Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Caledon Village Place, Caledon

Over fifty members attended this year's Annual General Meeting which was called to order at 2:00 p.m. by Jean Kerins, President. Jean gave her report to the members highlighting her interest in communication, outreach and organizational structure. Jean also thanked the supportive executive and other volunteers who contributed to a successful year.

Irmgard Richter, Treasurer, gave an overview of the financial statements for 2010, as well as the 2011 budget.

Various written and verbal reports were given by members of the executive.

An important piece of new business at this year's meeting was the passing by the members of a set of by-laws for the club. While the club has been running smoothly, there has not been a set of by-laws as a framework. Peter Leeney spoke about the process of developing the by-laws and the usefulness of having same. The by-laws were accepted by a unanimous vote.

Judy Leeney presented the names of the candidates standing for board positions for 2011-12, which slate was approved by the members.

Mark DeMontis of Courage Canada ( www.couragecanada.ca ) gave a stimulating talk about his struggles and achievements since becoming blind during high school, and his current project which is bringing hockey and skating opportunities to visually impaired youth.

There was a draw for a framed photo donated by Gary Hall, a silent auction and BTC merchandise for sale. A potluck dinner closed the day.

CALEDON HILLS BRUCE TRAIL CLUB BY-LAWS
(Approved APRIL 3 RD 2011)

•  NAME

The organization shall be known as the Caledon Hills Bruce Trail Club, hereinafter called “the Club”.

•  AFFILIATION

The Club shall be a Bruce Trail Club within the Bruce Trail Conservancy, hereinafter called "the BTC".

•  OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the Club shall be:

•  to maintain that section of the Bruce Trail assigned by the BTC to the Club;

•  to foster positive relationships with local landowners;

•  to foster and encourage the preservation and appreciation of the natural environment with Club members and the general public through hiking, social and educational programs;

•  to work with the BTC in establishing the conservation corridor containing the Bruce Trail along the Niagara Escarpment.

•  STRUCTURE

The structure of the Club shall consist of:

•  Members

An individual, a family or an organization becomes a member of the Club by first becoming a member of the BTC and then choosing to join the Club as a ‘club supporter', as defined in the BTC By-laws.

•  Board of Directors

•  The Board of Directors of the Club shall consist of a maximum of 20 Club members elected at the Annual General Meeting or, in the case of a vacancy, appointed by the Board of Directors.

•  To be eligible to serve as a Director, a person shall be a member (or belong to a family or organization that is a member) in good standing of the Club.

•  GOVERNING AUTHORITY
•  The affairs of the Club shall be governed by its membership in the following manner:

• i. through action taken at the Annual or Special General Meeting;

• ii. through actions and decisions made by the Board of Directors between Annual General Meetings.

•  The actions and decisions of the Board of Directors between Annual General Meetings may be overruled at the Annual General Meeting.

•  For just cause, the members of the Board of Directors may remove a member of the Board of Directors from his/her position by a two-thirds (2/3) majority vote of the members of the Board of Directors present.

•  Any member of the Board who is absent from three (3) regularly scheduled Board meetings during the year, without prior notice to the President, will not be permitted to stand for re-election for the next year.

•  The Board of Directors may, by resolution and for just cause, recommend to the BTC Board of Directors the suspension and/or termination of any member of the Club.

•  In situations where the Club By-laws do not apply, the BTC By-laws shall govern.

•  MEETINGS OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

•  All meetings and any other business of the Club shall be conducted in conformity with these By-laws and the BTC By-laws and according to Robert's Rules of Order.

•  The Board of Directors shall meet not less than six times per annum.

•  For meetings of the Board of Directors, a total of nine members of the Board, one of whom must be the President or Vice President, and Support Volunteers, shall constitute a quorum.

•  Questions arising at any meeting of the Board of Directors shall be decided by a majority vote of Board members and Support Volunteers in attendance. In cases of a tie, the Chairperson shall cast the deciding vote. Otherwise the Chairperson shall not vote on motions.

•  ANNUAL AND SPECIAL MEETINGS OF MEMBERS

•  The Annual General Meeting (hereinafter referred to as the “AGM”) of the Club shall be held on a Saturday or Sunday in April, at a time and place to be selected by the Board of Directors.

•  Special meetings may be called by a majority vote of the Directors or by petition signed by 20 Club members who are in good standing. Upon receipt of the petition, the Directors shall give notice of a special meeting within 21 days. The meeting shall take place within 90 days of receipt of the petition at a time and place to be selected by the Board of Directors.

