Bayou Park Ratepayers Association
Executive Board Meeting Minutes
DATE: Thursday, December 17, 2020
TIME: 8:10 -9:36PM
LOCATION: Google video call from 3686 Shadow Creek Road
ATTENDEES: Claire Lysnes, President | Neil Fenton, VP | Hillary Kimsal, Communications | Kait Hunter, Secretary| Natasha Borutski, Director at Large
REGRETS: Lance Brown, Past President | Rick Talbot, Treasurer | Bruce Topping, Director at Large
MINUTES
1. Meeting called to order by Claire Lysnes
2. Approval of Agenda
Motion to Approve: Bruce Topping 2nd:Neil Fenton
VOTE: All in Favour
3. Approval of Minutes from previous meeting
November meeting minutes not yet finished. Kait will send when ready. Deferred for executive board approval by email vote or at January meeting, whichever comes first.
4. Open Issues
a) Holiday Lights- Three people have submitted photos by e-mail and a few submitted through Facebook. Prizes are helping to encourage people to share photos. Members of the executive are encouraged to nominate houses. 3 Prizes: Tim Horton’s, Yellofruit 3 pint package, and $100 Canadian Tire GC donated by member Dan Hosegood, Owner of Hosegood Plumbing. Claire will confirm whether nominated participants paid their ratepayers fee. Top three nominated, post to Facebook and have people vote. Post the winners to Facebook on Dec. 21. Claire and Hilary will pull random names for the participant awards on Dec. 21 as well. This will give Hillary and Claire sufficient time to announce the winners and deliver the prizes before Christmas arrives.
b) Holiday Lights @ Timberline Park-Set up by Lance. Lance was absent from this meeting. Neil confirmed that the lights are up, although question about whether Lance has completed set-up. Neil was not able to connect with Lance in person but did go by his house to check all his exterior GFI plugs. All were confirmed to be working by Neil. We will defer to Lance for more information on the lights and when they come on etc. Claire to promote on FB; however, current Covid-19 lockdown will prevent us encouraging groups to gather/giving out refreshments.
5. Executive Report
a) Neil to email the volunteer names to Claire to add to the volunteer tracking spreadsheet
b) The small businesses page on the website will be created by Claire and Natasha. No progress as of yet.
6. Financial Report - Rick Talbot (Presented by Claire in Rick’s absence; Rick provided his notes in advance)
a) Update on property and director insurance:
The Executive voted via email on November 30th to proceed with insurance as quoted by the Cooperators Group. We now have insurance as of Dec 8th. Rick is waiting on Cooperators to send the official insurance docs and will scan copies once they are in hand. Payment is $104.31 monthly.
b) Expense projection for 2021, shows that we have a 1 year reserve. Approximately $4600 will be in the bank account at the start of 2021 before the ratepayers membership fees come in. This link should be viewable by anyone (not just board members): https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NsWvpI1-XKsF6I1e45LU4Cw__CVvJTu4rrRy2eTREu4/edit?usp=sharing
c) Weed Spray resolution: per our last meeting, two cheques have been written - one to the weed spray company, to pay for the owing 2019 spray, and another to Linda Thompson to disperse the surplus collected weed spray fees. Both cheques were received by Linda Thompson the week of December 7th. This link of the reconciliation should be viewable by anyone: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tiOX97VnAenaIRj4d5wsClqzY53ODPdML5TfGQUjv1o/edit?usp=sharing
Claire confirmed that the weed spray is Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) approved to use and the contractor does get a permit from the MNR. d) The BPRA has copies of the deed for the beach, which specifies that the Bayou Park Ratepayers Association members can live in plans 1106, 1233, 1328, and lots 4 and 5 of concession 9. Here are publicly accessible copies of the deed: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N00qOMCaoZydpRwXyxwHuA9a0HuQ411J/view?usp=sharing and https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JawlkZVqX3mm52qUUfRGCMVXyW7dpZkV/view?usp=sharing
Here is a map with the area in purple reflecting all of the geographic area that qualifies to be members of the BPRA: https://drive.google.com/file/d/14Gtl1jgn8KbrMaWqKb043xGJSIM9FP6d/view?usp=sharing
Rick will post the links above to the website. Discussion of the map and the BPRA borders as specified by the deed. New development near the Tim Horton’s would fall into the BPRA catchment.
