2010-02: Executive meeting.

[DavidD]

Carlington Community Association.

Minutes of the Board of Directors Meeting.
February 16, 2010.

This meeting took place at the Alexander Community Centre.

Present: Mike Kostiuk (President), David Darwin (Vice-president, Director of communications, recording secretary), Linda Dodd (Treasurer), Wendy Vasbinder (Director).
Regrets: Jeanne Burgess, David Grant.

1. Call to order:
Michael called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm.

2. Approval of the agenda:
The agenda was sent out before the meeting.

3. Report on our participation in the Carlington Winter carnival at the Alexander Community Centre.
Michael noted three games were set up and operated by the CCA. A fourth game was set up but there was noone to monitor it. There was a good turnout although there did not seem to be much advertising or promotion for the event. While the prizes available from the CCA were good, it was noted some sponsorship from Carlington merchants should be pursued in the future. Thanks was expressed to David, Wendy, and Micheline Lane for their assistance.

4. Brief report on Michael Kostiuk's election observation mission in the Ukraine.
Michael highlighted, with pictures and stories, the trip from which he had just returned.

5. Carlington Community Association's image in the community.
David addressed a couple of online posts which were very critical of the role the association plays in the community. He asked if there should be an attempt to counter such commentary or to let it go. The difficulty is trying to monitor all the various places online where comments could be posted. It was suggested, on major issues, a media release or forum posting could be considered. Regarding The Oaks situation, the idea of checking with the nearby residents after about six months would assist in gauging if the issue remained contentious. This could be the basis for a follow-up story by the Ottawa West EMC paper. David distributed his Communications Report to emphasize the amount of coverage lately on Carlington.

6. Faith and Gangs event in Carlington on February 9.
In the absence of Grace McClelland-Crout, the presentation of her report and discussion thereof was postponed to the March meeting.

7. March meeting update re: Presentation by city of Ottawa Heritage Planners.
Michael outlined the nature of the presentation at the March meeting. This should be useful in determining what merits heritage designation and what the CCA can do if it wishes to have a specific feature in Carlington so designated. The suggestion was made to inform the Ottawa West EMC about the presentation as they had published a story on the issue following Jeanne' speech at the R&R event last May. David agreed to pursue this. He also noted the matter could be related to the Committee of Adjustment deliberations (see below). It was agreed the CCA should avoid any suggestion of designating specific homes as heritage as this was too controversial and could impose restrictions on the further improvement of the property.

8. Another mid-west end group of community associations are forming a group to meet and discuss issues.
Michael reported the first meeting was on February 15. This group talked about an occupancy agreement that they signed with the city of Ottawa regarding use of city facilities. Another group also mentioned the trouble they had with a city planner who said that boundaries for their community should not include schools. The questions was raised: So schools are not part of a community for planning purposes?

9. Committee of Adjustment report/follow-up.
David reported on his appearance before the Committee of Adjustment on January 13, 2010. He presented the motion passed at the January 12, 2010 meeting regarding the maintaining of setbacks in the veterans housing portion of Carlington. He noted the Committee does not seem to want to deny requests if at all possible. Based on a comment of the staff planner, the original "Vets" community design was not well understood and there seemed to be a focus on a single property rather than a broader perspective. However, if a party files an objection in sufficient time, City staff and the Committee will work to address the issues in advance. In the future, any action regarding a notice of adjustment should be taken as soon as possible and discussed with staff.

10. Advertising and promotion activities for the spring.
Picking up on remarks made by Michael at the previous meeting, David wanted to know what type of promotion was appropriate: flyer drop, posters, or EMC advertisement. David had obtained the EMC rate card to assess charges. Discussion took place on the options, objectives and means of distribution. It was agreed a four-page flyer (11x17 sheet folded) distributed to all homes in the community should take place in late April. To offset printing costs, some businesses should be approached to place a business card size ad. The price of a business membership was suggested as an amount for the ad. David is to prepare a draft for the March meeting. The goal is to raise membership to 100 from the current 52.

11. Garden or Hallowe'en contest.
Continuing with the theme of positive promotion of Carlington, and following the Christmas Decoration Contest, David asked if a front yard garden and/or Hallowe'en contest should be pursued. After some discussion, only the garden contest was favoured. David will draft some rules. Suitable judges and prizes (spanning first, second and third place hopefully) will have to be arranged.

12. Alexander Park - Marshall Avenue pathway.
As a result of a conversation between CCA members while walking home from past meetings, David composed an email to the City asking why the subject pathway was not cleared of snow. He attached pictures showing the dangerous ruts and icy conditions of the path. A response from the City is pending.

13. Election issues and candidate questions.
With the coming of municipal elections in October, David asked if the CCA should prepare some questions for candidates tied to the community as well as broader issues. All agreed the idea had merit. Wendy agreed to lead the initiative. An August 31 deadline was set for return of a candidate survey so that results could be presented at the September meeting.

14. Adjournment.
At this point, it being 9:10 pm, the building was closing and the meeting had to be hurriedly adjourned.