•  An agenda and notice of the time and place of every such annual general meeting or special meeting shall be given to each member in the Club's regular magazine, or by a separate mailing,

or by email, to the member's address as recorded on the books of the BTC, at least 30 days before the time appointed for the holding of such meeting.

•  Questions arising at any Annual or Special Meeting of members shall be decided by a majority vote of members in attendance. In cases of a tie, the Chairperson shall cast the deciding vote. Otherwise the Chairperson shall not vote on motions.

•  The number constituting a quorum for an Annual or Special Meeting shall be 20 members.

•  Membership meetings shall be conducted in conformity with these By-laws and the BTC By-laws and according to Robert's Rules of Order.

•  NOMINATION AND ELECTION OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS

•  The Board of Directors shall appoint a Nominating Committee from among the members of the Club which shall produce a slate of members in good standing who are willing to serve on the Board of Directors of the Club. These nominees shall be subject to election at the Annual General Meeting.

•  Election to the Board of Directors shall be by acclamation, or by ballot of those attending the Annual General Meeting.

•  The Board of Directors shall hold office for one year.

•  The inaugural meeting of the Board of Directors shall be held immediately following the conclusion of the AGM.

•  DUTIES OF BOARD OF DIRECTORS

•  At its inaugural meeting the Board of Directors shall elect from its members the following positions: President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Director from Club, Trail Co-ordinator, Landowner Relations Director, Land Stewardship Co-ordinator, Volunteer Co-ordinator, Membership Director, Hiking Director, Social Convener(s), Publicity Director, and such other positions as the Board of Directors shall from time to time determine.

•  Duties for Club President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer are as described below and as assigned by the Board of Directors.

President: The President shall have the direction of the affairs of the Club, subject to its By-laws; shall prepare agendas and preside at all meetings of the Board and at all meetings of members if no other person is appointed; may attend committee meetings in an ex officio capacity; shall prepare and present a report on behalf of the Club to the BTC at its Annual General Meeting; and may assign duties to the Vice-President.

Vice-President: The Vice-President shall assist the President in the duties of that office; shall assume the duties of the President during the President's absence or inability to function; and may attend committee meetings in an ex officio capacity. The Vice-President shall normally be the President Elect.

Secretary: The Secretary shall be responsible for recording and distribution of the minutes of all Annual and Special General Meetings of the Club and of the Board of Directors; shall notify members of the Club and of the Board of the time and place of all meetings; shall be responsible for keeping a record of the names, email addresses and phone numbers of Directors; and shall perform such other duties as may be assigned by the Board.

Treasurer: The Treasurer shall be responsible to the Board of Directors for the custody of the funds of the Club; shall present at each Annual General Meeting a statement showing the receipts and disbursements of the Club for the preceding year; shall present at each Annual General Meeting a budget for the current calendar year; shall present a financial report to the Board at each meeting of the Board of Directors; shall pay all approved bills; shall ensure that all monies received for Club activities are credited to the Club; and shall perform such other duties in connection with the finances of the Club as the Board may require.

•  Support Volunteer Positions:

•  At its first meeting following the Annual General Meeting, or at subsequent meetings, the Board of Directors shall appoint from its members, or from the general membership, persons to fill Support Volunteer positions.

•  Support Volunteer positions shall include Archivist, Fundraising Co-ordinator, Tuesday Hike Co-ordinator, Webmaster, Website Liaison, Newsletter Editor, E-Newsletter Editor, Advertising Co-ordinator, Trail Maintenance Quadrant Leader, or any other position as may be required by the Board of Directors.

•  Support Volunteers shall hold office for one year.

•  During their term of office, Support Volunteers shall be entitled to full voting rights at meetings of the Board of Directors.

•  Past President

The Immediate Past President will be ex officio a member of the Board.

•  Signing Authority

Cheques must be signed by any two of the following: President, Vice-President, or Treasurer.

•  AMENDMENTS TO CLUB BY-LAWS

Amendments to the Club bylaws may be made by the Board of Directors, and must be approved by a majority vote of the members at the next Annual or Special Meeting.

•  FISCAL YEAR

The fiscal year of the Club shall be from January 1 to December 31 of each year.

The financial records shall be reviewed at the end of each fiscal year by an individual approved by the Board of Directors. The results of such review shall be presented to the Board of Directors.

