These are as written but yet to be approved minutes.
TREPA Minutes
Feb. 6, 2019
The meeting of the Board of Directors of TREPA Jan. 6, 2018, at 7:05 P.M. at Beacon Church location.
Present-BarrieMacGregor, John Sollows, Jennifer Cunningham, Mike Raynard, John Morris, Jean Cleveland, Debbie Sullivan, John Kearney, Dan Earle, Larry Deveau, Roy Fudge, Dianne Klomp and Ginny Smith.
Regrets: John Linder, and Eko Raharjo
Approve Agenda-Approved after additions –three additions Barrie( AGM/Tickets) and Debra-Lifestyles).
Approved January minutes Moved by John M. and 2nd by Mike R. Approved.
Treasurer’s Report- Dianne gave a report in summary: received $80.00 in donations, $500 in stipends, (Balance at this time $1099). A check will be sent to Joint Stocks.
Barrie asked that a year to date column be added to the report as well as an end of the fiscal year summary and the annual budget. Moved by Dianne to approve treasurer’s report, 2nd by Roy.
OLD BUSINESS:
- Water quality- John S is working on completing the water quality reports for 2018. In general he notes that colour is down which seem to be related to lower amounts of rain fall in June and July. This will make the lakes more vulnerable to blooms. Blue –green algal data are helpful in terms of species composition but the absolute numbers are approximate.
2. Received $650 from Adopt a Stream, Dec. 17.
3. Op Eds- None to date
4. During the past month John S has had about numerous funding applications to fill out. Three students were requested from Canada Summer Jobs. Two of them to work under the auspices of Clean Foundation, and one as a regular TREPA summer student employee. The Clean students would work primarily to support the Eco Action project, and a separate application also had to be sent to Clean. Supplementary funding (40% of the salaries) was also requested from Nova Scotia summer Skills program. In general there were too many uncertainties with this process, and it needs to be improved in another year.
5. Shoreline Buffer Issues-The Eco Action project should make a difference in the distribution of information- if we get the grant.
6. Boomerang Bags project has been launched at the Killam building. We have learned that Dollarama is selling cloth bags as is Staples. All of which is a good sign that businesses are starting to support the end of one -time use plastic bags. Barrie said he would take a few bags to give away. John offered more material. We will be giving bags to retailers who do not have their own bags.
7. Leslie Farrow may be willing to join us at our AGM. John S will contact. See below.
8. DFO- John has not heard back from Shana as of yet. Charlene LeBlanc would be willing to cooperate.
9. Objectives-discussion- We seem to be acting on our objectives but they also appear to be the ones that were least popular at the time of the vote.
Barrie will ask Derek Lesser if he has any suggestions on reaching high school students. One of our goals is to include more students in our activities.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Property Tax Assessment-Our property assessments are the same as inpast years so we will not be contesting the amount.
2. Naomi Goldberg from Nature Canada has asked us to write the Prime Minister to help protect 17% of Canada’s crown land especially areas where the environment is key to the survival of multiple species at risk. It was agreed that a formulated letter from Nature Canada will be sent to Prime Minister Trudeau. John S. A brief history of the organization was provided by John K. in an e-mail to members after the meeting.
3. Hemlock Wooly Aldegid- Discussions ensued on how to record information about a sighting. (Re: Using Cameras, recording longitude and latitude and other information about location). It was also suggested that we make note of areas where there are hemlocks that are not affected by the HWA.
4. Lobster draw-John S. will circulate the page of tickets. The draw will be May 25.
5. John S. sent a letter to the municipal council regarding a business in Dayton. John S will follow up with John Cunningham. Apparently the building itself is legally situated. At some point all such facilities should be located in the industrial park. However, there are other concerns regarding a near by business site which has been sold for other purposes.
A representative from the Department of Environment told John S. that they would respond if the business became a problem.
Barrie suggested that we wait until next month to see if we do get a response from a council representative. It was suggested that a visit might be paid to the owners of both sites about TREPA’s concerns . Others thought it would not be advisable to speak to owners. It was decided that we should go through official channels.t The Municipality can change their list of permitted uses without changing zoning laws. Barrie will get a copy of the by-laws and see how they apply to this situation.
6. Bills-Workers Com. (Just gets filed for now). Dianne has a bill from Registered of Joint Stocks and will pay.
7. AGM-The meeting usually falls in the middle of April, –the 17th is the date this year, at the Fire Hall. Leslie Farrow, of Kesputwitk Conservation Collaborative will be asked to speak. John S.
8. Life style show- May 3-5-Do we want to have a table? Is there a special rate for not for profit organizations? Debbie Sullivan will try to get a table in conjunction with Clean Foundation: info@clean.ns.
9. Dan asked that everyone go on the TREPA sight become aware of new posts. Anyone who does register will get a reply from Dan.
10. NS Power is going ahead with the Tusket Damn rebuild.
11. The meeting with the Annapolis Clean Water (CARP) group on Stormwater will be March 12, 6:30-7:30 at the museum.
Next Meeting March 6, 2019, Beacon Street,