FRIENDS OF CRESCENT BEACH, GREEN BAY AND AREA SOCIETY

MINUTES OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

AUGUST 19TH, 2001

1. Karen Dempsey called the meeting to order at approximately 10:10 a.m. A motion was made by Karen Dempsey to approve the Agenda as presented, seconded by Tom Daly, no discussion and motion unanimously carried.

2. Karen welcomed returning and new members, made announcements regarding the availability of t-shirts, hasty notes and our commission on all new subscriptions to Saltscapes magazine (through a community program they run; thanked Farmer's Dairy, LaHave Bakery, Gow's Home Hardware and Tim Horton's for their donations for this meeting and PharmaSave for their continuing donation of waste bags for the "dog" boxes on Crescent Beach.

3. Karen read the Minutes from the 2000 AGM. A motion was made by Gordon Prince to accept them as read, seconded by Tom Daly, no discussion, motion carried.

4. Karen presented the Annual Report. She began by reading our mandate from the Memorandum of Association; indicated there were sixteen (16) Board members and three (3) standing Committees as follows:

• (a) Co-management Committee; we were directed by the membership to peruse this and encouraged to do so by DOT and DNR a couple years ago; we finally held a meeting with them and were very disappointed with the reception we received. At one point we were told the only way we could do things would be with a formal agreement then we were told we didn't really need one; that neither department had any money or manpower to do anything and may have expertise available. We would like to pursue repairs.
  
  John Nichols clarified the above and indicated that he felt we should proceed alone without any agreement.



• (b) Sperry's Beach Committee regarding our interest in protecting public access to the public beach and the right-of-way there. We have requested that the land owner's fence be moved off of the right-of-way at Sperry's Beach area.
   
• (c) Old Shore Road Committee; last year there was a motion made to have mention of that Road removed from the Provincial Government's trail web site, we did so land it was removed at our request. However, we are active in protecting this public right-of-way from Green Bay to Broad Cove.
  
  Also last year a motion was made to hold an ad hoc meeting of land owners along the Old Shore Road. That was held after a lot of work by the Board including searches at the Registry of Deeds Office, writing to all land owners listed at that Office and holding the meeting at the West Dublin Hall in November, 2000. The majority of land owners were positive and agreed there was no real concern about hordes of day trippers along the road; the history of that Road was told to everyone; most people felt it was good to have someone around occasionally just to keep an eye on things, as serious hikers tend to do in any event, as well as picking up any garbage. Only one land owner disagreed and indicated they were perusing the matter through the Dept. of  Transportation.
  
  Our interest in the old Shore Road is purely in the protection of public access to the old public road / shoreline; we assisted Doug Bell in putting together two Affidavits with 70 years worth of experience, which were filed with the Dept. of Transportation for their use. Several informa1 hikes were held through the year and information sheets formulated on the history of the area.

We also held several membership drives, held a couple of times at the Farmer's Markets, sharing a table with the Pesticide Action Group, Gordon Prince bought our "domain" for our website with his own money, we were invited to place a display at the N.S. Naturalists Conference in Lunenburg in July, to which we sent a Board member and hosted our annual Beach Sweep on June 9th.

Karen then read a statement to the membership - attached.

Jim White moved to accept the Annual Report from the Chair, with a thank you for her guidance and  assistance as Chair over the last several years, which was seconded by Peter Bell, no discussion and motion was carried.

5. Burpee Meisner presented the Membership Committee Report. He indicated we now have approximately 325-350 members; that throughout this summer he has held membership drives, with the help of other Board members and members of our Society.

6. Terry Durnavich read the Financial Statement, attached, and moved that it be accepted as read, seconded by Jean McHarg, no discussion and motion carried.

7. Chris Gill asked for a discussion time.

Gordon Prince suggested that the Board of Directors meeting Minutes be made available to al1 of the members by placing them on our website. After a little discussion, he made a formal motion, as follows: that the Minutes of the meetings of the Board of Directors be made publicly available on our website;
after a bit of further discussion, that motion was amended by Gordon to read as follows: that the approved minutes of meetings of the Board of Director and any other formal documentation be posted on our website for public access. The motion was seconded by White and carried.

Gordon Prince also spoke about the Co-Management Committee meeting which was held after the Committee meeting with DNR and DOT and indicated that he was taking on the project of putting together the history of Crescent Beach, to include all reports generated about it from studies, etc., all to be eventually put on our website, except for "sensitive" documentation.

Sharri Bush asked for help regarding Linda MacDonald's suggestion that an education committee be formed about dog waste on the beach and if anyone was interested in helping out with this, i.e. talking to the public about being sure they clean up after their dogs. A sign up sheet was left on the table by the door. Linda MacDonald spoke about the matter as well and indicated she would be taking on that educational effort.

A gentleman indicated that h felt the sign on the "Doggie Pooh Box" wasn't big enough .

Ellen Hunt spoke, indicating she was not a member and was concerned about the burial ground at Sperry's Beach, being a possible native burial ground; Karen Dempsey explained that we have no involvement regarding that possible issue and that our interest is in the Beach as per her report and primarily in the protection of public access to the beach and to the Old Shore Road, which is presently fenced in. Although Doug Bell might assist her with the history, we have no direct involvement in that matter. Neiff Joseph indicated that George Himmelman knew about that area being a burial ground in 1958 when it was dug up; he didn't know whether or not it was a native cemetery and that it could also have been French.

Sunny MacMillan, a new member, is also a member of the group Champlain 2004, as well as the group getting the ship Hector built; she indicated she believes that all of the local organizations should coordinate as to the reasons for our existence, etc. Sharri Bush suggested the possibility of coordinating fund raising efforts because of Crescent Beach's connection with "the islands".

Chris Gill mentioned that there is an information sheet on the table regarding the Old Shore Road and that we also have a bird listing by James Hirtle, as well as a brochure containing some history of the Old Shore Road for local distribution.

8. Sharri Bush gave her report as the Nomination Committee and read the list of 16 people prepared to stand as Directors for the 2001-2002 year, attached to these Minutes. She asked for nominations from the floor three (3) times, closed the nominations; It was moved by, seconded by Tom Daly and declared those on the list to be the new Directors.

9. Karen held the draw for the door prize, which was a cooler donated by Gow's Home Hardware and Gordon Whynacht won the cooler.

10. Don Downe (MLA) spoke about the beginnings of our Society and indicated he was willing to set up a meeting with the Executive about possibly bringing up the lack of cooperation by DNR and DOT regarding the co-management agreement to the Nova Scotia Legislature.

11. Karen indicated that she would be staying on the Board, but resigning as Chair.

12. Karen moved to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Gordon Prince; motion passed, meeting adjourned.