SIPOA Directors Meeting March 1, 2014 1
SATURNA ISLAND PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION DIRECTORS MEETING
Date Held: March 1, 2014
Location: Home of Bill Schermbruker
362 East Point Road
Directors Present: Bill Schermbruker, Eva Hage, Ron Monk, Ron Hall, Ingrid Gaines, Valerie McMillan
Regrets: Michael Fry, Susie Washington-Smyth
Recording Secretary: Bev Lowsley
1. Call to Order at 10:05 am. The agenda was drafted at that time.
2. Minutes of October 19, 2013 had been circulated electronically and have been posted on the SIPOA website.
3. Membership Valerie reported a good response to the mail-out to property owners who were not SIPOA members. There are now 22 new members (~10%). Several members in arrears have been contacted with some renewals paid as well. The rest of the list was reviewed. There are currently 236 members, with 214 in good standing. The use of PayPal has made payment of fees easier. Val suggested that the open house approach needs to be reviewed. This will be brought forward to the next meeting.
The information package which is given to new owners has been updated. The local realtors are appreciative of having the package to give to new property owners.
4. Treasurer's Report
Ron Hall reviewed the financial report covering Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2013 which was circulated and discussed.
5. Property Taxes: Eva reported that she has received information from Ed Sykora. She has done a summary of the
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data provided. Provincially based taxes are in line with inflation but regional (CRD, Islands Trust, and Harbour Commission) as well as local property taxes have both gone up dramatically. Eva is working on teasing out the details of why these regional and local taxes are increasing and what we get for that. She suggests that a summary of that information will be posted on the SIPOA website as well as in the Scribbler. This would simply be sharing information without judgement or commentary so individuals can draw their own conclusions. Ron Monk mentioned that Brian McDonald, from CRD, indicated that he would be willing to meet with SIPOA representatives to clarify and respond to questions. It was agreed that the committee will meet again to help with identifying details of what services are provided to the island from the regional and local share of the taxes. In the meantime Eva will publish the first installment on the SIPOA list serve and will submit it for the publication in the next Scribbler. Eva was commended on her initial work on this.
6. BC Ferries issues: Eva noted that in spite of assurances that there would be no changes to route 9 scheduling, they then proposed that Saturday morning sailings between Tsawwassen and the Saturna would be cancelled. Subsequently that proposal has been reworked with some suggested re-routing through Swartz Bay. Neither of those options seems like a workable solution. These changes are proposed to take effect from Oct to May. The FAC proposal is to shorten the period of changes to November to April, reinstate the weekend service and consider reducing service on one weekday. Val noted that these proposed cuts may be the beginning of a slow erosion of services to the Gulf Islands. Eva will be attending the March 10 meeting representing both the FAC as well as SIPOA.
Also circulated were copies of a letter from Ferry Advisory Committee Chairs to Mike Corrigan, President and CEO of BC Ferries, requesting a performance review of BC Ferries. Of particular concern are amounts of overhead and financing costs allocated to the minor routes. Other issues are vessel deployment, home porting and sustainability relating to capital debt supporting strategies. Eva will draft a letter expressing
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these concerns which Bill will submit on behalf of SIPOA. The Powell River community has launched a province wide campaign of awareness that these factors will affect the economy of coastal communities with a significant spinoff impact on the rest of the province.
Ingrid will check to see who is the current chair of SITA and will request that they also consider sending a letter (regular post as well as email) expressing concerns regarding the impact of proposed ferry scheduling changes and costs and how they impact tourism and businesses.
7. Harris Road Update: tabled
8. AGM : Last year the AGM was on June 22. For this year it was suggested to scheduled AGM for Saturday, May 31 at 11am. Eva will review whose terms will be up and how many new Board Members need to be recruited. Also discussed were potential guest speakers to present at the AGM. Bill will invite Mike Corrigan first, or if he is not available, Gordon Macatee. This would be an opportunity to hear about their 10 year plan for BC Ferries. This would be a good day as the ferry schedules fits! Ingrid will arrange for booking the Rec Centre.
9. Economic Development: Experience the Gulf Islands Initiative is being promoted as a tourist draw. Is this realistic? A big bone of contention is the amount of money for the Saturna aspect of the project and whether that gas tax money might be better used. This would cost approx. $200,000 leaving only $100,000 for the other Gulf Islands. The main issues of concern relate to expectations /standards of the trail. Larry Peck and Sheila Wallace were involved with developing the proposal. There are detailed plans for the proposal which Ron Monk will send out to all Board members for their information.
10. Adjourned at 11:15 am