Minutes of a meeting of the directors of SIRRA held January 23, 2021 Present by Teams: Mairead Boland (Vice-President), Michel Chiasson, Helen Wale, Colin Curwen (Treasurer), Jeanne Crerar Regrets: David Osborne (President and Secretary), Serban Criaoveanu 1. The meeting was called to order at 1.08pm and a quorum declared. Mairead (chairing the meeting in David’s absence) welcomed everyone and acknowledged our presence on the traditional territory of the Coast Salish peoples. 2. The agenda was approved by consensus as circulated. 3. The minutes of November 21, 2020 were approved as circulated by consensus. 4. Business arising: a. Website: Mairead confirmed that the website was now installed on the Garnet server. Thank you to Colin and South Island Internet Services for previously hosting it. There is no date currently for the launch of the website- likely in the next couple of months. Mairead will report on progress at a future meeting. b. Membership: SIRRA has 132 members currently fully paid up. The migration to Freelists.org has taken place successfully. Mairead will set up a Board Group list that will enable easier communication between board members only. As the Freelists. Org distribution list is free to use, motion by Jeanne, that SIRRA make a donation of $100. Seconded by Michel. All approved. Further discussion took place around approaches to encourage and incentivize membership (particularly the new people who have moved to Saturna). Proposals including a membership dues ‘holiday’ as well as offering the Freelists distribution as a service / facility for members were discussed. Clarity is needed on SIRRA’s requirement to have membership dues as part of our constitution/ status as a non-profit before any further decisions are made around this. Jeanne to discuss with David and Ron. c. Property assessments Mairead has not heard back from any residents about this. She will send out a reminder to residents, to look at their assessments (particularly the split between land and buildings) and the deadline to appeal property assessments. 5. Treasurer’s Report: No report was tabled however Colin updated the Board verbally. There are some cheques to deposit and Colin will reconcile with the bank statement. No cheques have needed to be signed. 5 a) Update on signing authority. Mairead will ask David to action these changes with Ron. 6. Member Surveys – Jeanne identified that previous surveys had been helpful in getting input from members. It was also highlighted that SIRRA’s mandate requires us to survey members. Jeanne will work with Mairead on identifying approximately 3 survey questions e.g. proposed tree cutting changes, Telus, Islands Trust budget. We will use Google forms to create the survey. 7. Other Business. a) Tree Cutting Regulations. Mairead will contact Ron to re-read the information/ pull together a communication so that we can determine SIRRA’s next steps. b) Telus- it was agreed to post Cy Torcliffe’s letter on SIRRA’s website. c) Posting policy. Jeanne asked if SIRRA is able to post the notices of our MP’s information sessions. It was confirmed that as this is part of our mandate, this is appropriate. d) Colin resigned as a SIRRA Board Director. The Board extended their thanks to Colin for his work on the SIRRA board over the last few years. e) Colin indicated that he would be making a proposal to the Northern Development Council to extend fibre optic internet connections with Saturna. He asked for a letter from SIRRA supporting this proposal. Colin will send the material to SIRRA that gives more information about this proposal to enable the crafting of a letter. As there is a short deadline around this, the Board agreed that this information and a letter could be supported and discussed by email. f) A discussion took place around the potential for adjusting Director terms to enable returns of Directors who are wanting to continue contributing to SIRRA. Jeanne to discuss with David and Ron. The next meeting date – not confirmed 8. The meeting was adjourned at 2.24pm