CELOS AGM Nov.27, 2017

7.30PM - 9.30 PM November 27 2017

242 Havelock St., Toronto

Attending:

Board directors: Peter Thillaye (president), Matt Leitold, Jane Lowbeer (vice-president), Lea Ambros, Lily Weston, Jane Price (treasurer), Ann Bjorseth, Chris Sternberg. Jutta Mason (administrator).

Guests: David Cayley, David Rothberg, Belinda Cole

Regrets:

Mayssan Shuja Uddin (CELOS consultant), Daniela Harris (Youth Rep) Mary Jane Young (director).

1. Acceptance of previous year (2016) minutes:

The May 2, 2016 AGM minutes were read out by Matt Leitold. Motion to accept: Lea Ambros. Second: Jane Lowbeer

2. elections

No board members resigned, entire slate stands again. Motion to accept: Peter Thillaye. Second: Lea Ambros.

3. Financial report [preliminary]:

(Balance and Profit and Loss) reported on by Jutta. - no final statement as yet as the year end had not been reached.

- This past year, Jutta and Mayssan worked to record more of the CELOS financial history, going back from 2016 to 1999. The finances are publicly posted on the celos.ca website, in the Finances section.

Trustee groups:
- starting in 2016 and ending in 2017, CELOS was Trustee for two neighbourhood public space grants, for

- a Live Green garden grant (City of Toronto) secured by Kristen Fahrig for Botanicus Art Ensemble (BAE) at MacGregor Park, and

- for a smaller "West End Garden Corridor" grant from TD Friends of the Environment for front-yard gardens, under Dyan Marie.

The final report for Botanicus is posted here. Michelle Webb wrote the report, soon after Kristen Fahrig died.

Before she died, Kristen said that her big hope was that the half-finished archway for MacGregor could be completed and installed. The family let it be known that CELOS would give charitable receipts for archway donations. By the end of 2017, $1795.50 had come in, plus the final installment of $2,606.20 from Live Green, which can also be used for the archway. Discussions have started, also about what will happen to BAE now.

The final report for the Garden Corridor is posted here.

Jutta continues to track the remarkable increase in city spending at Dufferin Grove since the park was “harmonized” back into the hierarchy. This tracking involves a lot of freedom of information requests.

Comment by Recreation manager Sue Bartleman at a public meeting: “at least now we know where the money is going.” The implication was that when CELOS was involved, the book-keeping was murky, but now it’s clear and transparent. However, despite the $71 million the city spent since 2006 on new SAP software, the city budget for Dufferin Grove is not at all clear.

In April or early May there will be a meeting of the board to examine the final financial report and vote on it. Voting by email is permitted.

Motion to accept the interim financial description: Jane Price. Second: Lily Weston Nov 27th 2017

4. General discussion

The skate park continued to be very popular, and the older guys did lots of building and repairing.

Beginning on September 11, 2017 and continuing on after the year ended, the CELOS skate loan collection was our focus. The question highlighted by this example is the capacity of PFR to move from a culture of "no" back to a culture of "let's make it work." David Rothberg donated $3000 to help get skate lending started at Regent Rink. Although that only resulted in two events, the publicity around the donation may be what inspired Councillor Mike Layton to ask the Community Development and Recreation Committee to ask the Parks and Rec GM Janey Romoff to prepare a report on skate lending at city-run rinks. This is due in July 2018.

The “Dufferin Grove Park Revitalization Project” is still waiting on a decision, about which company will get the contract to plan the work. In the meantime, the “community resource group” has only met twice and will not meet again until the contract has been awarded.

5. Motion to adjourn:

Jane Lowbeer. Second: Matt Leitold Nov 27 2017

Back to CELOS 2017 financial records