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COMMUNITY OF MISCOUCHE
59TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
MARCH 15, 2016

1. OPENING OF MEETING
Chairperson, Peter Mallett called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M. and welcomed everyone in attendance to this our 59th annual meeting of the Community.

Present:

Peter Mallett – Chairperson
John Gillis – Councilor Ricky Myers – Councilor
Michelle Perry- Administrator
and: David MacFadyen and Jenna Dominey- Accountant – BDO Canada
And: Jason Woodbury – Fire Chief
And: 6 Residents and 2 non-resident
Absent: Joan Arsenault-Councilors

Ivan Blanchard- Vice Chairperson

2. MOMENT OF SILENCE
Chairperson Peter Mallett called for a moment of silence in memory of all residents of the Community who passed away during the past year.

3. ADOPTION OF MINUTES

MOTION moved by Sonny Dugay, seconded by Aubrey Arsenault and carried,
THAT the minutes of the March 19, 2015 Annual Meeting be approved
as presented.

4. BUSINESS ARISING
-No Business Arising

5. COUNCIL’S ANNUAL REPORT by Chairperson, Peter Mallett.

Welcome to our 59th Annual meeting I would first like to introduce our council Members. Pat MacLellan, Ricky Myers, John Gillis and myself Pater Mallett, we also have a new Administrator Michelle Perry. We also have our accounts from BDO David MacFadyen and Jenna Dominey.

During the past year Council members had another busy year working on behalf of our residents. Not only had we attended 12 regular monthly meetings and 17 special meetings held in the Community, Council members also attended numerous other meetings outside the Community with various individuals and organizations to discuss projects and issues relating to Community improvements and residents concerns. As well Pat MacLellan was nominated to be a representative of the Board of Directors of the Federation of PEI Municipalities.

During the past year there were 8 building permits issued which included the construction of 1 duplex dwellings, 1 detached wood chip heating building, 2 storage buildings, and 4 addition to existing structures , The total value of the building permits was $589,000.

We continue to grow as a Community and show a positive growth trend with many new families choosing to come and live in our Community, on behalf of my fellow Council members I wish to welcome all our new residents to our Community, as well as all our other residents, that as a Council we are always ready to listen to any concerns and suggestions they have.

Upgrades and improvements are continuing to be made to community owned properties on an ongoing basis. As well we have started sidewalks on Kelly drive with approximately 300 meters and also the ditch being filled in as well.

I am pleased to announce that the 2015 recipient of our Annual Community of Miscouche $1,000.00 Scholarship was awarded to community resident Melissa MacKay who was attending St Mary University in September of last year. Our congratulations go out to Melissa..

The Rec Center continues to be a going concern in our community under the guidance of our Rec Center Manager Robert Gallant. We would like to thank Robert for all his hard work. Not only does the Rec Center continue to provide a base for the religion classes and regular Blood Donor Clinics, the attendances at our regular weekly bingo’s are steadily growing. In addition we continue to have youth and adult activities at the Rec Center. Some of those activities now include archery classes which are overseen by Bruce Crabb. The Rec Center also continues to be rented out for numerous other activities including banquets, meetings and family gatherings. Council also continue to work with our Rec Center Manager and individual organizations to bring additional activities to the Rec Center. As well as Robert Gallant there are also a large number of individuals who have generously volunteered their time to help carry out activities at the Rec Center and we wish to thank all those volunteers for helping to make the Rec Centre such a valuable asset to our Community.

Continued monitoring of our sewer system is carried out on a regular basis and if any problems do arise we attempt to make the necessary repairs as soon as possible. Upgrades and improvements, when needed, are also carried out on our sewer system. Regular cleaning of our sewer mains is another essential element in keeping our sewer system operating properly. As in previous years we have continued with the rotational cleaning of several kilometers of our sewer mains and plan to continue with their annual rotational cleaning as well we hope to start video taping our lines to help keep our sewer system working properly. Overseeing the regular maintenance of our sewer system is done by our maintenance worker Bobby DesRoches and we wish to thank Bobby for the excellent work he does to see that our sewer system is in good working order.

In addition to our Municipal owned buildings, we also have playgrounds, parks and green spaces and these areas need to be maintained and kept clean on a regular basis and this work is also carried out by our maintenance worker, Bobby DesRoches.

We continue to try and keep our sidewalks clear of snow and this year has been much easier to do than last year, and we would like to thank Monty MacAusland for doing a great job this year.

