CVADA Board Meeting Minutes September 17th, 7-9:30 pm
Attendance:
Chris Bruce
Carolyn Aucoin
Nancy Power
Lucy Poirier
Lana Thorimbert
Ron Laudadio
Travis Cormier
Regrets: Melissa Samms, Tracy Keeping
Minutes by Ron Laudadio on behalf of Tracy
Agenda
Follow-up on Trail Repairs
Starlite Trail Update
CVADA Buildings
Facebook Discussions and Next Steps
Motion to accept Agenda
Opened meeting
We ran this meeting in a Lean Coffee format.
Report on Community Volunteer Trail Renewal Day
Good turn out
Great weather
About 22 people there
We did great work on the Wetlands; however, there is work to be done for hire beyond our scope of volunteers. There is gravel work to be done as well.
Coastangs was passed through. Most of the work took down much of the tall grass at the Block Road entrance. Some work with the chainsaw as well. It still needs a lot of work for hire, including gravel and water management. As well, the footbridge will need repair.
Everyone was in good spirits, and it was a fun day.
Tony Gillis donated the meat for lunch.
Scott Reid attended the whole day, put muscle into it, and helped out.
We can ask Ash Hall to do an assessment and quote what needs to be done because he did an excellent job for the vendor we have chosen for the Starlite Trail.
We have $7,500 in our account earmarked for work to be done on the Coastangs. So we can get to work straight away on the Coastangs
The Department of Tourism gave us the amount earlier for local trail upgrades.
Maybe we can get a report to help us decide on a budget and assign work.
Who we are going to get to do the work is the question. JCPs are becoming much harder to fill these days. Maybe we can consider contracting with someone for general trail maintenance in the valley.
Trail Sub-Committee Update
Picnic Tables
Travis has asked we upgrade the picnic tables as they have deteriorated.
We need one for Wetlands and one for Coastangs
We have the funds to proceed
Let's reach out to local manufacturers in the valley first.
We should have the existing ones removed as soon as possible.
Travis can see to that.
Searston Trail Rehabilitation Update
Application Update
Checked our application progress with the gov't.
Everything looks good except for one critical issue holding back the proposal.
Dwight from DIET is concerned about the lack of absolute certainty of the Easement signed by Roy before he sold his property to the Osmonds. He needs more assurance.
The whole application is absolutely fine except for this one issue.
The document Roy signed states the signature and assignment of Easement survive the sale of the property. The trail has been there for over 70 years, so it shouldn't surprise the Osmonds.
We checked with our lawyer, and they stated that, in their opinion, the signed easement agreement by Roy is still standing and viable. Yet, Dwight does not want to proceed without additional assurances from the Osmond family.
The complication is that to keep their costs low, the family does not want us to work with their lawyer, but how do we gain assurances to comply with Dwight's request?
Paul Taylor told us that it is just a waiting game after Dwight's concerns are dealt with.
Travis will continue to resolve this issue and work with our lawyer on the next steps.
Trail Design in October 2022
The vendor would like to come over in late October to assess the trail and area so they can do a detailed design and plan over the winter in preparation for the build in April 2023.
We put in a proposal to ask for funding of approximately $5,000 to have the vendor come out and do the assessment.
The gov't is discussing it in their meeting on Sept 27th. So we will hear an update soon after that.
The Website Update
All the documents we can publish are on the site. This allows everyone to see the RFP and RFP response.
The Gov't asked us to ensure the vendor remains confidential until we gain approval to use the funds.
Once we get approval, we will publish a good portion of the vendor's proposal. We won't publish what the vendor will deem confidential for competitive reasons. What we can publish will be very useful for those interested in the work.
CDADA Buildings
Rental to Three Rivers Mi'kmaq Band
Our commercial tenant has been paying $1,000/month and is in good standing
Chief Peggy from Three Rivers Mi'kmaq Band is interested in using the space as a remote office for the band.
She sent us an email
We need to find out when the current tenant is leaving so we know when or if to consider Peggy's request.
We are all fine to proceed with the same rent rate as Peggy's request if the tenant is moving out.
Maybe we can find a multi-tenant arrangement if she doesn't want to use the whole office space.
