Minutes of the West Shore Parks and Recreation Society
Annual General Meeting
held Thursday, June 13, 2012 in the Fieldhouse
PRESENT:
Representatives from the six (6) Member Municipalities noted as follows:
Mayor Graham Hill (Town of View Royal)
Mayor John Ranns (District of Metchosin)
Mayor Jane Mendum (District of Highland)
Director Mike Hicks (Juan de Fuca Electoral Area)
Director Lanny Seaton (City of Langford)
Director Cynthia Day (City of Colwood)
DIRECTORS AND STAFF PRESENT:
Director Les Bjola (Chair)
Director Shaun W ysiecki
Director Moralea Milne
Director Jo Mitchell
Director David Screech
Linda Barnes, Administrator
Wade Davies, Manager, Operations
Cindy O’Regan, Manager of Recreation
Sue Dickson, Manager of Finance
Brian Merryweather, Manager, Human Resources
Lore Cumberbatch, Administrative Assistant
Ron Dietrich, Maintenance Supervisor
Matt Curtis, Maintenance Technician
Mayor Carol Hamilton (City of Colwood)
Chris Coates, CAO, District of Highlands
Kim Anema, CAO, Town of View Royal
Joe Martignago, CAO, District of Metchosin
Ross McPhee, CAO, City of Colwood
PUBLIC PRESENT:
Derek Spalding, Times Colonist
Graham Dickson
CALL TO ORDER
1. The Annual General Meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
2. MOVED/SECONDED by Mayor John Ranns and Mayor Graham Hill that the agenda be approved as
circulated.
CARRIED.
Minutes – WSPRS 2012 Annual General Meeting June 13, 2012
Page 1
John Ranns noted that “at last year’s AGM he had brought forward a proposal that Langford was being
treated unfairly in having to pay requisitions twice for both centres and we should be looking in to
arrangements to find some relief on their payments. There was considerable discussion but nothing was in
the minutes”. The Chair noted that the points that were made were points of discussion and that we have
not recorded discussion points in the past.
Director Day noted that “in the 2011 AGM minutes of the motion supported that there would be a complete
corporate review. This motion did address the governance issue but it doesn’t seem to address the
corporate review portion and wondering if that is to still to come forward.” The Administrator noted that at
last year’s AGM it was decided that the piece that the members wanted to have done was the governance
review and review of the agreements and that the corporate review portion was not what they were
recommending. The motion put forward was that Chris Nation was to be engaged to do a review of the
agreements.
John Ranns noted that that “it was his recollection that both were to be done. The first one would be this
particular one and then a follow up with the second.” The Administrator noted that “in speaking with the
CAO’s group. They were very clear about what the mandate was with Chris Nation and they believed that
they were to go out and get a review and made recommendations about the owner’s and co-owners
agreement.”
Jane Mendum noted that “in the middle of page 3, the motion from Item 5a), it says that corporate review
as the agreements were coming due at the end of the year. It was a case of priorities, and priorities were
provided as the Administrator has indicated.”
ADOPTION OF THE 2011 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING MINUTES
3. MOVED/SECONDED by Director Hicks and Director Seaton that the minutes from the 2011 Annual
General Meeting be approved as circulated.
CARRIED.
NEW BUSINESS
4. a) PRESENTATION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FROM THE BOARD
The Chair gave an overview of the items of interest in 2011. The Chair stressed how professional the
quality of work that is turned out by staff is in terms of how this facility is run. Our staff are qualified to
teach and work in their areas of expertise and dedicated to providing first class recreation at this facility and
this is a place we can be really proud of.
Some items included:
1. Capital Plan with the PERC Consultants completed and developed strategies to move forward in
major repairs and maintenance
2. Completion and grand opening of the Fitness and Wellness Facility
3. Receiving an EA Grant which enabled us to upgrade the front entrance and reception counter space
to assist the people living with disabilities including sidewalks, ramps, automatic doors and
accessible entrances
4. Kick started the Rotary Picnic Playground partnership
5. Island Highway improvements of sidewalk and connecting pathway to View Royal were completed
6. New UV system was installed in the pool resulting in a huge reduction in chemical use and water
waste
7. Youth program was expanded to include the training of 19 youth leaders to provide pre-employment
training and practical skills
Minutes – WSPRS 2012 Annual General Meeting June 13, 2012
Page 2
8. Healthy programs were introduced including workshops series highlighting body image,
relationships, life transitions and sexual health
9. Pacific Family Resource Centre and W SPSR teamed up to provide teen drop in night at Centennial
Centre
10. Funds were received from the Canadian Tire JumpStart program to offer free swimming lessons to
over 100 children of low income families
11. GVVA was able to access the Velodrome for their May – October season and renewed their
contract for 2012
12. Belmont School celebrated their achievements for their 2011 Prom at the JdF Curling Rink
13. Over 700 guests were served a delicious meal by the JdF staff by for the JdF Fishing Derby
14. Subsidy and low cost programs included:
a. Leisure Involvement for Everyone Program (L.I.F.E.) which gives low income families access to
recreational programs
b. Coast Capital Savings sponsored free skating and swimming sessions, toonie drop ins
throughout the year, roving play parks provided free summer day camp for both pre-school and
school age children in member municipalities throughout the summer
15. One of the energy and heat savings programs which was just implemented generated a $3,000
savings in one month. There will be significant energy savings throughout the facility once all the
heat savings programs have been put in place.
b) ADOPTION OF THE ANNUAL REPORT FROM THE BOARD
MOVED/SECONDED by Cynthia Day and John Ranns that Annual Report for the year ending December
31, 2011 be received and approved.