Another essential part of our Community if our Fire Department. We continue to be very fortunate to have a group of firemen who are willing to continue volunteering their time to respond to our distress calls at any time of the day or night and in all kinds of weather. It is not until we find ourselves in an emergency situation that we realize that they are there to help us. Our volunteer firemen continue to spend numerous hours training to enhance their skills so that they learn how to best help us, whether that be as a firemen or as a medical first responder.
Our firemen continue to provide us, as well as the residents of the surrounding district with the peace of mind that they are ready and willing to respond to any emergency we may have.
Members of both the Communty Council and the Fire Department continue to work together to better serve the needs of our residents and as in previous years, upgrading and maintenance of fire fighting equipment is essential. Our Fire Chief, Jason Woodbury, will be providing you with a more detailed list of the upgrades and improvements that have occurred over the past year in his report. On behalf of my fellow Councillors and the residents of our Community, I wish to extend our sincere thanks to all our firemen for providing this essential service to us.

At this time I wish to thank my fellow Council members and Administrator, Judy Gallant, for their hard work and dedication to the Community and its residents during the past year and I look forward to working with you over the next year.

On behalf of myself and my fellow Council members I would also like to thank you, the residents of our Community for all your assistance and support during the past year and we look to working with you in the coming year. We also with to thank each and every one of you for helping to make our Community a great place to live.

MOTION moved by Peter Mallett, seconded by Julia Albert and carried,
THAT the Council’s annual report be approved.

6. FIRE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT presented by Fire Chief, Jason Woodbury.

Greetings my name is Jason Woodbury, I have been the Fire Chief for the past 7 years.

Our department has a strong membership with a total of 35 members including 5 Junior members. We are fortunate that we have a full competency of dedicated firefighters volunteering their time to server their community. Many community departments continue to struggle to retain firefighters in their communities. Again we are fortunate that we do not have that concern.

Mr. Paul Perry continues and was re elected in to the position of Deputy Fire Chief of the department at our annual meeting along with Adam Gallant our departments Training Officer. Our inter executive has changed I would like to welcome firefighter, Mitchell Myers as our newly elected Secretary. And thank Blaine Gallant for his term while in the secretary position.

Gary Myers, continues to oversee the safety in our department as our safety officer. Safety continues to be our priority for all our firefighters. We continue to ensure that all our firefighters

have the personal protective equipment necessary to work safely on emergency scenes. In addition, our officers continue to review and update polices / procedures.

As for training This year seen us have 1,103 man hours of in house training, with 59% attendance, an increase of 18 man hours and up 7% attendance from 2014. Training exercises for 2015 included SCBA search training, numerous medical training exercises, Vehicle extraction both classroom and hands on, Tool’s and power tool’s power point presentation and hands on, live fire portable fire extinguisher exercise, water shuttle training in our own department and with the Wellington Fire Department, full fire scene set up, rescue sled, hose and ladder setup, and a cism session. This year seen 3 of our members receive their Level 1 certificates, I would like to congratulate Jamie Cormier, Travis Gaudet, and Johnathan Myers for that. We also had 9 members receive their Medical First Responders. This coming year will see 4 of our members taking their Level 1, and 8 members renewing their Medical First Responders in November.

Currently we have 30 Volunteer firefighters in our department.
Tragically on May 14th, 2014 one of our own, Captain Mike was killed after returning back to his workplace after attending an emergency call out. This certainly devastated our department, Community, Province and within the fire service Nationally. On May 14 of this year our department will be hosting a memorial service at our hall to honor remember Captain Gallants service to the community. I extend my invitation to all of you to attend. In Addition, due to the dynamics of his death, He has been labeled as a Line of Duty Death and will also be hounded and remembered at the National Firefighters Memorial in Ottawa.

Over this past year we responded to a total of 61 emergency calls, they are as follows

Total Calls 61 Total Calls 100%
Medical 40 Medical 66%
MVC 4 MVC 7%
Structure Fires 2 Structure Fires 3%
Grass Fires 0 Grass Fires 0%
Alarm Calls 1 Alarm Calls 2%
Mutual Aid 4 Mutual Aid 7%
Rescues 0 Rescue 0%
Flu Fires 4 Flue Fires 7%
Vehicle Fire 1 Vehicle Fire 2%
Other 5 Other 8%

In comparison to 2014 our emergency calls has decreased by 6% for 2015.

Fleet:
The Miscouche Fire Department now operates and maintain 6 Emergency apparatus they include: 1 heavy rescue unit, 1 tanker and 2 pumpers and a Trail rescue sled. And this past year the department added a fast rescue unit to the fleet. The new addition of the fast rescue has been proven to be efficient and cost effective.
Apparatus maintenance continues to be a priority over the past years to ensure that all emergency vehicles are in good working order for the safety of the firefighters and to provide reliable fire protection to the communities.
We continue to have an extensive annual maintenance program for all our apparatus’s. The annual maintenance on the apparatus’s eliminates costly repairs.

Equipment:
Last year, the department purchased a new positive pressure fan. The new purchase will provide more efficient firefighting tactics when responding to structure fires. We continue to maintain the equipment that we have. Our larger equipment that we currently have goes through an annual preventive maintenance program this has been proven to eliminate costly repairs and ensure the equipment is in excellent working order during emergency calls.

