Present: Iain Wood, Sylvia Milne, Peggy Kampouris, David Perkins, Gina Smith, Mary McIninch, Chris McCann, Therese Crandall, Sue Stefko
The meeting was called to order at 7:13pm.
Welcome
Sylvia Milne welcomed everyone to the third meeting of the Board of Directors of the Glebe Annex Community Association (GACA).
Approval of the agenda
There were no additions to the agenda.
Sylvia mentioned that the Glebe Report is looking for area captains for Lebreton St. South, Carling to Orangeville, Bell St. South from Powell to Orangeville and Plymouth St. from Lebreton S. to Bronson. If you know of anyone who is interested, please let us know via our GACA email address at info@glebeannex.ca. This call for volunteers should be circulated to our wider membership. According to the Glebe Report, the volunteer work takes about an hour per month and involves delivering bundles of papers to approximately 15 families who will then distribute the papers.
Business arising from last minutes
Peggy Kampouris presented a large map of our area that will be laminated so that we can use it in a variety of ways at upcoming meetings. The Board thanked Darlene Charron and her friend Sam for producing the map.
Parks renewal
Sue Stefko briefed that the Dalhousie South Park is slated for renewal in 2017. Renewal means that the equipment is slated to be replaced. While the equipment will not necessarily replaced by the exact same structure, it should be replaced be an equivalent one. This work could perhaps be done in conjunction with funds from Taggart and Section 37.
Chris McCann moved that the minutes to approved; this motion was seconded by Iain Wood.
New Business
Crime in the area
Therese Crandall reported that her husband’s car had recently been vandalized and the garage door opener was stolen. This theft was not reported to the police. Peggy recommended that Therese report the theft so that the police are better able to track thefts in the area.
Action: Therese will report the theft to the police.
Mary McIninch said she had twice left her car unlocked for brief periods to drop groceries into the house. In both instances, someone had entered her car; things were stolen in one case and, in the other, the contents in her car were rummaged through.
Iain said he found a handbag, which was likely from the lady who had her car broken into while at the Tulip Festival last weekend. This theft was reported to the police.
Peggy mentioned the yellow laminated flyers from the police that say that all valuabes have been removed from the car. These are meant to act as a deterrent for criminals.
Action: Peggy will order more brochures for inclusion in the next Glebe Report when it is delivered in the neighbourhood.
Mary mentioned that there are suspicious ‘goings on’ in the neighbourhood, where people park for only a few minutes and go around the corner to Bronson, before leaving. She says this may be related to drug deals, and will continue to monitor this activity, taking down license plates and seeing if she can gain more information.
Peggy said that Constable Matt Hunt, our new police community rep, focuses on crime prevention programs. He may come to one of our meetings to give us recommendations on how to deal with some of these activities.
Clean-up campaign
Darlene Charron (who was unable to attend the meeting) had submitted a report on the neighbourhood clean-up campaign. Over a few hours, 20 volunteers collected 20 bags of garbage and 30 bags of leaves.
The Board offered a big “thank you” to the following volunteers: Joanne Benoit, Julie Stephens, Mary McIninch, Meho Terhatbagino, Darlene Charron, Melanie Cave (and her husband and daughter), Brandon Carey, Iain Wood (and his wife, son and daughter), Sylvia Milne, Lisa Furrie (and her husband and daughter), Brenda Quinlan, Sue Stefko and David Perkins, as well as Peggy Kampouris and Doug Milne who volunteered at the sign-in table.
Darlene identified a number of suggestions for next year’s campaign, as follows:
- The clean-up should start and end at Dalhousie South Park. This would help increase the visibility of the clean-up and would mean that extra volunteers could help with the park clean-up (after they had finished their own areas).
- Additional volunteers should be assigned to clean up Arthur Street, Plymouth Street and Bronson Avenue.
- Tim Horton’s should be called much earlier in the spring to arrange for a donation of coffee.
Update on possible OMB appeal
The Board discussed the possibility of launching an OMB appeal.
Cash-in-lieu of parking
Cash in lieu of parking was discussed in a meeting of six community association presidents with Councillor David Chernuschenko. The Glebe has money set aside for an exploration garden. This is in Central Park East by the La Strada restaurant. Whatever money comes from cash-in-lieu of parking, 40% goes to the city to pay staff to work on parks and 60% goes to the ward. The remaining 20% is held back for people who need to work on the project. Heron Park is holding fundraisers because they want to create a community centre. Old Ottawa South wants a playground built in an existing park. A total of $304,206 is left in the Councillor’s current “stash”.
Action: Chris will do some research into what we can ask for and the rules surrounding this. He will coordinate our proposal. Sue will help Chris with information gleaned from the Glebe Parks Committee.
Annexation
The GCA annual meeting on 11 June 11will address the issue of annexation. The Association will be incorporated under the GCA umbrella if the Board agrees to the annexation by the GCA. Insurance and volunteer association membership would be covered under this annexation. In return, the GCA has agreed, conceptually, to accept 20% of dues collected so that our Association could get on our feet and running. Chris proposed affiliation rather than annexation. The official paperwork in fact uses the term “subsidiary”. If, at some point, we are unable to field a board of directors, we could be incorporated into the GCA; however, it probably would not come to that. Our needs and philosophies are different, and it stands to reason that we remain separate. We are all invited to attend the 11June meeting, and are encouraged to do so.
Iain motioned and Therese seconded that the GACA be annexed to the GCA. This motion was approved unanimously.
Membership drive
Darlene, Brenda and Gina are all involved in the membership drive. A table will be set up during the Great Glebe Garage sale to launch the membership drive.
Action: David Perkins will look after membership cards. David is also working on a logo for the Association.
Ottawa Real Estate Board
Sylvia wrote a letter going out to the Ottawa Real Estate Board asking to add the Glebe Annex to the real estate map instead of having the area called “Centertown West.” The board refused the request. Sylvia then followed up with another letter with signatures from David Chernuschenko, Yasir Naqvi and presidents of the surrounding community associations.
Next Meeting
The next meeting is scheduled for 19 June at 7pm in the Craft Room at the Glebe Community Centre. The OMB appeal will be discussed at this meeting.
Peggy made a motion to give the executive the ability to make decisions on behalf of GACA over the course of the summer — between the last meeting in June and the next board meeting in September. The motion was seconded by Mary.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 8:10pm. Most directors then attended the FCA meeting.
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