DATE: Thursday, Sept 23rd, 2021
TIME: 8:00 - 9:30 PM
LOCATION: Google meet
ATTENDEES: Claire Lysnes, President | Rick Talbot, Treasurer | Amanda Stewart, Communications | Natasha Borutski, Secretary | Bruce Topping, Director at Large
REGRETS: Lance Brown, Past President
Minutes:
Welcome & Meeting called to order: Welcome given by Claire with a special welcome to new Communications Director Amanda Stewart.
Approval of Agenda: Motioned by Claire, seconded by Bruce, all in favour.
Approval of July Minutes: Motioned by Bruce, seconded by Natasha, all in favour .
Open Issues:
Report on Garage sale: 7 homes participated. There was overall good feedback about turnout but a note was made by one participant that she received feedback that the signage wasn’t clear. It was proposed that we create new signage for the garage sale like the new signage that was created for the Family Fun Day BBQ. The BPRA will look into this purchase in the new year.
Report on AGM: There was a good turnout. 30 voting members. We were able to vote on and waive the audit to save money this year, members also voted and approved the by-laws. Very productive. Claire suggests we offer pizza to attendees next year. Movie night went really well and we hope to make it an annual event.
Family Fun Day and BBQ: Great attendance, very well received with lots of great feedback. Moving the breakfast to brunch was a success. The horseshoe tournament was full with 16 participants. The raffle winner was Erica L, 50/50 winner was Donna Cardinal (Claire to confirm). Need to repair the stairs to the entertainment stage and stairs. Lots of sponsorships and donations: RBC for bouncy castle and horseshoe tournament, MJM Mechanical donated Fireworks, Georgian Bay Gin, Muskoka Spring Water, Burr Logistics donated the ice cream and frozen treats, The Metro head office, and local Zehr’s Food and Food Basics all donated gift cards which supported the purchase of most of the food. There a lot of unused foods. The BPRA returned the non-perishable food items and any perishable items were donated to the local food bank Sharing Place and the Lighthouse Shelter. Claire has made note of the food to participant ratio and we will adjust the food purchases for next year.
2. Executive Report:
Membership Fee Collection: 75% of membership fees have been paid this year. The goal was 80% but we are ahead of where we were last year at 166 households paid, 58 unpaid households thus far.
Wedding at the beach (October 9): A long-time family of the neighbourhood approached Claire and Rick of having a wedding down at the beach. They have renewed their membership and made a $100 donation to the BPRA. The ceremony will have 20-30 attendees.
3. Communications Report: The September newsletter was delivered to households, sent out by e-mail and posted to the website. Working on a Halloween event with the events committee and then communications will be sent out.
4. Financial Report
Net proceeds from Family Fun Day BBQ: $2,833.69 - this number may fluctuate as Rick finalizes the figures but will likely go up. This meets our goal of creating a two-year reserve fund.
5. New Business
Events:
The Events Coordinator has resigned and the position is now open. The BPRA is looking for any interested candidates
Halloween Pumpkin Walk or Halloween event - Claire is meeting with Louis and Angela on the events team.
Little Library Box: Former ratepayers who recently moved donated their little library box to the BPRA to be put down at the beach. Claire is working with Steve Tornay to see what needs to be done to install the library down at the beach. Residents can “take a book, leave a book” through this little library program.
Shed improvements: needs better ventilation, more storage shelves, weatherproofing and electrical updates (the breaker was tripped due to many electrical uses during the BBQ). Amanda is going to ask the township if we are able to get power installed at the beach and if so, what is the process. Otherwise, we would like to be able to use a generator for the BBQ if possible so as not to inconvenience the neighbours by borrowing their electrical.
Fall property clean-up: October 23, the rain date is October 24. Members are invited to come help.
County of Simcoe garbage collection issue: Because the beach property does not have a dwelling on it, it is not entitled to have the new garbage containers. It was also noted that we should not be having our garbage collected by the township because our taxes do not include this service. Claire and Rick have been in contact with the Township and the county about this to see if there is anything we can do. Other private beaches have encountered this problem as well. One solution may be to remove garbage cans over the summer and ask guests to take their own garbage home.
6. Member Inquiries:
Member has asked if the Township can dig out the culverts on Shadow Creek after seeing the culverts along Bayou Road (Linda Kowan). It was decided in the meeting that this issue is not related to the BPRA and is a township issue, any inquiries should be addressed to Ron Stevens our Ward representative. In addition, Bruce inquired about the culverts with the Township and was told they were done to accommodate incoming sidewalks.
7. Meeting Adjourned: 9:03. The next meeting is scheduled for October 21 at 8 PM