their hearts. This year we tried Survey Monkey, an on-line survey tool and were positively surprised by a record high response rate – almost 25%. The results generally mirror current issues on our island. And it was no exception this year.
The top three issues were: BC Ferries, Health Services and Property Taxes.
No surprise that BC Ferries is considered the most important issue facing our island – it has been for the last few years with rising fares and service cuts bringing home the real threat that we may not count on the level of accessibility we currently have, in the future.
Health was the second most important issue, reflecting the recent need, and challenge, in replacing our island nurse.
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SIRRA Annual General Meeting, May 31, 2015 Approved at 2016 AGM Page 4
Property taxes was third and the hot potato this year was BC Assessment’s seemingly random decision to increase the assessments by up to 30% on parcels +10 acres while decreasing other properties with as much as 10%. SIRRA, jointly with Mayne Island’s MIRRA, demanded an explanation from BC Assessment Authority and received a less than satisfactory answer (posted on our website). We were asked to spearhead a mass appeal, however, on the advice from a Commercial Appraiser, we were told that individual appeals have a higher success rate than a mass appeal. We have since heard that many large parcel property owners were indeed successful in rolling back the increases, which I like to believe was helped by SIRRA/MIRRA raising the issue.
The maintenance of our roads is always near and dear to our hearts and was fourth on the list. Emergency preparedness, water and other transportation were seen as less important, but there were some thoughtful comments provided in these areas.
My three-year term is up and due to more commitments on and off island than I can possibly fit into my life, I will not stand for re-election. I’d like to thank our board members: Bill, Dian, Ingrid, Jeanne, Joan, Michael, Ron and Val for their commitment to making our voice heard and to freely give their time to volunteer for the better of our community. Thank you! I have enjoyed working with you – you are a great group of people!
Eva Hage, President
Treasurer's Report - AGM Summary

Communications Report
The big news back in August of 2014 was the proposed official name change from SIPOA to SIRRA, this information and the roster for the newly elected Board was published in our Scribble paper.
In November, we developed a set of questions for our Island Trustee hopefuls to answer. The questions were designed to cover a wide range of topics and to elicit thoughtful responses from the Candidates.
In a March Scribbler article we were finally able to confirm our name change and ask Saturna residents to join with us in our newly expanded focus on ALL Island residents.
Although not technically correspondence our events page is a popular forum for Islanders to post their happenings of interest and to keep us all connected.
Dian Johnstone
Road Report – May 31, 2015
Mainland has been filling potholes this spring over most of the island (if a hole has been missed, let me know). Ditching has also been done in many areas and it will be time soon to cut the grass roadside.
Many of you will notice the paving on East Point Road as recent as last week.
A grader came over from Salt Spring and graded most of the un-paved roads. Some of the roads were also oiled (Harris Rd) to help with the dust.
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Speaking of Harris Rd – since MoT refused, despite repeated calls, to come out and look at the road, the issue was raised at the police liaison meeting. Rod Pick from the RCMP, agreed about the safety hazard and wrote a letter to Ministry of Transportation, strongly advising them to do something about the road before an accident happens. So far, there has been no response from MoT.
Roads are our highway on Saturna and we will do our best to keep them safe.
Michael Fry
Ferry Report
After a few years of service cuts and fare increases, the ferry file was relatively quiet this year.
Last year we spent about $700 on the “Save our highway” yellow signs and buttons to raise the awareness of the importance of BC Ferries. After complaints from business owners on Saturna that the signs actually worked against us here on the island, we removed most of them.
SIRRA worked together with the Ferry Advisory to save our weekend service, which BC Ferries threatened to reduced. They were traded off with parking the Queen of Nanaimo nine Wednesdays during the winter.
Eva Hage
SIRRA Dues Payment Incentive Proposal
A. Reason for incentive
SIRRA membership renewal dates are spread unevenly over a three-year period. Each year considerable work and an inordinate amount of time is involved in invoicing, collection and processing of membership renewals.
There is no penalty for late payment as there is with most commercial institutions, and it could be said that some SIRRA members are a bit laissez-faire with regard to payments. Often, following a number of e-mail reminders, it requires further arm-twisting by SIRRA’s dues collection agency (Val McMillan) in order to extract payment. A reluctance by some to be timely with payment causes the dues processing period to extend from initial reminders in November, to May or beyond (note there remain several members in arrears at this time).
Payment for a 3-year term is highly preferred, as the processing overhead is incurred for a member once every three years, rather than at a higher frequency.
On-line payments via PayPal have been recently introduced as an option for payment of dues, and this has reduced the overhead considerably, as the payments are aggregated in SIRRA’s PayPal account. Transfer to the SIRRA bank account removes the
Saturna Island Ratepayers and Residents Association
SIRRA Annual General Meeting, May 31, 2015 Approved at 2016 AGM Page 7
requirement to manually process cheques or cash, or to visit the bank in Sidney for deposit.
B. Resolution
Be it resolved that, beginning in 2016, the payment of SIRRA dues be as follows:
1. Payment made via cash or cheque:
ii) new member: $10 for 1-year term; $25 for a 3-year term
iii) renewal: $15 for a 1-year term; $25 for 3-year term
2. Payment made via PayPal:
i) new member: $20 for a 3-year term
ii) renewal
a) prior to March 1st: $20 for a 3-year term
b) on or after March 1st: $20 for a 2-year term