Huntsville - Lake of Bays Lakes Council

Published on Huntsville Lakes Council (http://www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org/)

Published on Huntsville Lakes Council (http://www.huntsvillelakescouncil.org)

HLC Minutes

Date: April 5, 2008

Location: Robinson Independent Grocer Community Room, Huntsville, ON

Present:

Bill Somers - Chair - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Bruce Howlett - Treasurer - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

Burr Atkinson - Secretary - Walker and Pells Lakes Area Association

Mary McCulley - Director - Chub Lake Property Owners Association

Ted Mercer - Director - Otter Lake Association

Dan McKeon - Director - Peninsula Lake Association

John Kenny - Director- Lake of Bays Association

Kim Small - Director - Hidden Valley Property Owners Association

Michael Young - Director - Lake Waseosa

Rob Zingel - Director - Fairy Lake Association

Dan Kerr - Director - Mary Lake Association

Don Baker - Guest

Regrets:

Mike Greenfield - Director - Mary Lake Association

Jeanne O'Neill - Director - Harp Lake Association

Tonia Di Sabatino - Director - Oxbow Lake Cottager's Association

Ian Hastie - Director - Lake Vernon Association

Wendy Olan-Director - Bittern Lake Association

Elaine Jackson - Director - Fox Lake Association

Bill Jolley - Director - Buck Lake Ilfracombe Association

Morris Eccles - Director- Lake of Bays Association

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

Dwayne Verhey - Webmaster - Lake Waseosa Ratepayers Association

 

 

1.      Call to Order: Chair, Bill Somers, opened the meeting at 9:33 AM welcoming all members and guests.

      2. Approval of the Agenda:. Motion by Mary M. and seconded by Ted M. that the amended agenda be approved. Carried.

3. Approval of the Minutes: Motion by Burr A. and seconded by Mary M. that the Minutes be approved as amended. Carried.

 

4.      Treasurer's Report: Bruce H. - The Treasurer's Report was provided to the Directors. Bruce H. pointed out that the HLC March balance is $1590.85. Bruce H. reported that he was still dealing with Dickie Lake and Lake Vernon Associations regarding their membership dues. Motion by Bruce H. and seconded by Dan M. that the Treasurer's report be approved. Carried.

 

5.      Comments from the Chair: An apology to HLC, Mary M. and Michael Y. was made by the Chair regarding a statement he made in support of LEAF's recommendation that was presented at last months meeting of the HLC. Kim Small, a newly appointed Director from Hidden Valley, was introduced and welcomed to our meeting. Bill S. announced that the executives of the HLC have nominated Mary M. for an Environmental Award to be presented by the Town of Huntsville's Environment Committee in conjunction with LEAF. On behalf the HLC, Mary M. and Elaine J. will attend the Community-based Social Marketing Workshop in Bracebridge on April 23^rd & 24^th. Finally approval for obtaining the buoys will be considered at Huntsville's next Council meeting at 7:00 PM on April 21^st in the Council Chambers and Bill S. encouraged everyone to attend in support of obtaining money from the Council's 2008 budget to get these buoys. Bill S. also encouraged the HLC Directors to make sure that Presidents/Executives of the various Lake Associations were provided with up-dates/minutes regarding the activities of the HLC.     

1. Lake Association Reports/Concerns:

a)      Lake Waseosa - Bruce H. reported that nothing new has occurred and that they are still waiting for a date for their trial on the severance issue.  

b)      Lake of Bays - John K reported that their next Board meeting on a week from next Wednesday.

c)      Hidden Valley - Kim S. said that they are preparing for Earth Day clean-up, getting bear-proof containers and sewers put in.

d)      Peninsula Lake - Dan M. reported that his association is working on planting trees in the land they recently acquired.

e)      Mary Lake -Dan K. reported that things are pretty quiet and they were reviewing a report from Randy French on the Lake levels.

