Minutes of 2018 Annual General Meeting of the Notre Dame and Usher Lakes Association
Annual General Meeting - Rupert Community Hall, August 18, 2018, 10:00 am
Mandate of the association: “to promote, protect and preserve the quality of Lac Notre Dame and Usher Lake and the watershed environment of the Lakes to ensure their continued use and enjoyment by all”.
Constitution of the meeting - quorum based on registered members
As the new president, Lisa Fast opened the meeting, and thanked Jane Hayward for her work as president for the previous three years. Quorum requires at least 25% of members be present - there were 21 members present at the meeting - quorum was reached.
Move to open the meeting by Lisa Fast
Seconded by Jane Hayward
Approval of previous year’s minutes
Minutes of the previous year’s meeting were approved.
Moved by Robert Boucher
Seconded by Dave Hayward
Approve agenda for 2018 meeting
Addition of discussion of boat entry/exit challenges, proposed by Mr. Marc Desrochers, President of the Bishop’s Manor Association Moved by Carole Doré Seconded Bryan Watkinson
Financial Report - annual expenses including water testing & reserve
- Presented by Lisa Fast, treasurer for the fiscal year 2017-2018
- At the end of our financial year on June 31, 2018 - there was $5,633.40 in the Association’s bank accounts
- Income for fiscal year were$242.17 from 18 memberships, interest and donations.
- Expenses were: $275.51 for Rupert Hall rental, bank fees and web hosting.
- To reduce annual expenses, the mailbox in Wakefield was closed this year - no fees outstanding, all banking moved online
- Reimbursement cheque to Robert Boucher in June for web hosting fees for last year ($148.36). Web hosting now provided by Steve Hume free of charge.
- Reimbursement cheque to Jane Hayward for printing of Tip Cards $237.30 (will be in 2018-19 fiscal year)
- Quebec corporation report for last year and this year is outstanding - $35 x 2 will be required, plus any arrears chargest.
- Water testing expenses will no longer be covered by the Museum of Nature. We expect that to be our largest annual expense of approximately $500.
Move to accept Treasurer’s report by Bryan Watkinson
Seconded by Danielle Lévesque
Your membership fees support the following:
- Water testing $400-$500 per year
- Buoys and signs (not every year)
- Awareness - tip cards (not every year)
- Reserve funds to prepare for potential invasive species or milfoil surge; consultation with experts like ABV-7 report
- Quebec non-profit corporation fees ($35/year)
- Domain name fees for the web site every two years
Board report
- Water tip cards were distributed to lake owners by board members in July and August. This worked out well, we met new lake owners, shared the ideas about how to keep the water clean and how to cut and remove milfoil, discussed problems such as the geese and collected membership fees towards the water testing. The tips and binder page is posted on the site https://lacnotredame.org/water/keepclean/. There are spare cards - we discussed going out on rounds again in 2020.
- New website was launched that also works well on phones, with map of water testing sites, and all water quality reports.
- Suggestion was made to include list of who on the lake has milfoil cutters that they are willing to share, and to use the web site to mobilize an effort to reduce the Canada Geese levels, including how to naturalize your shoreline.
- Milfoil report - levels are very low this year, people are continuing to cut and remove weeds in front of their properties, which all agree has been a successful approach. The buoys were not placed until quite late in the summer as weed levels were low until that point. Danielle and Gaston Levesque place the buoys as volunteers - say thank you to them when you see them and please stay clear of the area around the buoys.
- Quebec investment$8M to research prevention
- Canada Geese have arrived on your lawn and our lake - they come for the grass and stay to breed. Scare the geese away as soon as they appear in early spring, naturalize your shoreline, and reduce the size of grass lawns.
- Managing Canada Geese - landscaping, scaring and egg destruction
Water testing report was presented by Carol Doré and Lisa Fast
Results of 2017 and 2018 water testing - e-coli concern
- Thank you to Carole Doré for her continued volunteer work on water testing.
- Water testing results summaries are now published on the web site when they are received by Lisa Fast, and all of the years of data are available for comparison and viewing.
- Discussion of E-coli levels in Lac Notre Dame on August 13th that were normal or slightly above in a few locations and very high in one sample (370) at location 6 (in front of Ch. des Generations). E-coli results for that location were back to normal a few days later when a new set of six samples were tested from a range of points around that location.
- It is possible the Canada Geese in the are contributed to or were the source of the contamination. There is evidence that geese feces can contaminate surface water. Free-living Canada Geese and antimicrobial resistance:
- Action plan: if e-coli levels had continued to be high in subsequent tests, we would have brought them to the Municipality for assistance and advice.
Proposed Association program for 2018
- Develop a position and understand full costs, responsibilities and benefits of joining Quebec’s- Réseau de surveillance volontaire des lacs (RSVL) - Voluntary Lake Monitoring Network
- Decide whether to maintain Facebook page now that new web site is up
- Decide whether to buy a Lake Association cutter and rake that people could borrow for their property or to publish a list of who has cutters they are willing to share
- Propose more measures for Canada Geese control - perhaps use the web site to log their location and measures that are working Move to accept proposed program - André François Giroux Seconded - Nathalie Byk
Members open issues
- Marc Desrochers, President of the Bishop’s Manor Association led a discussion of the challenges property-owners face in getting their boats in and out of the water in the spring and fall. Not all property owners on the lakes are members of the Bishop’s Manor Association, but all property owners face these challenges, particularly since the Municipality installed cement blocks to prevent launching from the causeway on Ch. Du Manoir.
- Lisa Fast maintained that the Lake Association mandate prevents the Board from devoting funds to this effort, since the mandate is not to provide access to boat owners, but rather to “promote, protect and preserve the quality of Lac Notre Dame and Usher Lake and the watershed environment of the Lakes to ensure their continued use and enjoyment by all”
- Quite a few members of the Lake Association are particularly interested in working with the Bishop’s Manor Association on this issue, they agreed to support the Bishop’s Manor Association in the efforts to find a boat launch solution outside of the Lake Association.
- The board and members agreed to use our email list to notify our members via email of any planned meetings so that they can work together with the Bishop’s Manor Association.
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A motion was passed to support the Bishop’s Manor Association in these efforts
Moved by Lynn, Seconded by Nathalie
Current board and election of new members
We requested new members for the board. We meet 2-3 times per year plus the AGM.
Two new members were nominated and acclaimed - Jim Bickford and André François Giroux
- Lisa Fast, President (elected July 21)
- Robert Boucher, Vice-president
- Jane Hayward
- Dave Hayward, Treasurer
- Erin Jamison (Usher Lake representative)
- Marie Maisonneuve
- Jim Bickford (new)
- André François Giroux (new)
Move to adjourn
Moved Morag Hutcheson
Seconded Bryan Watkinson