Attendees:
John Sankey: He presented the agenda and asked for approval.
Minutes
Motion: To approve the June minutes. Moved by Christine Johnson, seconded by Sylva Baroody, carried.
John Sankey: Construction on the pedestrian bridge over the Airport Parkway is proceeding slowly. We have distributed the September issue of Hunt Club Our Community. Does the City charge for the commercial shopping carts that it collects?
Maria McCrae: She will check on the shopping carts. There is a by-law.
Councillor's Report
Maria McCrae: She welcomed everyone and presented the Councillor's Report.
Issie Berish: He loves the traffic calming measures on Springland.
Maria McCrae: Thank you. There are three criteria for traffic calming for a street: it is near a school, near a seniors residence or beside a big park.
Issie Berish: The Ottawa Public Library has eliminated its limit of 2 DVD's per customer. He is curious as to its reasoning. On Maria's website, there should be links to all the community associations.
Maria McCrae: The links would have to treat them all the same even though they're not.
John Reid: Maria's table in the Community Centre obscures the Library Kiosk.
Maria McRae: Staff put the table where they did and she thinks it doesn't interfere with people's use of the Kiosk.
Christine Johnson: There are a lot of vacant retail stores in Metro Plaza. Does the community have any input into the kind of stores moving in?
John Sankey: Riocan owns the plaza. Its headquarters are in Toronto.
Peter Foulger: Is yard waste included in the recycling numbers? What about Plasco as a long term solution to waste?
Maria McCrae: Plasco needs to address problems in its operation but she very much hopes that it is successful. It's hard to get permission from the province for regular incinerators. She believes in the 3 Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Retail packaging is often excessive. Over packaging is contrary to our efforts to reduce waste.
John Sankey: His first R is Refuse. That is he refuses to accept excess packaging or junk such as flyers.
Newsletter
Christine Johnson: We distributed the September issue of our newsletter Hunt Club Our Community. We did get more volunteers to distribute the newsletter. It is generating a lot of positive comments. There is an article in the September issue: What do you like most about living in Hunt Club? She read a few other suggestions for survey questions for future issues and circulated the sheet for members to add on their own suggestions and/or tick off their favourite question(s).
Issie Berish: We now have more people to distribute than we have newsletters so we should print more - say from 3000 to 4000. How can we get more income to pay for the extra copies? There are different lists of volunteers, there isn't a good master list. We want to get the newsletters to the volunteers as quickly as possible. Next issue is December.
Christine Tausig Ford: You should print more than you need because incremental costs are small on a big order. You could look at a digital edition which could generate on-line advertising.
Community Police
Constable Elmi: He is the new community police officer. If anyone has any issues he can call him at 613 236-1222 or send him an e-mail. He started working on patrol and working with the schools.
Financial Report
Peter Foulger: He passed out the year-end Treasurer's Report and the September Report. Last year, there was a $155 decrease in Members' Surplus but there still is around $9000 in the bank.
John Sankey: Thank you for your work. Because of your efforts the accounting is in better shape than it's ever been.
Hunt Club Creek
John Sankey: He would like to adopt the Hunt Club Creek. Students working for Christine Johnson had prepared a map of the community and on it was Hunt Club Creek. The map was on display at the meeting. Hunt Club Creek flows north from the DND property across Hunt Club Road, through the Golf Course. It then flows westwards into the Rideau River. Hackett Pond is a part of it.
Motion: That the HCCO adopt the Hunt Club Creek under the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority stream adoption program. Moved by John Sankey, seconded by Christine Johnson.
Christine Tausig Ford: Thinks it is a great idea.
Maria McCrae: She sent the service manager to clean up debris near Hackett Pond. Anything she can do to help, she'll do.
John Reid: We should have a statement of objectives.
Vote on motion: carried
Miscellanea
John Sankey: The HCCO will again take part in Cleaning the Capital. There are four areas and everyone is invited to help.
Christine Johnson: The Federation of Community Associations has an update on its activities.
John Reid: The Ottawa Public Library did a consultation on possible initiatives:
make more convenient
allow people to return books at community centres
present services at community centres
The Library service needs to improve. Between 2011 and 2012, circulation for the Ottawa Public Library as a whole dropped 11%. Kiosk technology is improving and we would like to have an upgraded Kiosk.
John Sankey: Back in the day, he took his four kids to the Library. They were limited to eight books per family and this limitation was the source of much discussion. Today you can browse on-line, you can request the books and pick them up at the Kiosk, at a bookmobile or at any branch. The Library has improved unbelievably.
Maria McCrae: Ottawa is the only major city in Canada with kiosks. They have increased circulation. She was a strong advocate for the Kiosk at the Community Centre. The Centre was rebuilt specifically for the Kiosk and it would be difficult to change.
Next meeting: Monday October 7 at 19:00