7. Communications Report - Hillary Kimsal
Nothing to Report
8. New Business
a) Community Ice Rink-Claire and Neil noted that with a community ice rink an executive member and team of volunteers would have to maintain it with regular flooding, snow blow the area etc. Current Covid-19 lockdown prevents gatherings. This year, unfortunately, the executive board members cannot commit the time to this, so the rink will not be done at the beach this year. Consider again in 2021 and solicit volunteers in advance.
b) Winter Carnival- Current COVID-19 restrictions will make it very difficult to have an event of this nature. Decided to hold on this for now, and consider again next year.
c) Ice Fishing Tournament - Would be a socially distanced event/competition , with people encouraged to participate with their immediate families. Neil suggests an online competition where participants upload images of their catch. Claire suggested participants can send the images by e-mail or upload to Facebook, same as the holiday lights competition. Competition would be who catches the most amount of fish. Weighing not possible due to covid-19 social distancing and gathering restrictions. Split the pot 50/50 between the winner(s) and the BPRA. Split one half into 1, 2, and 3rd places prizes. Registration would start January 18 - February 6. Event Date: Feb 13 - 15 (Family Day Weekend). Registration would be open to all of the Cumberland Beach/Westshore area. Registration fees: $10 per adult, $3 for kids (12 and under) - an adult must register in order to also register a child. Adult prize pot will be based on the amount of people participating, we will look to get donations for the kids prizes, such as fishing equipment. Claire, Hilary & Neil will connect after the Christmas holidays to finalize details and send out event information to the membership.
9. Member Inquiries
a) Member, Sarah Reynolds, requested via email to revise the no dogs allowed policy for the beach park. She noted the many dog owners in the neighborhood and the demand for a place for dogs to swim. Suggested putting time restrictions on when dogs could be allowed at the beach park: in the evening after 7pm through the summer, and anytime from Labour day until May 31st. Cited the lack of safety for dogs at the boat launch. Her proposal was distributed to the executive for review. This idea also came up over the summer when requested by another member and was tabled until we could find out more about the association’s insurance coverage. Claire confirmed that many neighbourhood dog owners have asked for this, as she heard when collecting membership fees over the summer. Our insurance agent has now confirmed that the insurance policy would not cover the association if someone decided to sue for any kind of situation with a dog. Liability would reside with the dog owners and their personal insurance coverage. Claire spoke with the neighbours who live next door to the beach park. They wish to keep the policy as is as there is no fence along their property line and they will not continue to volunteer to maintain the beach property if there is an issue with dog waste not being picked up. The BPRA is highly dependent upon them for day-to-day maintenance of the beach park, including cleaning up fallen branches, taking out the garbage, burning the brush pile, and cutting the lawn. History of the policy is such that dogs were once allowed but there was an issue with people not picking up after their dogs, which is why the policy was created. Question of how the other Lake Couchiching ratepayer/resident associations in the Westshore area handle this. Much discussion amongst the Executive Board, many of whom are dog owners themselves, of the pros & cons of revising the policy. It was noted that there was no plan put forward for ensuring owners clean up their dog waste. In addition, it was noted there is no way to ensure owners keep their dogs on leashes. None of the Executive Board members are comfortable being responsible for picking up dog waste on an ongoing basis. There is also an ongoing issue in the neighbourhood of dog waste being left on the side of the roads, both bagged and not bagged, and many residents have complained to the BPRA. Question if neighbourhood dog owners could use the less scenic but vacant property on Shadow Creek Rd owned by the Township, which has access to the Shadow Creek canal, for dogs to swim. Dog owners would still need to keep their dogs on leash (per Severn Township Parks policy), as there is no fence along the neighbouring property lines and we would not want an issue with the residents on either side, who are long standing members of the BPRA. Further thought to this idea will be given before promoting it amongst the membership and as a courtesy, these neighbours should be consulted first for their preferences.
Motion to keep the no dogs allowed policy for the beach park as is: Claire Lysnes 2nd:Hillary Kimsal
VOTE: All in Favour
10. Next meeting: January 21, 2021 via Google Meeting
11. Adjournment @ 21:36
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