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Minutes

January 17, 2007
Manor Road United Church
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

DRAFT MINUTES

Attendance
President: Brian Abbey
Directors: Jonathan Colford, Ron Lalonde, Shelley Laskin, Helga Teitsson, Jim Walker, Margaret Walker
Regrets: Brad Buss, Cheryl Creatore, John Holland, Margaret McKelvey, Paul Newbigging

1. Welcome and Introductions
   
   • Brian Abbey convened the meeting at 7:10 and welcomed the Board
   • Brian informed the Board he received an e-mail from John Holland resigning from the Board for personal reasons
   • Margaret Walker regretfully informed the board of the death of Jim Putt, former President of SERRA. Funeral to be held Saturday from Newbiggings Funeral Home. Margaret would attend on behalf of SERRA
2. Agenda and Follow-up items
   
   • Agenda reordered due to Jonathan's late arrival
   • Item on Fundraising was added to new business
3. Minutes of November 22, 2006
   
   • On a Motion by Shelley Laskin, seconded by Jim Walker, Minutes approved as revised.
4. Treasurer's Report
   
   • As of the December statement and assuming no outstanding invoices
   • Legal Account remains at $1853.24
   • General Account is at $2730.31 less the current invoices from Paul's Reliable leaves $2092.87 in the account
   • Margaret reported that an additional $865 was generated as a result of the Winter OWL and would be deposited
   • Motion by Jim Walker, seconded by Ron Lalonde, to remove Jim Walker's authorization for signing on SERRA's behalf and adding Brian Abbey's name to signing authority on behalf of SERRA. Approved.
5. Committee Reports
   
   • Items
   • Minto - Margaret reported that there was no new business as the last meeting was "social".
   • FoNTRA & CORRA-No report presented as John Holland resigned.
   • Brian Abbey volunteered to add the responsibility for attending the meetings under his Statutory Approvals responsibilities; Ron Lalonde offered to be his back-up to ensure SERRA would be represented at all meetings; Brian will notify FONTRA & CORRA of changes (see revised SERRA Contact Sheet).
   • Motion by Jim Walker, seconded by Margaret Walker, to authorize $50 membership payable to FONTRA. Approved.
   • Statutory Approvals-Brian reported on the 18 Brownlow OMB hearings that he and Margaret Walker attended on SERRA's behalf representing "neighbours".
   • He noted that they sat through the hearings for 7 days and when given the opportunity to appear, noted for the Commissioner that SERRA's position was that the new building would be no higher than the present building and conform within acceptable density.
   • When Brian was asked for his personal opinion given his expertise, he suggested a compromise between the City and the developer that would be acceptable for the neighbourhood.
   • Brian would keep SERRA informed of the OMB decision.
   • Field of Dreams - proposition by North Toronto Soccer Club and Northern Foundation for new turf and partial dome on the field at Northern Secondary School.
   • Brian reported to the Board that he was contacted by a resident inquiring as to what SERRA's position was (neighbours have objected to the "Dome").
   • The Board discussed with the information that they knew, and on the surface, supported the new field and partial dome, but declined to have an "official" position until they received factual information from the TDSB and understood the neighbour's concerns.
   • Brian agreed to contact the Sherwood Park's Residents' Association and Shelley agreed to contact Josh Matlow, Trustee for Northern Secondary School to receive more information to bring to the Board at the February Meeting.
6. Fundraising
   
   • The Board discussed some of the ideas brainstormed at the last meeting and asked Ron Lalonde to bring back to the February Meeting draft concepts and further information for both a poker tournament and INDIGO night for April.
   • Shelley agreed to follow-up with John Holland to see if we could have a Garage Sale attached to Maurice Cody's Fun Fair in the spring as we did last year.
7. The OWL
   
   • Advertising in the OWL was discussed.
   • The Board discussed everything from increasing the size of the OWL to include business card size ads from neighbourhood merchants to listing "community sponsors" and charging an annual fee appropriate to offset production costs.
   • The Board decided it needed more information before making a decision.
8. Updating the Website
   
   • After much discussion over the last few months, the Board decided to move to a "templated" website that would be easy to manage and update.
   • Brian suggested using his provider Network Solutions and offered to investigate options for SERRA including registering a new domain name and purchasing a web package.
   • Shelley offered to help Brian with the transferring of information to the new site.
   • Motion by Shelley Laskin, seconded by Jim Walker, to authorize Brian Abbey to spend up to $200CA to make arrangements for a new templated SERRA website including registering a new domain name. Approved.
9. Other Business and Wrap-up
   
   • Brian requested the Board consider "regular" monthly meetings for SERRA and suggested the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
   • Some board members expressed concern that they would not be able to commit to such a schedule.
   • Motion by Brian Abbey, seconded by Brian Abbey to schedule upcoming SERRA meetings for the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Approved (with one abstention Jim Walker; and one negative vote Ron Lalonde).
   • As it happens the next meeting is already confirmed with the Church on February 21st (3rd Wednesday). Both Jim and Shelley informed the Board they would be out of town.
   • Brian to confirm with Manor Road Church if the room would be available the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
   • To help with meetings, Shelley requested that any agenda items be circulated in advance with the agenda.
   • Brian asked that the issue of attendance at Board meetings be discussed at the next meeting.

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