SIPOA Annual General Meeting June 2, 2012

SATURNA ISLAND PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
DATE HELD: Saturday, June 2, 2012
LOCATION: Saturna Island Rec Centre
Saturna, British Columbia
Board Members Present:
Murray Rankin
Bill Schermbrucker
Susie Washington-Smyth
Ron Hall
Susan Jamieson-McLarnon
Ron Monk
Regrets: Ellen Bourassa
Michael Fry
1. CALL TO ORDER:
The meeting was called to order at 1.01 pm. President, Murray Rankin, chaired the meeting, welcoming everyone to the Annual General Meeting of SIPOA and reviewed the agenda. A quorum of members was present.
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA:
MOVED ( Linda Cunningham, Bill Schermbrucker ) that the Agenda be approved as presented. CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
3. PREVIOUS MINUTES:
MOVED ( Ron Monk, Susan Jamieson-McLarnon ) that the minutes of the Annual General Meeting of May 28, 2011 be approved.
CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
4. BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES
There was no specific business at this time. It was agreed that any items arising during discussion will be added under New Business.
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5. COMMITTEE REPORT
5.1 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
President Murray Rankin read his report highlighting activities of SIPOA over the past year. He commended Al Rizukis on his work on the SIPOA website. Good news regarding progress on the PILTS issue is that the federal government will be paying more of their fair share of taxes on Saturna based on assessed value of the land. Please see Appendix One.
5.3 FINANCIAL REPORT
The Financial Report was presented by Ron Hall in Ellen Bourassa's absence. Please see Appendix Two. The Membership Report is also included in Appendix Two. It was clarified that the numbers are based on properties, not individuals.
5.2 REPORT ON PILTS
Susie Washington Smyth thanked Murray Rankin for his attendance at several of the meetings involved in this process. She recommends that letters of thanks and acknowledgement be sent to Murray Coelle and Tom Johnstone for their support in pursuing the PILTS issue.
5.4 ROADS
Susie Washington Smyth reported that the roads discussion issue has been on hold as Mark Traverso is off on parental leave. At the May meeting of SIPOA Larry Page had provided documentation of a previous agreement. Wayne Quinn pointed out that he had also been in attendance at that meeting 10 years ago where the "hand shake" agreement had been entered into with the Ministry of Highways.
Several roads on Saturna were identified as still needing serious attention. Minister Leckstrom may be more available to meet to discuss the Harris Road issue now that the BC Legislature has adjourned. Sheila Wallace clarified the issues regarding the goal of having a clear public right-of-way between the lower part of Harris Road and Quarry Road. Susie Washington-Smyth noted that the tax payers will not be responsible for maintaining that specific area of road.
6. NEW BUSINESS:
6.1 SIPOA LIST SERVE
Ron Hall gave a brief report on the current list serve He suggested that SIPOA investigate Word Press Monitor for the website which would be ideal for people to communicate for coordinating various activites. Lee Middleton pointed out that when individuals respond to notices on the list serve the message often goes out to all subscribers rather than only the sender. These unwanted communications are excessive and irritating to many members.
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6.2 NOMINATIONS TO THE BOARD
Current member Ellen Bourassa is leaving the Board. Two community members, Eva Hage and Valerie McMillan have volunteered to stand. As there were no further nominations from the floor, Eva and Valerie were elected by acclamation. Susie Washington-Smyth offered her thanks and commendation to Murray Rankin for his leadership as president for the past two years. Murray noted that Bill Schermbrucker has agreed to take on the role of President for the next term.
6.3 Membership Survey
Susanne Jamieson-McLarnon will be circulating a questionnaire to members requesting input regarding any issues that SIPOA should be addressing.
6. 4 Gulf Island Parks
Several Saturna residents have approached Susie Washington-Smyth expressing concern that the Parks Canada people have the impression that we are against encouraging camping or further trail development. This impression does not seem to be factual. The issue of our relationship with Parks Canada will be included in the membership survey and brought forward by the next Board of Directors
6.5 Water Conservation
Susie Washington-Smyth described a water conservation brochure which will be available for people attending the Lamb BBQ. It could also be posted on the SIPOA website. She stated a plan to request some funding from the Islands Trust for printing as they have been pursuing water conservation issues on the Gulf Islands. There was also a suggested that SIPOA representatives at BBQ develop a questionnaire requesting how people travelled to the event and particularly accessibility and scheduling if travelling on BC Ferries.
6.6 Relationship with Islands Trust
Ilio Bertanelli proposed that SIPOA put the issue of the relationship with Islands Trust on the priority list for next year. His suggested goal would be to move away from what seems like a top down relationship to a more community based feedback approach.