•  DISSOLUTION

Upon the dissolution of the Club and after payment of all debts and liabilities, the remaining property of the Club shall become the property of the BTC.

13) ADOPTION

These by-laws shall be adopted upon the approval of a majority of the members voting on their adoption at the 2011 Annual General Meeting.

President's Report – 2011 Annual General Meeting

Today is a perfect time to review the past year and to look ahead.  With the help of our club's dedicated Board of Directors and Support Volunteers, I have been afforded the opportunity over the past year to focus on some of the areas that are of special interest to me, particularly effective communications and organizational structure.   I have always been dedicated to the importance of good, effective communication within the Board, with club members and with the community at large. My goals as President have been to better utilize the Cal e-News, the Caledon Comment and the website, and also to investigate additional outreach methods. I firmly believe that we must continue to bring the club into the electronic age in order to attract new members.

From a member's point of view, I hope you have all enjoyed this year's editions of the Caledon Comment. The club has invested in full colour front and back pages, and we now use PMF (Properly Managed Forest Products) paper. There is never a lack of good quality material to include in our newsletter, and the final product is proving to be an excellent outreach tool. Our “green” emailing list grows with each edition, and now approximately 120 people receive a full colour email edition, both reducing our mailing costs and saving paper. It takes a committee of five dedicated people, plus contributors, to produce each edition of today's Caledon Comment.

In February a new, updated version of Cal e-News was introduced. As our new Cal e-News editor becomes more familiar with the club, you can look forward to expanded use of this tool to promote the club and the Bruce Trail Conservancy.

Our club website is also an extremely important outreach tool. I often hear from new members that their first point of contact with our club was through our website. Ensuring that the website is vibrant, attractive and meaningful to users is crucial to the ongoing success of the club. Several members of the Board spend countless hours each month keeping our website topical, interesting and accurate. This is a never-ending task which becomes even more time-consuming as club activities expand.

A new undertaking this year is an Electronic Waste Collection Event, taking place on April 30 th at Caledon Fairgrounds. While there is a fundraising component, the main purpose of this event is community outreach. By hosting an e-waste collection we can promote the Bruce Trail Conservancy as an environmentally responsible organization to members of the general public through means other than hiking. This is an excellent opportunity to put our name out into the community for an extremely important and worthwhile cause. The club is partnering with Sims Recycling Solutions, an international company with strong credentials in the recycling industry. Everything collected is recycled. Nothing is diverted to landfill or shipped overseas to foreign landfills. You are all asked to help get the word out about this important environmental program, and a flyer is included in this package with all the details. Please sign up on the list on the wall to get an email version of the flyer that you can also distribute to your family and friends.

Another major undertaking this year was the drafting of club by-laws. Entering 2011, seven of the nine clubs had by-laws in place, and the BTC recommended that every club should have by-laws, so the process of writing a set for Caledon was begun. At the March 12, 2011 meeting of the Caledon Board of Directors, the attached by-laws were approved unanimously. Peter Leeney will be tabling a motion today that these by-laws be approved and adopted by the membership.

With an incredibly competent Board of Directors and underlying Support Volunteers, the oversight of the day to day operations of the club has been a most enjoyable experience for me. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every Board member and Support Volunteer, those who are retiring and those who are standing for election again today, for the heartwarming dedication each has shown to our club. As a small example of how much time and energy this group of people devotes to our club, consider the following: Last Fall, I was asked to summarize the number of volunteers and the approximate amount of time volunteers spent organizing and carrying out our Bruce Trail Day activities at Forks of the Credit Park which saw over 300 participants. The answer: about 227 hours involving 29 volunteers! I am sure you will agree that this is an amazing bit of information. It is indicative of an incredible generosity of spirit shown by some very dedicated people. I have chosen not to speak specifically about individual volunteers, though all are worthy. I assure you I could spend a great deal of time directing praise towards lots of people, many of whom are here today. I will defer that task to the next issue of the Caledon Comment.

I will end with the assurance that I am looking forward to working with each and every one of this year's slate of candidates in the year ahead. We will all be doing our best to preserve, protect and promote our beautiful section of the Niagara Escarpment in the Caledon Hills.

