Huntsville - Lake of Bays Lakes Council

Published on Huntsville Lake of Bays Lakes Council (http://www.hloblc.org)

HLoBLC Minutes

Date: January 23, 2010

Location: Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON

Present:

Tonia Di Sabatino - Chair - Oxbow Lake Cottager’s Association

Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lakes Area Association

Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association

Shane Baker - Director - Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lakes Association

Ken Sharer – Director- Lake Vernon Association

John Kenny - Director - Lake of Bays Association

Peter Van Buskirk – Director - Fairy Lake Association

Ellen Fox – Director- Fox Lake Association

Jill Patterson- Director-Hidden Valley Owners Association

Gordie Heath – Guest – Hidden Valley Owners Association

John Forder- Director - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association

Michael Young - Director - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Regrets:

Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association

Dan McKeon – Vice Chair - Peninsula Lake Association

Morris Eccles – Director - Lake of Bays Association

Mike Greenfield - Director - Mary Lake Association

Wendy Olan - Director - Bittern Lake Association

Brian Markham – Director -Bella-Rebecca Community Association

Jim King – Director – Fairy Lake Association

1. Call to Order: Chair, Tonia D., opened the meeting at 9:35 A.M. welcoming all members and guests.

2. Approval of the Agenda:

3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Burr A. and seconded by John F. that “the Minutes of the June 6, 2009 HLC meeting be approved”. Motion carried.

4. Treasurer’s Report: A Treasurer’s Report was presented and distributed to the Directors by John F. John reminded us that Bruce Howlett resigned from this position some time ago and will no longer provide Treasurer Reports. Motion by Tonia D. and seconded by Ellen F. that “the Treasurer’s report be approved”. Motion carried. A question regarding whether or not it was necessary to have a formal Treasurer’s report at each of HLoBLC meetings was raised by Rob Z. After some discussion, Tonia D motioned and John F. seconded that the Treasurer’s Report be placed on our website prior to each meeting and that the Directors simply accept and/or amend this report at our meeting. Tonia D. asked if any of the Directors present at this meeting would be willing to be the Treasurer of the HLoBLC. No one present was willing to accept this responsibility and Tonia D. said that she would contact the Directors not present and find out whether or not any of them were willing to serve in this position. Until she contacted them she said that she would follow up with finding out about the status of the Penn Lake and Oxbow Lake outstanding dues.

5. Introduction of Michele Locke: Michele is a staff member from an organization, LURA (Listen* Understand*Relate*Advance), hired by the Town of Huntsville to oversee the Huntsville’s Sustainability Plan Development Process (for details see memo provided to Directors by M. Young on Jan. 22, 2010). Michele described and outlined the role that her organization will play in this process, and stressed the importance of our suggestions/ideas to the community in the formation of a ‘Sustainability Plan”, particularly those ideas concerned with lakes and environmental issues. She mentioned that there will be Public Meetings in Huntsville at Partners Hall from 7 to 9:00 P.M. on Feb 3rd and March 16th and at an undecided place from 7 to 9:00 P.M. on April 22nd. At this point Gordie Heath, President of the Hidden Valley Owners Association, suggested that they might consider Hidden Valley as a place for holding the meeting on April 22nd. Whatever the case, Michele wished to keep in contact with us and has provided her telephone number (705-571-0171) and E-mail address () to share with our membership.

6. Lake Association Reports/Concerns:

A. Fairy Lake Association: Rob Z. reported that his Association had argued against the building of an apartment building complex on a particular piece of land and the Town Council approved it. Although the HLoBLC was not involved in this issue, Ken S., our Planning and Land Use Committee Chair, was asked to see if he could obtain a reason from the Town Council regarding its decision to approve the building of this complex. Peter V., an alternate Director for this Association, mentioned that changes in the governing of navigational laws have occurred which could have an impact on future development on water (e.g. the size of boathouses) and he recommended that we look at January 10, 2010 copy of the ‘Waterkeeper Weekly’ (www.waterkeeper.ca) to update our Associations on these changes.

B. Lake of Bays Association: John K. reported that his Association had their board meeting in Baysville and it was well attended. He felt that the Lake of Bays Association maintains a healthy balance sheet and is capable of addressing any future concerns.

C. Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association: John F. reported that the severance issues they were dealing with on this lake were approved. Although his Association did manage to restrict/stop some things from occurring, the Association felt that the cost of going back to court was to expensive for the membership. He also stated that he is moving in July will be submitting his resignation as a Director of HLoBLC in July of this year.

D. Lake Vernon Association: Ken S. said that everything is quiet on his lake. He thought that the new President of the Lake Vernon Association is working through things to be addressed at their meeting in April. He also expressed interest by their Lake Steward/Environmental Director to attend one of the HLoBLC meetings.

E. Otter Lake Association: Ted M. reported that at the present time there are no issues being addressed on Otter Lake (i.e. the Lake is quite) and that the first tower for high-speed internet was completed, and is up and running.

F. Walker & Pells Lakes Area Association – Burr A. reported that the Bell Wireless-N USB Network Adapter and a similar adapter from Rogers for receiving high- speed internet appear to work for some people on Walker Lake, and the cost seems to be reasonable. He said that he would say more about it at our next meeting.

G. Oxbow Lake Cottager’s Association: Tonia D. said that everything appears to be quiet on Oxbow Lake. She mentioned that primary concern at this time is the snow plowing on Limberlost Road.

H. Tasso, Toad, Camp and Blue Lakes Association: Shane B. reported things are quiet on the lakes of his Association. He did mention that Jan Sirek, the Past-President of his Lake Association, said that a tower for high-speed internet was going to be put on some property he owns on Harp Lake that, hopefully, will allow people on Harp Lake to receive high-speed internet.

