KILCONA PARK DOG CLUB WINNIPEG Minutes of Annual General Meeting Kilcona Park Alliance Church November 2, 2010

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1 KILCONA PARK DOG CLUB WINNIPEG Minutes of Annual General Meeting Kilcona Park Alliance Church November 2, Call to order at 7:16pm 2. Acceptance of minutes of the 2009 AGM. Minutes accepted. 3. Treasurer s Report John Heide The Treasurer s Report is attached as Appendix A to the Minutes. 4. Co-Chair s Report Maureen Heide The Co-chair s Report is attached as Appendix B to the Minutes. 5. Proposed By-Law Changes Proposed amendment: In the event there is a vacancy on the Board, the remaining Board members may nominate a replacement from members in good standing. The term of office for this candidate shall end at the next Annual General Meeting. Motion to amend carried. 6. Election of New Board Members Co-Chairs: Maureen Heide and Donna Henry nominated, voted in by majority vote. Treasurer: Secretary: Directors: John Heide nominated and voted in by majority vote. Linda Logan nominated and voted in by majority vote. Gerald Carbotte, Susan Argue, JoAnne Storie, Ed Skomro and Jeff Henry nominated and voted in by majority vote. 7. Volunteer Recognition Co-chair Maureen Heide recognized the following volunteers who participated in the tree planting and park clean-up: Brand Catton Jeff Henry

2 Sheri Thompson Craig Handkamer Emmanuel Machado Michelle Carbotte Ed Skomro Ginny & Wes (last name unknown) An unnamed woman with two dogs (goldies), one named Oliver. 8. Club Priorities for 2010/11: More visibility of the Dog Club Additional waste receptacles Mud scrapers for shoes Canine waste management education Fundraising & timeframe of events 9. Use of Existing Funds Maureen Heide asked members what they would like to see the funds being used for and any ideas they had. Members requested picnic tables, benches and waste baskets. 10. Grants and Corporate Sponsorship Maureen Heide informed the members that City Naturalist, Rodney Penner indicated that his department would help the club obtain grants for tree planting as they had expertise in that area. Maureen indicated that the Board had also been thinking about corporate sponsorship. 11. Fundraising/Social Events Ideas Maureen Heide asked members if there were other activities and events they wanted beside the Annual BBQ. No new ideas were presented. 12. Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 8:36pm Minutes recorded by Linda Logan, KPDCW Secretary

3 Appendix A to the Minutes of Kilcona Park Dog Club Winnipeg s Annual General Meeting Kilcona Park Alliance Church November 2, 2010 Treasurer s Report (August 31, 2009 to November 2, 2010) We inherited $ from the previous organization. Since previous Annual General Meeting, we raised a total of $1, through fundraising, memberships and donations. Total as of November 2 nd, 2010: $1, with purchases made taken into account. Opening balance August 31, 2009: Monies from initial meeting/memberships Expenses incurred for wagon/vest Interest Deposit: minus 2.25 service charge Expenses for BBQ: Silent auction, condiments, buns, plates, etc Monies from spring BBQ Memberships Interest Winnipeg Pet Rescue Shelter Fall BBQ expenses Service charge Membership monies deposited October 7 th Note: $90.00 was kept as a float for this evening With the $90.00 going back into the account Balance as of today is John Heide, Treasurer

4 Initial BBQ memberships Fall drive Total for membership Last year estimate Members 189 Minus 43 current 146 Revenue Membership fees BBQ Interest 9.34 Total Expenses Bank service charges 8.29 Wagon and vests BBQ Profit share with Rescue Total

5 Appendix B to the Minutes of Kilcona Park Dog Club Winnipeg s Annual General Meeting Kilcona Park Alliance Church November 2, 2010 Co-chair s Report 1. Rejection of MOU. The MOU was voted on by the committee and rejected due to several factors. First & foremost was the liability insurance issue. The City wanted the club to obtain a $2M commercial general liability policy with the City to be added as additional insured; policy to contain a cross-liability clause & minimum liability limits of $2M all inclusive. There was also several other issues & obligations that we could not have met. We consulted with Maple Grove (who had the exact same MOU they actually contacted a lawyer who advised them not sign the MOU as it was written) and we ourselves consulted an insurance agent and were told it would be extremely difficult to obtain that kind of insurance and if we did, the cost would be astronomical. At present, Maple Grove is still pursuing the MOU with revisions that would be more reasonable for a dog club to meet. We will be sitting back observing what happens with their MOU; if they are successful with the revisions, it could serve as a template for all the dog clubs and we would, at that time, consider entering into an MOU with the City in order to move forward with larger projects. I do believe I sent all members a copy of the MOU in the early spring; if anyone wants to read it over, I do have a copy here or I can certainly one out. 2. The City had put in place a proposed expansion area last fall. It was presented to us in the April meeting with them and was accepted and formally put in place. However, I must clarify that when we held our AGM last fall, although the proposed expansion area was satisfactory to all, the majority of the membership still felt that we should request use of the whole area barring the athletic fields & asphalt paths. It was also decided by the majority of the board that we ask for the forest trails & east hill. In line with proper negotiation practices, we entered the meeting asking for all of these areas; we were of course rejected, but we then had room to negotiate a compromise of seasonal use for the forest trails. The City was in favour of considering this; however, they used the carrot & stick approach to decide if they would grant us seasonal use. They had other user groups (baseball, soccer, golf course employees & parks employees) track the number of off-leash dogs in on-leash areas. If we could prove that we can comply with the leash laws, we were told seasonal access would be granted. As of the

