HLC Board Meeting-2007_10_13
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Published on Huntsville Lakes Council (http://www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org)
HLC Minutes
Date: October 13, 2007
Location: Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room
Present:
Bill Somers - Chair - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
Bruce Howlett - Treasurer - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lake Association
Mary McCulley - Director - Chub Lake Property Owners Association
Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association
Michael Young - Director - Hidden Valley Property Owners Association.
Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association
Jeanne O'Neill - Director - Harp Lake Association
Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association
Bill Jolley - Director - Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association
Laura McLaren - Guest - Huntsville Forester
Regrets:
Elaine Jackson - Director - Fox Lake Association
Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Association
Barb Stronach - Director - Federation of Ontario Cottagers Association
John Kenny - Director - Lake of Bays Association
Tonia Di Sabatino - Director - Oxbow Lake Cottager's Association
Ian Hastie - Director - Lake Vernon Association
Wendy Olan-Director - Bittern Lake Association
Mike Greenfield - Director - Mary Lake Association
Dwayne Verhey - Webmaster - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association
1. Call to Order: Chair, Bill Somers, opened the meeting at 9:30 AM welcoming all members and guests.
2. Approval of the Agenda: Motion by Mary M. and seconded by Rob Z. that the agenda be approved. Carried.
3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Burr A. and seconded by Jeanne O. that the Minutes be approved. Carried.
4. Treasurer's Report: Bruce H.- The Report was distributed and questions regarding the fact that Chub and Harp Lakes are not shown on this outline to have paid dues for 2007-2008. Bruce stated that this was a mistake since they have paid and that he would correct it. Rob Z. stated that he had the Fairy Lake Association 2007-2008 dues with him. Motion by Bruce H. and seconded by Burr A. that the treasurer's report containing the modifications be approved. Carried.
5. Comments from the Chair :
-Correspondence to HLC members and/or others regarding possible HLC concerns should be sent to Burr A.
-Please keep in mind that due to time restrictions, Reports should be kept short.
-Thursday night Bill Somers attended the Huntsville Environmental Committee meeting. A number of ideas were presented that could form a basis for environmental articles in the Forester.
-Since Dan McKeon is going to surgery in the near future and will be out of commission for awhile, the HLC, requires a new Chairperson for our Advertising/Promotion/Social Committee.
-Home Show in Toronto on Nov. 2-4th, therefore, some members of the HLC may be absent from our next meeting on Nov. 3rd.
-FOCA AGM meeting at York Reception Centre in Toronto on Nov. 24th and need a representative from the HLC.
6. Lake Association Concerns / Reports:
Walker & Pells Lakes; Burr A. - Nothing new to report. A meeting of the Lake Associations in the Sinclair district is planned to occur with Ginny Burgess (Councillor for Sinclair in the Township of the Lake of Bays) next Monday night. The purpose of the meeting is to inform us (Lake Associations in Sinclair) of any new and/or resolved issues on our lakes.
Otter Lake; Ted M.-Looking at modifications for their Constitution and 50% membership has been reached.
Chub Lake; Mary M. - Nothing new to report.
Hidden Valley Property Owners Association; Michael Y. - Nothing new to report.
Fairy Lake Association; Rob Z. - Currently the Association is looking for a WebMaster. Fairy Lake Association has instituted an initiative for debris removal by the Fairy Lake residents. Rob Z. read a letter from Bruce Gowan (Treasures of the Fairy Lake Association). It stated that ‘The Board of Directors for the Fairy Lake Association has unanimously agreed to donate $300.00 to HLC for the work and great efforts the HLC has provided'. Bill S. said that he had responded to this letter and thanked the Fairy Lake Association for their kind donation to the HLC. Mary M. suggested that the HLC consider using this money for a special cause and acknowledge the Fairy Lake Association for its contribution.
Rob Z. brought up the question of water-testing costing so much. He stated that the expected cost of water-testing in Fairy Lake next year would be approximately $2000.00. Members of the HLC asked for a breakdown of the costs of the water-testing and Rob Z. said that he would provide it and bring it up for discussion at another meeting of the HLC.
Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association; Bill J. - This Association requires information on how to incorporate and Bill S. said that the information is on our Website but, since the Association is not yet on our Website, that he would send it to them.
Harp Lake Association; Jeanne O. - Nothing new to report, however the search for a President of the Association is still underway and concerns about septic system inspections is still an issue.
Mary Lake Association; Dan K. - Studies on water levels are being conducted.
Lake Waseosa; Bruce H. - Severance issues with OMB are still of major concern. The Association's Board of Directors has elected to go to Divisional Court rather then the OMB Court, but, in order to go to Divisional Court, an application to a Judge had to be submitted to see if it could be heard in the Divisional Court. This has been done and the Board of Directors is seeking additional funds from the Lake residents to support their endeavor.
7. Committee Reports:
(A) Membership Committee: Bruce H.-The Report was distributed and question regarding the fact that Chub and Harp Lakes are not shown on this outline to have paid dues for 2007-2008. Bruce stated that this was a mistake since they have paid and that he would correct it. Rob Z. stated that he had the Fairy Lake Association 2007-2008 dues with him. Bruce stated that he would be contacting those members that had not submitted dues for their July 2007-June 2008 membership.