I. Hidden Valley Owners Association: Gordie H. and Jill P. reported that the G8 Security will close the beach for the Hidden Valley Owners Association and surround it with a 10 foot-high fence from April 1st to July 1st 2010. They also mentioned that they recently enjoyed their Association’s Wine & Cheese party. They will be sending us their Newsletter to distribute and post on our Website.

J. Fox Lake Association: Ellen F. reported that some of the people on Fox Lake got high-speed internet while other areas on the lake were not able to receive it. She mentioned that their Lake Plan is almost ready to present to the Town of Huntsville and that her Lake Association was opposing a severance issue on the North end of Fox Lake and that a letter was sent to HLoBLC’s Planning and Land Use Committee (i.e. Ken S.) concerning their opposition. Ken S. said that he sent a letter to the Town’s Council stating HLoBLC’s opposition to this development and felt that it may not come up for a hearing. He said that he would keep an eye on it.

7. Committee Updates and Reports:

A. Environmental Committee: Rob Z. and Michael Y. felt that Michele Locke’s presentation on the role of LURA in the facilitation of Huntsville to achieve environmental prosperity was an important issue for the HLoBLC Directors to know more about and act on. Rob felt that in order for the Environment Committee to address concerns from our Lake Associations to the LURA group, as well as the community, the HLoBLC needs to make/have a ‘Policy’ on the Environment. He suggested that the HLoBLC might adopt tenants from the philosophy of “Natural Capitalism” as a baseline for our policy on the environment; he briefly summarized some of these tenants and said that more information on this philosophy will be sent out to the Directors for their consideration.

At this point in the discussion, a concern was raised for the way by which the distribution of information from the HLoBLC Committees to the Directors occurs. This concern was addressed by the following two questions:

(1) How should Committee Chairs distribute information to the Directors so that the Directors are well-informed on a particular issue prior to any decision being made?

(2) How should Committee Chairs distribute information to the Directors so that they can get feedback from the Directors in a manner that would enable them to collate the responses and present the summarized views of our Lakes Council to the Directors who, in turn, could make informed-decisions?

After some discussion, a number of suggestions were put forward:

(1.) A suggestion that Committee Chairs should not independently distribute information for awareness or mass feedback.

(2.) A suggestion was made that all communication from the Chairs should be forwarded and follow the process used for the January 23, 2010 meeting notification (i.e. short informative note with replies directed to the Committee Chair(s) from which the note originated). It was felt that this way the Committee Chairs could collate the replies, summarize them and present them for a discussion/vote by the Directors when necessary.

(3.) A suggested that a timely distribution of information, including Agenda items, should be forwarded to the Secretary 2 weeks prior to a meeting for inclusion in the Agenda (especially when feedback by the Directors is being requested).

(4.) A suggestion that committees be encouraged to meet and discuss their specific committee mandates outside of regular meetings, and, if possible, post minutes of their meetings to the website under their respective committees (e.g. if a committee holds ‘Steering Meetings’ they could post up-dates on the website under the committee up-dates page).

Finally, in support of all of these suggestions Tonia D. motioned and John F. seconded that “distribution of information from committees or a Committee Chair to the Directors for awareness or feedback purposes be the responsibility of the Secretary and replies from the Directors to this information should be sent directly to the Committee and/or Chair of the Committee responsible for requesting feedback on this information”.

A number of questions concerning this motion were addressed and resolved with the idea that this approach would (1.) enable Directors ample time to consider the information and, if necessary, distribute the information to their Lake Associations, reply to the Committee’s request and (2.) give the Committee time to prepare a summary of the responses, request a time on the Agenda for presenting the finalized information to the Directors and, if necessary, call for a vote of well-informed Directors on issues pertaining to the information.

Motion Carried

B. Planning and Land Use Committee: Ken S. reported there were only four Committee of Adjustment Applications he reviewed in the last few months (see attached sheet). Of the four, he felt that two of them required no opposition, and that he would keep an eye on the other two (i.e. the one on Fox Lake, previously presented by the Director from the Fox Lake Association, and the one on Lake Vernon). Burr A. asked Ken S. if he was aware of some issues coming up in the Lake of Bays Township. Ken S. was not and Burr A. provided him with some information he recently received regarding some issues that might be addressed by his committee.

C. Local Government and Taxation Committee: John K. reported that the final Budget in Huntsville appears to have a 4.99% Tax inflation and that the Districts Tax inflation could also be about 4.99%. Shane B. stated that the first Budget meeting in the Lake of Bays Township ended up looking at a Tax inflation of about 8%, however, he felt that it would be reduced at the next meeting (February 9th). He mentioned that the last Budget meeting in the Township is scheduled for March 9th. Whatever, he said that he would not be able to attend these up-coming Budget meetings and asked if anyone would volunteer to attend on his behalf. Burr A. volunteered to attend these meetings.

D. Communication Committee: Ted M. had a number of issues he wished to address and will communicate those issues to the Directors by the procedure motioned and agreed to today (see 7A, i.e. forward the information for distribution to the Secretary, summarize the responses of the Directors, add it as an item on the Agenda and present it to the Directors at a meeting of the HLoBLC). Gordie Heath, President of the Hidden Valley Owners Association and a guest at this meeting, presented a list of recommendations for the Business Plan. These were given to Ted M. and Gordie H. said that he would send electronic copies to the Chair of the HLoBLC. Ted was asked to include them in his summarization of this Committee’s business plan.

8. Motion to Adjourn: Motion carried and meeting Adjourned at 12:32 P.M.

Next Meeting –Confirmed for Saturday February 20th at 9:30AM in the Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON

Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson – (Secretary)