f)       Fairy Lake - Rob Z. said that they were searching for a Webmaster for their Website. He also stated that they had concern over obtaining the buoys and lake safety. Presently, they were disturbed by an application for a Zoning by-law change on a large parcel of land near the entrance to Fairy Lake which requests that it be changed from a "rural" to a "seasonal residential" for the purpose of 7 lake front lots. He felt that the Town was planning to approve this change and the Fairy Lake Association opposed this change. Rob Z. was asked to provide reasoning for objecting to this change and he put forth a document that was primarily aimed at discussing the need for changing these by-laws. Whatever, Mary M. felt that the proposed changes fit all the zoning requirements (i.e. acreage, set-backs, etc) and was not sure how the HLC could, at this time, help out. Bill S. asked Rob Z. to keep the HLC informed concerning this issue.

g)      Otter Lake - Ted M. reported that they were setting up a meeting to review their Constitution and that they were looking for a speaker to discuss Stewardship at their general meeting (date not yet set).   

h)      Chub Lake - Mary M. reported that the developers were making changes in the plans that appeared to address some of the concerns raised by the property owners. The next meeting with the developers is set for next Monday night and Mary M. will know more at that time.

i)        Walker & Pells Lakes - Burr A. reported that the Township of the Lake of Bays had a Meeting at which concerns of the people in the Township could be raised and that both he and Bill S. attended it. Burr A. said that he, with the permission of the membership of his Association, presented two letters from Walker and Pells Lakes Area Association which were put into record. One letter, opposing the sewer and water levy on rural property owners being consider by the District and, another letter, opposing the use by Hydro-1 of herbicides (i.e. Vantage Herbicide, Round-up WeatherMax and EZJECT Capsule System) to reduce bush around their lines which is also another issue currently being considered by the District. Bill S. questioned how the Township of the Lake of Bays is going to reintroduce the Septic Inspection so that it would be meaningful.

1. Committee Reports:

a)      Membership Committee Report: -Bruce H. - A new Director (Kim Small) has been appointed for the Hidden Valley Property Owners Association.

b)      Communications:

i)                    Forester Articles -Rob Z-Currently does not have an article for April. Rob Z. asked if anyone had any ideas and Kim S. volunteered to put an article together regarding the use of herbicides. Burr A. said that he would send her information regarding these herbicides.

                               ii) Newsletter - Jeanne O. Unable to attend today, but would appreciate any articles the Directors could send to her for next months Newsletter.  

           c.) Special Projects:

                                    (i) Navigational Buoys -Mary M. -Mary M. reported that the Town Council reduced the sum she submitted/requested ($10,000.00) for the cost and set-up of the buoys to $8,000.00. Other than that, no one spoke against providing money from the Town's 2008 budget for the buoys. Dan M. mentioned that Peninsula Lake was not interested in these particular buoys and, therefore, the money calculated for Peninsula's buoys, if provided from the Town's 2008 budget, could be a savings and used for the buoys on the other lakes. Whatever, Mary M. informed the HLC that if the money is provided, someone (she suggested Bruce H., our Treasurer) in the HLC will be responsible and accountable for it, and how the money is used.      

                  (ii) Strategic Planning;  - Bill S. reported that he had circulated a memo for us (the HLC Directors) to answer, address and /or modify regarding questions to ask of the Presidents of our member Associations. Unfortunately, not everyone answered the memo, however, Bill did read the answers he received. A lengthy discussion followed the reading of the answers to his memo. John K. brought up the observation that our name, the Huntsville Lake Council, did not really reflect our membership and that we might consider a change in our name that more appropriately reflects the fact that our membership is composed almost equally of Associations from both the Town of Huntsville and the Township of the Lake of Bays. Mary M. mentioned that this is a job for the Strategic Planning Committee to consider and bring to the HLC Directors. A discussion, regarding the present the membership of the Strategic Planning Committee, followed Mary M.'s suggestion and it was decided to form a new Strategic Planning Committee composed of Directors that had the time to allocate to this committee's endeavors. The new Strategic Planning Committee is composed the following Directors: Bill Somers, John Kenny, Kim Small and Dan McKeon (during Dan M.'s absence Burr A. volunteered to replace him).