Jean Kerins, President
April 3, 2011

Hike Coordinator's Report - Submitted by Joan Richard

Over 160 hikes were listed in the Caledon Comment, the club's newsletter, with a few more hikes being added to the website listings closer to the actual hiking date. There are over 40 active leaders listing hikes with our club. We have continued to post all the hikes on the website, which attracts new people who may become members. While the Bruce Trail Conservancy is about conservation, the public sees the trail as a hiking opportunity, and many people like to hike in guided groups.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my assistant Farrukh Husain, who does the hard work of converting the various leaders' entries into the readable format you see in the hike listings.

I would also like to thank all the hike leaders who have submitted and led hikes. Being a hike leader is an important responsibility and the hike leaders who represent Caledon Hills BTC to the world do the club proud. I would like particularly to acknowledge Charlie Atkinson and Albert McMaster. Charlie led hikes with few exceptions every other Friday, as well as an end-to-end series in the Peninsula last summer. Albert has filled in any hole in the schedule, mostly on Tuesdays, and he has also tried out our new initiative of listing hikes on the web which are not in the newsletter, and posting them in the Cal E News. Albert and Charlie are also the first people I call on when another leader becomes unavailable or any crisis or unusual situation occurs. They are very knowledgeable and reliable and a great support to me in this role.

And finally, I would like to thank all those hikers who come out on the group hikes. It is quite rewarding for a leader to see a crowd, or even a few hearty souls on a less than fair day. Happy hiking.

Tuesday Hike Coordinator Report - Submitted by Marilyn Ross

In spring and fall 2010, six hikes were set up to allow the Tuesday hiking group to complete the Caledon section End to End. Four hikers received the End to End badge for their acomplishment. This spring and fall, five hikes have been set up for completing the Dufferin Section End to End. Two will be this spring: Apr 12 and Apr 26. Three hikes will be in the fall.

Winter hiking is now a part of our Tuesday hiking program and it has been very successful this year: our second year of offering these hikes. These hikes have been enjoyed by 22 hikers on our ‘warmer' winter days (-8c) and 5 hikers on the coldest day (-15c).

We have introduced work party days on one Tuesday in the spring and one in the fall whenever possible. This has given the Tuesday hikers an opportunity to help maintain our great trail that we all enjoy hiking on. June 21 2011, we will be participating in trimming/ pruning our Christmas trees at Hockleycrest Farm. The sale of Christmas Trees is one of our biggest fund raisers each year for the Caledon Section of the Bruce Trail.

The Tuesday Hikers contribute each week to the Loonie fund. This money goes towards the purchase of land for the Bruce Trail to secure our trail system.

Membership Coordinator's Report – Submitted by Roy Parry

Club membership has risen gradually from around 800 at the end of 2009 to 850 - 860 at the end of 2010. Bruce Trail Day 2010 was outstandingly successful, thanks in part at least to the roadworks on the Forks of the Credit Road , which diverted a lot of the traffic out to see the Fall colours around Belfountain, onto McLaren Road . Seeing our signs at the road, many turned in to investigate. On learning that there was a barbecue operating, and a supply of pop, a large enough number (especially those with children!) stayed, resulting in 10 new members on the spot, and several more promising to join. New members in October were about double the usual number.

"It's better to be lucky than smart!"

We have continued to seek growth in membership by keeping current members longer as well as by signing up new members. We know that a lot of people do not renew at the end of their first year. Firm numbers are a bit difficult to pin down, as there is also a significant number who rejoin after a shorter or longer interval, but it is thought to be typically in the range of 30 to 40 percent. Since January 2010, letters have been sent to new members a few weeks before their first renewal is due, outlining the progress that their membership has contributed to, and urging them to renew. It's too soon as yet to assess if this is making any difference; 138 new members joined in the nine months March to November 2009, and 45 new members lapsed in 2010, 33%.

The Membership Telephone committee has continued its "Welcome" calls to new members, and its "What's the problem?" calls to people who have lapsed. Currently the committee members are:

Eleanor Chambers
Jean Trask
Trude Schweigl
Sallie Smyth
Phil Kidston
Their contribution is very much appreciated.

Eleanor has served on the committee since December 2000, which has been recognised by an Ontario Volunteer Service Award. (Unfortunately, Eleanor was not free last Thursday to go to the presentation.)

We found over a 12-month period during 2009/2010 that 10 lapsed members on our calling lists subsequently re-joined, representing a success rate of about 10% - modest, but useful, especially considering that the ex-members have already been subjected to a mini-blizzard of mail from the BTC - and then on top of all that they get a phone call from us!