Chris will show the building to Peggy when she wants to, as he has the keys.
Ideas on the use of the building
We could use the CVADA Office building to support local businesses with a shared services site. For printing and internet access.
We could offer an extended startup service with costs/rent shared by many organizations that could use the space.
Given the GH2 proposal for the Wind Turbines, they may want to use the space as that would be a good tenant. Maybe they could share the space with Three Rivers.
Ron and Chris will work with Peggy on this topic.
Ron will reach out to GH2 after we have reconnected with Peggy to explore options.
Because we rent space to Xplore for their tower, we have free internet there. This gives us options and is appealing to renters.
Given our intentions to boost development, the curiosity of possible tenants, and the fact that other organizations intend to increase commercial activity in the area, we choose not to put the property up for sale.
The current state of the building.
Dale confirmed the existing tenant is up to date in payments.
We don't know when the tenant plans to move out.
The signed leasing agreement does not have an end date.
The current tenant is using the whole building.
Chris will connect with the current tenant to find out their intentions. He will also do a review of the building.
The Metal building needs to be addressed. What are we doing with it?
The current interest is to demolish and replace it.
If we demolish it, it can be part of a project to use the space, such as housing, store, or leased space.
Chris will look into options for the metal building.
Social Sub-Committee
Facebook Update
We have had a bunch of interactivity with the community through the Facebook Group.
Discussion Group activity was up 400% since we took over the group.
We recognize we have 900 members, but many of them are living outside of the community.
We also recognize that the majority of the community is not on Facebook or computers.
It is a good subset for us to converse with.
We established more rules for engagement as some posts were spreading misinformation about the concerns related to the GH2 proposal.
We really want people to express their opinion and what they want and don't want. We don't want people to post misinformation from invalidated sources that have implications and confuse those who genuinely want to learn to form their own opinions.
We will be careful not to censor but to keep the discussion group useful for the whole community. That said, we will take steps to ensure people's safety and respect.
We had a discussion about rules and censorship and the good of the community.
We discussed the posts made in the Facebook Group.
We talked significantly about how some posts have more than 1,000 views.
Website Update
Good feedback from the community
Since its launch, we have had 1,200 visits,
The average time on the site is 7m45s, so people browse it and look around.
The most popular page right now is who is the biographies of the Board.
Sixty visits to the site were direct links from the Facebook post.
Quarterly Community Collaboration Session
Ron is prepared to run the session.
This session intends to help the community build a plan for the CVADA to serve the community.
Part of our transparency, openness, and community support intentions we set out at the beginning of our board refresh.
Given that we may have more than 5-7 people, Ron will prepare for Open Space Technology and not the Lean Coffee approach. They are similar, but OST is better suited for groups from 20-500.
There is a microphone there if needed, but we highly doubt it.
Ron will get the condiments, posters, and setup done.
Ron needs help from the Board. Many of the board members say they want to help out.
Ron described the approach to OST so the members are familiar when they arrive to help.
Scott Reid suggested he wants to attend; we will see, depending on his calendar and how busy he is.
Chief Peggy will be there to address questions about the GH2 proposal. She has been given time at the beginning of the session. So, we can address the questions about the Wind Turbines and then move on to other topics that the community wants us to manage.
We will engage with the GH2 proposal depending on how the community tells us to do so. They will tell us during the OST session.
Other business
Co-Op store or Daycare to take care of the community?
Discussion about the current situation and options.
We should see what the community wants us to do as directed to us after the Community Session.
There is probably gov't money for initiatives.
Peggy is also concerned about food availability, so maybe we can do something together?
Connection to other LSD and ADAs
Scott Redi suggested we connect with the ADA and LSD in Bay St. George as they have been doing very well bringing in large amounts of gov't money to help the community - far, far more than what the CVADA has done.
CVADA has twice the population, and the Bay St. George group has been doing very well for the community over the last few years. So there is an opportunity for us.
Ron will connect with Scott for an introduction to the groups.
Scott is optimistic they will hand us a lot of great ideas and show us the steps and processes to act on them so we can begin to use gov't money to improve living in the valley.
Scott Reid has given Ron a name, and Ron will connect with them.
Motion to close
Meeting adjourned.
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