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2017 AGM Minutes

Feb 9, 2018

       2017 AGM MINUTES

  1. Meeting called to order at 4:10. Attendance: 71 property owners (Voting Cards) and their guests.
  1. Opening Remarks and introductions: Sandy Cook introduced the members of the Board at the front table. Directors present were Loreen Ruault, Sheryl Bolton, Cate Cookson, Scott Ross and Mike Waberski. Regrets from Cathy Clark.
  • Thank you to all the volunteers who helped with the registration for the AGM
  • Patti Wild is to be thanked for a couple of initiatives
  1. Patti headed up our Annual Adopt-a-Highway clean up in June prior to the opening of the Mountain Bike Season. We had about 11 busy volunteers
  2. Patti also was instrumental in the Mailbox Shelter Improvement. This was the reproduction of the painting by Ginny Hall that you now see decorating the Mailbox Shelter. The installation was completed by Denys and Noah Lawrence as well as Jonas Fux and Dan Hindle. A big improvement to be sure.
  • Mike Waberski, The Vice-President has been very active as head of the Utility Services Committee and the Member Engagement Committee.
  • Mike and Loreen Ruault co-chair the Member Engagement committee. A big part of this committee is the Website and Newsletters – a big responsibility when people have busy lives.
  1. Adoption of the Agenda MOVED: Kathy Parton; SECONDED: Martin George APPROVED AS AMENDED with the addition of New Business following the 2018 Issues and Activities agenda item.
  1. Adoption of the Minutes MOVED: Cate Cookson; SECONDED: Ross Foden APPROVED
  1. Business arising from the Minutes:

Matters from Business arising will be addressed in the following reports.

  1. President’s Report – Sandy Cook
  • We have asked the RDNO to go to quarterly water billing which would be more consistent with the quarterly billing that Vernon uses.
  • We have managed to have the RDNO administration fee waived from our charges on the yearly taxation budget yielding a $10,000 savings per year.
  • We again tried to organize Composting here at Silver Star for the residents. Unfortunately, we would have to have had four bins here, including one at Sovereign Lake Nordic. Sovereign was not able to sign on to this program and the non-Silver Star restaurants felt the program was too expensive. So, for now, it is not an option.
  • We will continue to try to be the voice of the Community. As of this meeting opening, we are short three board members. Please consider joining us on the board. “Many hands make light work”.

Mike Waberski has done a lot of work with the utilities commission which he will outline shortly.

Loreen Ruault will outline the efforts to improve our Membership numbers and to send out communications.

  1. Treasurer’s Report and 2018 Budget: Sheryl Bolton

MOVED: Diana Young; SECONDED: Kathy Parton APPROVED

  1. Member Engagement Committee Report – Loreen Ruault

SSPOA has increased membership substantially. We were representing 349 property owners in the fall of 2016. Now we have 559 members who are registered and paid. SSPOA website slide was shown to demonstrate how to get registered, where to find newsletters etc.  Bulk Strata memberships that have been paid by the Strata still require you to register individually on the website. To access the newsletters, you must be registered. As of January 15, if you have not renewed your individual membership then you will not be able to access the private publications. Strata members will be automatically renewed. We no longer email the newsletter, but if you are in our data base, you will receive an e-mail that a new newsletter has been posted on the SSPOA website.

  1. Utilities Committee Report – Mike Waberski

The work of the committee this past year has resulted in a reduction of our gas charges by $1.61 per gigajoule.  Some of the costs associated with the hearings and proceedings were covered by the BCUC however 2 rate riders will appear on your gas invoices. We will have a rate rider of $0.37 added to the bill for next 3 years and an additional $0.05 for five years. The installation rate for gas will now be $25 reduced from $1920.

Fortis BC Alternate Energy actually does the installation for Stargas.  Comparisons were made to FortisBC rates noting that in 2016 the difference in Delivery/Commodity rates was $5.67 and as a result of the BCUC decision and commodity reductions the difference in 2018 will be $3.18. Mike and the 2016 and 2017 committees were thanked.

  1. 2018 Issues and Activities:
  • Garbage dumping at the waste transfer site has become ridiculous. We don’t know what the answer is to the issue. If we block people who shouldn’t be here using our waste transfer site then they will dump it on the highway. We aren’t sure what we can do other than give people the “evil eye”. A suggestion was made to revisit the use of cameras on a motion detector.
  • Water Issue – we are asking the RDNO to be consistent with the reading and billing as the City of Vernon.
  • Silverhawk Utilities File – Concerns were brought to the SSPOA with regards to billing practices for the sewer service which were primarily due to policy change with secondary suites. Comparisons done with Sun Peaks/Canadian Lakeview/ - we are paying 3x as much as Sun Peaks. We have retained Matt Keen, of the firm Norton Rose Fullbright to prepare a legal strategy brief on dealing with Silver Hawk Utilities. The Utility Services Committee will be dealing with this issue in 2018. We believe there are at least 35 “for fee” sewer service providers in the province which would perhaps assist the committee to press the issue with the government as more than just about Silver Star alone.
  1. New Business:
  • Lisa George spoke about a website that she has put together which presents information from public records on the potential development of the Silver Star Resort Association. She believes that the SSPOA is censoring information by not posting her web link.
  1. Executive Nominations and Elections:

No election necessary as only 3 new nominations were made. New directors are: Don Defeo; Eric Dickie; and Maura McCarthy. All existing members will remain on the board.

  1. FireSmart Update:

Floyd Gradley spoke about the program that has been established by FireSmart Canada  to mitigate the potential of wildfire damage. Important considerations for homeowners include

  • Combustible material must be removed from around one’s home
  • Fuel free zones should be at least 1.5 meters around buildings
  • 10 meters out, doesn’t have to be fuel free, but small combustible material should be removed and limbs removed up to about 6 feet
  • A good roof sprinkling system is highly advisable

How do we put together a program here at Silver Star? We need a committee as well as about 25 volunteers to assess risk on every owner’s property and offer suggestions. Organizational/information meeting will be held before the end of the ski season. There will be training on how to assess structures and properties. It is not the job of our volunteer firefighters to mitigate the risk. Floyd asked for volunteers. Names are to be given to Norm Crerar. It is essential that the whole community mitigate the risk on all of our property.

  1. 60 Years at Silver Star slide show by Elaine Greunwald (Silver Star Museum)
  1. Event: January 18th at the Chilcoot Conference Centre – Fundraiser for the Fire Department.

REMINDER:  Please do not park on the roads in the winter.  Emergency vehicles must be able to get through, and the snowplows must be able to address snow removal efficiently.

  1. Adjournment – 5:15 pm

Presentations:

Silver Star Mountain Resort - Ken Derpak presented an update on happenings at Silver Star. There are many 60th anniversary activities with a major push on social media for marketing. The Elevate Spa has been redone and is now an Aveda Spa. The Gondola will be completed by July 1st. There are new groomers added to the fleet for both downhill and x-country trails.