                  (iii) Website:  Dwayne V. (our Website Administrator) could not attend, but Bill S. read a letter from Dwayne V. to the HLC Directors in which Dwayne V. summarized the status of our Website. He informed us that we are now hosting 5 Websites which makes our Website self-functioning, etc. (see Bill S. for further details). Mary M. motioned that "we approve LEAF and the Nature Club for an Associate Website Domain into our HLC Website". Seconded by Mike Y. and carried.

                  (iv) Water/Sewer Comments: Mary M. felt that we should do an HLC position paper on the proposed Sewer/Water levy issue once we had more details on how much the rural community is currently subsidizing town services and exactly where rural tax money is currently being used in the sewer/water services. Dan M. felt that this issue is something that we should address quickly. Mary M. mentioned that the sewer/water issue is not coming up to District until their June 30^th meeting and felt that we had time to get all the information we need to write a position paper.

 

 

d.) Policy:

                          (i) Zoning By-law Review Cttee; Mary M. told us that there will be an open meeting on the draft of the Zoning By-laws in Council Chambers on Thursday April 17^th between 4:00 and 8:00 PM, and an additional meeting on April 29^th at 9:00 AM. She reported that the HLC has submitted their comments. 

                                    (ii) Environment Cttee; Mary M. reported that the Environment Committee met on March 18^th and recognized Earth Hour. A Green Plan Sub-Committee will meet with Council on April 21^st and report on why a green plan is needed for Huntsville. The Environment Committee has a budget of approximately $10,000.00 to $15,000.00 to spend on consultants, etc. At the last Environment meeting, a report about Sound-Sorb was presented and nothing bad was found in the test wells examined. Testing at the Fire Hall, sitting on the old tannery site, showed an increase in base metals in one of the four drilled sites (the southwest corner site) and it was decided to drill another hole further up at that site.                 

                        e.) Fund Raising; 

                                    (i) Lord & Partners; Bill S. said, as promised at our last meeting, that he E-mailed a summary to the HLC Directors on the advantages and disadvantages of  selling the Lord & Partners cleaning products as a Fund Raiser for the HLC.

                                    (ii) Fund Raising committee Dan M.- After discussing Bill S.'s summary, Dan M. presented the recommendations of the Fund Raising Committee (see March 12^th Minutes of Fund Raising Committee) which met on March 12, 2008. After some discussion, Dan M. moved that the recommendations of the Fund Raising Committee be used as a means of raising funds for the HLC (i.e. 1. Local Business Sponsorship - Investigate potential companies to provide finances to cover the costs of our annual social BBQ and that this will be the responsibility of the Fund Raising Committee, and  2. Paid Advertisements in Our Newsletter - Sell business card-size advertising space in our newsletters that are published two or three times per year. The cost per annum would be $50.00 per ad. The target number of sales would be ten and this would be the responsibility of all HLC Directors.). This motion was seconded by Rob Z. and carried.   

                         f.) Contact List; The most recent list is on our Website for members only! (please it keep confidential). Tonia D. is preparing an up-to-date list.

                        g.) Stewardship; Mary M. and Bruce H would like to insure that Lake Associations are up-to-date on the various things concerned with good lake stewardship and Bruce H. will look into preparing and transmitting a list of this sort to the Lake Stewards.

8. New Business:

                                    (i) Climate Action Muskoka; Mary M. said that this is a new organization specifically dedicated to climate and provided us with some information about this new organization. Mary M. asked the HLC Directors if we were willing to endorse this organization and their purpose. Mary M. moved that the HLC Board of Directors endorse the document "Towards a Sustainable Muskoka: Sharing the Vision" prepared by Climate Action Muskoka (February 10, 2008).  Seconded by Rob Z. and carried.

                                    (ii) Storm Water Management; Mary M. reported that a new draft on Storm Water Management has been put out by the District and it is on a CD. Mary M. stated that she will review it and comment on it                               

           9.) Motion to Adjourn: Motion to adjourn by Dan M. and seconded by John K. Carried and adjourned at12:10 PM.                              

           

Next meeting - Saturday, May 3, 2008

Prepared by: Burr G. Atkinson - (Secretary) April 28, 2008