6 last meeting on Sept. 30 th, they were compiling the stats the other users submitted to them and will make a decision based on those stats. Four committee members (myself & Johnny, Gerald, Linda & Susan) took it upon ourselves to do our own survey of the frequency of usage by other groups (i.e., Frisbee golfers, joggers, cyclists, etc). throughout the forest trails & East hill and we have compiled & submitted our stats to them to back our claim that these areas are of very low volume usage. Decision is still pending. However, I do feel it may be a struggle to gain any control of these areas due to the ATC being slated for the forest paths and also the redesign of the Frisbee course, and the East Hill (aka Chris McCubbins Cross-country trails) being reserved for cycling & running clubs. 3. We met with the City and decided on a new location for the updated map, due to complaints at the last AGM that the map was not visible enough. We chose the current hi-viz location and the new map was erected & gravelled in; the City also revamped the bulletin board & bag box. Around the same time, the City erected new signage defining the off-leash/on-leash boundaries. 4. We have addressed the dire need to repair some of the trails within the park. They are absolutely disgusting, especially this summer due to the extremely wet conditions. I informed the City that as long as these trails were in this type of condition, that they will always have problems with dog-walkers using the asphalt paths as we are forced on there when it is wet & muddy. We tried to implement a wood-chipping program, which did not pan out so good this time around. We obtained some token wood-chips from the City and I did a drive-about with the Park Foreman. It was decided by the majority of the board that a logical approach would be taken in regards to which areas would be dealt with first.we identified key areas that were in need of chips and these areas would be dealt with on a priority basis, with the most damaged areas being chipped in first. However, we had problems with the chipping as the next weekend after we spread them, the City drove through them damaging those areas. The City was to repair; however, they only dumped chips & did nothing to spread them. We discussed the wood-chipping issue at the Sept. 30 th meeting with the City, and there was some obvious mis-communication between Jonina & Bob Jack as to the amount of chips we were supposed to be given. Jonina had stated we would receive more chips as they became available, but Bob Jack was not aware of this & no chips were supplied. We are working on a plan to rectify the wood-chipping issue. Jonina recommended that next year, the City supply us with a dump of woodchips once/month in areas that we wish repaired. Any more discussion on this will be pending until the spring. 5. We met with the City Naturalist, Rodney Penner to discuss a tree planting program, which was approved. This fall, the City supplied us

7 with approx. 200 trees and we had volunteers out planting them two weekends in a row. The City can supply us with more trees in the spring, and will also work with us to obtain grants to acquire more trees. We are starting the planting in the north section of the off-leash area by the ponds, and will eventually work our way up the hill and also would like to plant trees in the gathering area by the service road to create a wind-break. 6. After several requests to have the access road repaired, it has been repaired to the tune of $38,000. They did a bang-on job of it! 7. Beavers are still a problem in the park; most of you probably noticed the amount of damage they had done. The City is exploring trapping, and we have requested that if traps are to be set, we are to be notified & proper warning signs erected. 8. I met with Bob Jack for a pre-winter drive-about in regards to a winter plan for plowing. I can honestly say that I was not overly enthusiastic in regards to the plowing plan. They do not want to plow the east hill or forest trails. The ponds will not be plowed due to liability issues. However, according to their plan, they want to institute quite a large buffer area between us & the toboggan hill and to that end, will not be plowing about a good third of area that is off-leash to protect the children on the toboggan hill. I got Bob Jack to bend a bit & compromise plowing more to the east to gain back some of the area, but I still would like to see this area plowed to the off-leash boundaries. (Show map & explain). I would like the members feedback on this so I can report back to the City on this. I have also put in a request to Jonina & Browaty to appeal the decision not to plow the forest & east hill, mainly due to the fact that they are designated walking trails in a public park, hence they should plow those trails because people do like to use them in winter. Personally, I believe the perception is that this is a management strategy to keep us off those areas. 9. Expect Animal Services to be out & about looking for off-leash dogs, especially around the toboggan area. The parks staff will also be watching. Off-leash dogs are still a problem in the maintenance yard. It seems some people still insist on walking their dogs through the compound. They are concerned about the safety of their staff members, and also about the welfare of the dogs, as there is a lot of nails & other debris scattered throughout there and also there is a lot of heavy equipment in there. Apparently, one of the workers almost backed up & hit a dog in there this summer. The compound is no place for walking our dogs. Same for the swale area on the restricted north service road. Co-chair Maureen Heide

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