7. GUEST SPEAKER: JOHN SIMPSON
Murray Rankin introduced keynote speaker John Simpson who gave a report on the Saturna Island Economic Development Initiative held on April 21 & 22, 2012. The goal was to improve the island economy without changing the look and feel of the island. There was a diverse group of attendees from the island including ling time property owners and young people wishing to stay and settle on the island. Small groups came up with their visions, challenges and possible strategies to overcome
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those challenges. Five subgroups were formed for committees to work on specific action plans. The 5 priority areas were eco tourism, education/research centre, multi level hostel development, transportation/government liaison and development of a Saturna Island Business Advisory Council. Positive spinoffs relate primarily to people collaborating to generate ideas so that individuals and small groups can move ahead to work for positive change on our island.
The full report of the workshops is posted on the SIPOA website.
A website www.saturnaworks.com has also been developed.
8. ADJOURNMENT
MOVED ( Linda Cunningham, John Simpson)
There being no further business the meeting be adjourned. CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY
Meeting was adjourned at 2:05 pm.
___________________________ ___________________________
Murray Rankin Bev Lowsley
President Recording Secretary
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APPENDIX ONE
President’s Report
May 28, 2011 AGM
The last year has been another exceptionally productive one for SIPOA. We've been fortunate to continue to have a very talented Board of Directors, drawn from most corners of Saturna. We are also pleased that we will have an orderly transition at this Annual General Meeting, in keeping with our strong tradition in this regard.
Once again we have conducted a survey of our members, details of which will be discussed at this meeting. However based on the survey, we can confidently report that we continue to pursue the priorities identified by our members.
Addressing certain issues such as the state of our roads, continues to take a great deal of our time. On May 24, Susie Washington-Smyth, Marles Petura (president of the Saturna Beach Strata Corporation) and I met in Victoria with key representatives of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. We emphasized the pressing need for the Ministry to insist on compliance by the local contractor, Mainroads, with its agreement with the Ministry. We are somewhat hopeful that we might finally be able to claim victory in this protracted exercise, given the recent appointment of a new operations manager, Mr. Mark Traverso. As someone who is new to the file, he may be able to bring a fresh perspective. At our meeting, he agreed to come over to Saturna and see firsthand the problems with our roads, particularly portions of East Point Rd. and Harris Road.
Speaking of roads, along with the Saturna Community Club and the Lions Club, SIPOA has made some efforts over the past year to provide Saturna with a version of the "Car Stop" program that has been so successfully implemented on other Gulf Islands. We have applied for a very small grant from the Capital Regional District ($1500) for us to experiment with this idea for a two-year period and believe that the Ministry of Transportation will endorse the proposed locations. If the Car Stop program does not prove successful within a two-year trial period, then it will not be continued. If it does, we will seek to expand it with two additional stops, budget permitting.
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The issue of Payments in lieu of Taxes (PILT) continues to be a complex one. Thanks to the assistance of Tom Johnstone, we have continued to press for the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve to pay its fair share of taxes on this island. If our arguments are successful and the BC Surveyor of Taxes prevails, then the amount of money that would be paid to the Province for property taxes should be decreased. While this may not have an immediate or huge effect on the property taxes that Saturna property owners must pay, it will certainly have some such effect and, perhaps of equal importance, we will have established the principle that the National Park Reserve should pay its fair share.
Another important priority that was identified by our members is water. One of our directors, Ron Monk, facilitated a highly successful workshop on groundwater held on May 7, which was sponsored by the Islands Trust. We will continue to work with our partners to assist in securing a sustainable supply of water, particularly for East Point.
We are pleased that Sheila Malcolmson, Chair of the Islands Trust Council will be addressing our Annual General Meeting this year. As members will be aware, over this past year, we have examined levels of taxation and related financial issues involving the Islands Trust.
This year marks the introduction of a new SIPOA website: www.sipoa.ca.
An enormous debt of gratitude is owed to Al Razutis! He has done an enormous amount of work in producing a first class website. We are very grateful to all who participated but particularly to Al for his leadership. SIPOA has truly arrived now that we have a website!
As I mentioned at the outset, Board renewal is also a matter of some pride. This year, nominations for directors closed on May 16; no additional nominees emerged from cyberspace, telephone or mail. Therefore we can identify the following two directors who have been acclaimed: Michael Fry who lives on Boot Cove Road and Paul Brent of Winter Cove. With the able assistance of our directors, I look forward to another productive year!

Murray Rankin
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APPENDIX TWO
SIPOA AGM
May 28, 2011