The fire department continues to work closely with the Council of Miscouche and councils with in our fire district. Providing them with assistance’s at events and working on emergency planning. As always, I look forward to working with the community council in the year to come.

MOTION moved by Chief Jason Woodbury, seconded by Mike Nesbitt and carried,
THAT the Fire Departments annual report be approved as read.

7. PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF 2014 FINANCIAL STATEMENT

Copies of the 2014 Financial Statement which was prepared by BDO Chartered Accountants were distributed prior to the meeting. The Financial Statement was read over by our Accountant, David MacFadyen. The statement showed combined revenues of $438,111.00 for both general and sewer and combined expenses of $482,553.00 for both general and sewer for a deficiency of ($44,442.00). Mr. MacFadyen advised that the Community continues to be very stable and that the we are in a very strong position to be in as a Community. Mr. MacFadyen invited questions from the residents and none were presented.

MOTION moved by Julia Albert, seconded by Adam Gallant and carried,
THAT the 2014 Financial Statement be approved as presented.

8. PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF 2015 BUDGET

Copies of the 2016 Proposed Budget were passed out to the residents. Councilor Pat MacLellan read over the 2016 proposed Budget for the residents approval, item by item, as follows.

A) FIRE DEPARTMENT

MOTION moved by Julia Albert, seconded by Adam Gallant and carried THAT the Fire Dept budget be approved at $53,500.00 for administration and miscellaneous, $20,000.00 for truck maintenance, training and new equipment for a total of $73,500.00 and $25,000.00 be put in a reserve fund for future Fire Truck.

B) ADMINISTRATION

MOTION moved by Julia Albert, seconded by Adam Gallant and carried,
THAT the administration budget be set at $68,100.00.

C) RECREATION/Community services, street lights, Municipal Federation dues, professional fees, capital expenditures reserve fund, Rec Center operating expenses and debt retirement.

MOTION moved by Adam Gallant, seconded by Sonny Dugay and carried,
THAT Recreation/community services be set at $5,000,00, street lights and
signs be set at $20,000.00, Municipal Federation dues be set at $2,000.00, Professional
fees be set at $5,000.00, Reserve Fund for future capital expenditures be set at $25,000.00
Recreation Centre general operations expenses be set at $61,000.00, Capital expenses
for Municipal buildings, Recreation etc. be set at $50,000.00 and Cap Expenditures for
balance of Rec Centre improvement project be set at $24,100.00 for a total of $192,100.00.

The grand total of the 2015 general budget will be $358,700.00 for expenditures with an estimated
revenue of $378,000.00 for a surplus of $19,300.00.

F) SEWER

MOTION moved by Adam Gallant, seconded by Julia Albert and carried,
THAT the operation budget be set at $82,700.00, depreciation and debt
retirement at $29,000.00 for a total of $111,700.00 with a projected income of
$52,000.00 for a deficit of $59,700.00.

Question was asked if the Sewer dues would be going up. Peter answered that not this year but that IRAC may be calling to see about putting them up for next year.
9. NEW BUSINESS

– Kelly Drive – Sidewalk Extensions – The residents were also advised that Council is looking at the possibility of installing sidewalks another 400 meters up to Monaghan Street and that they have received an estimated cost of $230,000.00 and that we would receive about $160,000.00 in Gas Tax over the next year. Council was hoping that if it was tendered out that the cost would come back cheaper. They can also take out a loan at the credit Union and when the Gas Tax comes in then the loan will be paid. Resident wanted to know if they could wait a year to do it. Peter advised that they have to show that they are using the Gas Tax or they can stop giving it to them. There was concern about the part of Kelly drive that was already completed, and if was going to be completed. Peter advised that he spoke with Government and they are coming back in the spring to finish it as it was to late in the season when it was done last fall.

MOTION moved by Adam Gallant, seconded by Julia Albert and carried,
THAT the residents gave preliminary approval to do the sidewalks on Kelly Drive to Monaghan Street.

B) PARKING LOT ON MUSEUM SIDE
Council met with Government to see about having the pavement in the parking lot on the Museum side paved as it is in rough shape. They got a call from Sonny Gallant who would like to pass his regrets that he was unable to attend this meeting as he was in Montreal. Sonny was speaking with Steven Yeo from highways and he said that it was going to cost $25,000.00 for council share to do the parking lot, and that Sonny will give half of it $12,500.00 to have it paved.

MOTION moved by Mike Nesbitt, seconded by Adam Gallant and carried,
THAT the parking lot on the Museum side be paved.

10. OTHER BUSINESS
– 2 Door Prizes of $50.00 each were made.
The first ticket holder winner was Earl DesRoches and the second ticket holder winner was Jason Woodbury.

11. ADJOURNMENT

MOTION moved by Julia Albert, seconded by Mike Nesbitt and carried,
THAT the 59th annual meeting be adjourned.