1. Call meeting to order
2. Approve the agenda
3. Approve minutes of the last council meetings on April 5th, 2023.
4. Reports
a) FireSmart clean up and BBQ 2023. At the last meeting, the Board moved to incorporate the QRRA FireSmart into the Residents’ Assocation and this was approved by the QRRA FireSmart team. As such, Glen Maddess attended the Director’s Meeting to update the Board on the status of FireSmart.
Glen explained that there have been many changes since the pandemic. Individuals that he had previously been able to work with at the local, provincial and federal level are no longer with the FireSmart program or retired and/or not responding to his emails. As well, the City of Kelowna began its FireSmart program but the City program does not include pick up of the worst source of fire debris: pine needles. Glen has contacted the City over this issue but to no avail. It is hoped that when the Penticton Fire Chief, Larry Watkinson, is fully in place as the Deputy Chief in Kelowna around the end June, things might improve. Glen stated that Mr. Watkinson has been proactive in the Penticton community and very involved with FireSmart so he is hoping his addition to the Kelowna Fire Dept will bring much needed change to Kelowna.
Gord and Glen will work together to draft a letter to Mayor and Council to discuss.
b) Garage Sale 2023 and membership drive. The Board discussed the outcomes of the garage sale and noted a significant increase in participation over last year. Alan has documented the procedures for running the garage sale . These should help future boards run similar sales. Gord discussed his efforts to increase membership numbers. Gord had been posting information posters around the community but the results have been weak. Gord has approached many of the businesses in the area with a proposal to post a small sandwich board advertising the QRRA. This too has met with weak responses – businesses do not want to host our signage.
c) Bulletin Boards: Arlene will contact the new sign company on Pier Mac Way to get a quote for a new street bulletin board to replace the old one on Capistrano that was broken. With this information, Arlene will put together a grant request to the City.
d) Membership and AGM. Laura and Arlene to update website with Alan’s write up plus include a discussion on what membership means so that members understand what membership means for the Association in terms of voting and the AGM. The AGM has been set for September 14th, subject to availability at the Four Points Hotel. Laura will investigate. As well, a process review will be conducted to determine if the membership renewal process can be streamlined. Laura and David will set this up.
e) Transportation Strategy and AGM. At the last meeting, the Board discussed the issues that it had run into in the past with the many different local, provincial, and federal actors involved. Gord will compile a list of individuals involved so that we can invite them to the AGM to speak.
f) Other Residents’ Associations: Arlene will contact individual associations, so we all have an up-to-date list (the City’s listing is not up to date). Once we have the listing, we will discuss whether we want to approach them so discuss what issues they are facing.
g) Financial Report & Review. David provided the Board with an up-to-date financial report. The contingency funds have been invested and the interest income will be a welcome addition to the association’s bottom line.
The association also scored another big win: the City of Kelowna agreed to take over the costs associated with the garage collection from the stone aggregate garbage cans. The cans were installed by the QRRA many years ago but over time, the garbage collection costs have increased such that they were poised to exceed the annual membership renewal revenue received. This too will be a welcome addition to the association’s bottom line.
h) Association Technology Platform / Google Accounts / Google Drive. The various google email accounts are currently run from Laura’s personal google account. Laura will investigate the process to migrate these to a “true” business google account.
5. Next meeting: TBD
6. Terminate meeting at: 8:25 PM.