(B) Communications
(i) Website; update & meeting report -Dwayne V.-(not present)
Board web training date - Bill S. - Friday the 19th of October 2007 was agreed upon as a date for Web training our Directors. It will be held at 10:00 AM in the Huntsville library. Everyone was asked to arrive early and to make sure that their Library card was up to date. Burr A. asked "who would pay the fees for Directors who do not pay taxes in Huntsville and do not have a Huntsville Library card?" Bill S. stated that they would be paid for by HLC however; he would look into the possibility that another Web-training date might be arranged at the Dwight Library for those Directors living in the Township of the Lake of Bays.
(ii) Advertising/Promo/Social; Bill S. stated that we needed a Chair for this committee. After some discussion, it was decided to let the Directors think about it and bring it up at our next meeting.
December social; Bill S. agreed to host our December Social at 10:00 AM in his home on Saturday December 15th. Although the social would include a short meeting of the HLC, the Directors were encouraged to bring their wives/friends to the social.
(iii) October Forester article - Bill S. and the HLC recognized the excellence of the article written by Rob Zingel which appeared in the Forester this month.
(iv) November Forester article - Rob Z. requested that if anyone had any ‘special ideas' for an article, they should pass them on to him.
(C) Special Projects:
(i) Insurance - Ontario Nature program; Mary M. - Mary M, said that the Federation of Ontario Naturalists is now called Ontario Nature and to get insurance through them an organization must be a member of Ontario Nature. Mary M. is trying to get more information about their insurance from them and will let us know her results at our next meeting. Bill S. questioned about insurance through FOCA. After some discussion Bill S. agreed to find out what kind of insurance we could obtain from FOCA.
(ii) Navigational buoys; Mary M. - Mary M. spoke to the Mayor of Huntsville about the liability for the buoys put into Fairy and Vernon lakes by Pipefusion and supposedly owned by HLC; for which we do not take ownership. The Mayor said that the town will cover the insurance and introduced her to Lisa Smith who looks after Town's insurance. Lisa said their insurance covers anything the Town owns. Mary M. asked Lisa to contact Pipefusion to transfer ownership to Town but, at this time, apparently this situation has not been looked after. Mary M. said she would check with the Mayor in the next week (Tuesday) regarding this matter and the status of insurance. Although Pipefusion plans to leave the buoys in each of the lakes over the winter, Mary M. felt that the Mayor clearly understood that the HLC cannot be responsible for any liability with respect to the buoys so did not fulfill the motion put forth in our last meeting (regarding a letter to the Mayor, etc. denying HLC ownership of the buoys). According to Mary M., the Mayor also stated his opinion that the Town's insurance could cover (fully or partially) any additional buoys put in Huntsville lakes. At a meeting (hopefully) in February, regarding the cost of buoys and Town's ability to help in the purchase of these, this matter will be addressed.
Bill S. referred to letters he had received from the President of Lake Vernon Association, regarding the purchase of buoys for Lake Vernon and HLC's role or position in this matter, and stated that he would answer or talk to the President of the Lake Vernon Association about the substance of these letters.
(iii) Float Planes; Mary M. - Elaine J. had written a memo regarding Float Planes and the eyesore their hangers are presenting on some lakes. Her point was that the construction of the hangers for them was not under the same shore line control as reflected in building permits. HLC decided to revisit her concerns when she returns in the Spring. Bill S. stated that he would send her memo out to all of the HLC Directors.
(D) Policy:
(i) Zoning By-law Review Cttee; Mary M. - Comments from first public draft are being incorporated into the zoning by-laws. A new draft will be presented by November 12th for the 2nd and final public meeting. Mary M. stated that she will keep us informed on the progress of this draft and that the Policy Committee will send our secretary an E-mail of the draft for distribution to our Lake Associations.
(ii) Environment Cttee; Mary M. - At the public meeting many issues were discussed, however the primary concern became one of how to educate our Elementary and High School students, as well as the public, to environmental problems. It was suggested that articles in the ‘Town Hall' page of the Forester under ‘Helpful Hints' might be an appropriate place for these articles.
The Sound -Sorb issue has not been resolved because the data sent to the Ministry of Environment for review has not come back yet.
Mary M. and Elaine J. are following up on the issue of ‘fees for Lake Plans and Land Trust' with Town Council in the coming week and will keep us informed.
(iii) Muskoka Watershed Council; Mary M. - Mary M. stated that the recent Muskoka Watershed Council meeting was excellent and discussed many of the new issues that came up at the meeting. Mary M. agreed to replace Elaine J. as our representative on the Muskoka Watershed Council in Elaine's absence.
- New Business:
(A) FOCA AGM: HLC requires a representative at the FOCA AGM meeting on November 24th. Ted Mercer stated that he could represent the HLC at the meeting.
(B) Brainstorming/ Strategic Planning: Mary M. suggested the idea of a special meeting in which we set-up plans (strategic planning) for the future goals of the HLC and, perhaps, hire someone to conduct and/or guide the meeting. After much discussion, it was decided to think about this and bring it up at our next meeting.
(C) Future HLC Meeting: Bill S. stated that he has made a list of our meeting dates for the next year and would send it out to our Directors for their consideration.
(D) Membership to FOCA: The Directors of HLC agreed to maintain our membership with FOCA.
- Adjournment: Motion to adjourn by Mary M. and seconded by Burr A. Carried and adjourned at 11:45 AM.
Next meeting - Saturday, November 3, 2007
Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson - (Secretary) October 24, 2007