CARRIED
c) PRESENTATION OF THE 2011 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Director Shaun W ysiecki, Chair of the Finance Committee at W SPRS presented the 2011 Audited
Statements for the year ending December 31, 2011.
b) ADOPTION OF THE 2011 AUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
MOVED/SECONDED by Mayor John Ranns and Director Cynthia Day that Audited Financial Statements
for the year ending December 31, 2011 be received and approved.
CARRIED.
c) APPOINTMENT OF AN AUDITOR
Director Shaun W ysiecki, Chair of the Finance Committee at W SPRS recommends that the owners to
adopt the reappointment KPMG as the auditors for West Shore Parks and Recreation Society for the 2012
year.
After discussion, it was
MOVED/SECONDED by Mayor Jane Mendum and Mayor Graham Hill that KPMG be appointed as
auditors for 2012.
CARRIED.
OLD BUSINESS
5. a) REVIEW OF GOVERNANCE FOR WEST SHORE PARKS AND RECREATION SOCIETY
The Chair noted that there was a report commissioned by the owners for Chris Nation to complete a
governance review. WSPRS has not reviewed the report and staff have made no comments on that report.
The Chair gave the floor to Chris Coates, CAO, District of Highlands to present the report on behalf of the
owner’s group.
Minutes – WSPRS 2012 Annual General Meeting June 13, 2012
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Chris Coates noted that “at the 2011 AGM the owner’s representatives authorized the CAO’s to engage
consulting services for a review of W SPRS governance agreements and make recommendations for the
members and co-owners agreements that were set to expire on December 31, 2011. Mr. Nation was
engaged to complete the report but subsequently, it became clear that the report would not be completed
in time so each owner received a recommendation from their CAO to extend the members and co-owners
agreements to December 31, 2012.
Mr. Nation’s work was undertaken and managed by the member municipality CAO’s. The CAO’s had three
meetings with the consultant separately to ensure this was an independent report. Mr. Nation was not
available but all CAO’s noted that they could answer questions to the best of their ability.”
John Ranns noted that “he could speak at some length of his concerns with the parameters in which he
disagrees with.” He noted that the description of the problem in the report does not reflect the situation
accurately, but this is not the appropriate venue for this.” He commented that he has taken issue with
ongoing belief that Metchosin doesn’t pay into WSPRS fully. It pays its’ share of the maintenance and
everything else. Despite the newspaper article, Metchosin has become a full member to pay for the weight
room. There are a lot of suppositions being made and that are not correct. He doesn’t see this as being
the main problem. This is something that needs to be addressed down the line and he is not averse to
looking at change to the governance structure but there are a lot of things that need to come first. The
Society contract coming due in six months that has to be address and he has made suggestions to each of
the owner’s representatives in terms of preparing for that”
Mayor Ranns then noted: “Secondly, the situation with Langford, as I had brought up at the 2011 AGM, I
believe that there are inequities with Langford double paying. Again, I believe that this be addressed at an
Owner’s meeting and I would recommend that we undertake this very soon as we have to deal with the
society’s contracts. I believe the solutions that have been offered don’t reflect the realities that exist and
there is a lot more discussion to take place and more serious issues need to be to be addressed and we
are prepared to deal with this at an owner’s meeting.”
The Chair noted that there was no one at WSPRS consulted regarding this report, we have no input
whatsoever and no questions asked as to how the facility runs.
Jane Mendum echoed some of what has been put forward. She thanked the CAO’s who have met and
worked to bring various different aspects together on paper and starting the process of drafting a new
process. She strongly supports that the report be forwarded to an owner’s meeting as there are some
things that should be corrected before this is carried on to councils. “I believe that is where this report and
other information belongs. There are some issues that are not addressed in here that would likely interest
all of us such as various side agreements to offer capital improvements. We might need to take this into
consideration but the other elephant in the room is financing all of the improvements over the next five
year. There are other aspects to be taken into account and would strongly support this going to an owner’s
meeting and hope that this would be scheduled fairly soon as there is a fair bit of work to be completed in
six months in order to fashion a draft and get that before member councils.”
After discussion, it was
MOVED/SECONDED by Mayor John Ranns and Mayor Jane Mendum that the report be received for
information.
CARRIED.
b) CONSIDERATION OF BYLAW AMENDMENTS
This item was brought forward from the 2011 Annual General Meeting. This item is not applicable at this
time until the review of governance has been completed.
Minutes – WSPRS 2012 Annual General Meeting June 13, 2012
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Cynthia Day put forward a request that the most current copies of the WSPRS Agreements be forwarded to
members municipalities. The Chair asked the Secretary to forward copies to member municipalities.
Mayor Graham Hill wanted to convey the appreciation that the View Royal community has of the work that
gets done at West Shore Parks and Recreation. “I often get appreciation from members of the public that
they enjoy the benefits of the recreation centre. The challenges for the owners are interesting, the
obligation is to protect the best interests in the community in a sustainable way and I look forward to fulfill
the obligations and to sustain and continue the good work of the Society.”
Mayor Ranns wanted to specifically thank the members of the society as there has been a lot strides and
good will exhibited to make things work a lot better than they have in the past.
The Administrator wanted to thank the members for the support this year through all the challenges this
year. She noted; “We have extremely great staff and they have been an incredible support as well. We
have a complicated and complex issue in terms of the governance of W SPR and we are more than open to
positive suggestions that will move us forward and bring all our communities together and have excellent
park and recreation facilities for all.”
ADJOURNMENT
6. MOVED/SECONDED by Mayor Jane Mendum and Mayor John Ranns to adjourn the Annual General
Meeting at 7:42 pm
CARRIED.
Minutes – WSPRS 2012 Annual General Meeting June 13, 2012
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