New board members Dave Hargreaves , Andre Cassaubon, and Mark Garland sworn in at the 2025 AGM.
The 2025 Annual General Meeting was called to order in the SSAC Auditorium at 1:30pm on Wednesday March 12th. After a welcome and the singing of O Canada, the current Board of Directors was introduced. This was followed by a moment of silence for those beloved members, friends and family that had passed in the last year.
The voting member quorum was confirmed with the presence of 54 members who were 50 years of age or older. Motions to adopt the agenda and accept the Fall Membership Meeting minutes of October 23, 2024, were passed.
A motion from the Fall meeting was whether to approve the Purchase of a 2024 Ram 2500 ProMaster Smart Floor Wheelchair Accessible Van. Unfortunately, because we did not raise the funds adequate to cover the $39,000 downpayment, which was a requirement from the motion passed at the Fall meeting, we were unable to move forward with the purchase.
Treasurer’s Report
Treasurer Alison Kowalewski presented a favourable financial report, indicating that we have good monetary reserves and positive monthly balance sheets. She presented a statement of financial position as of December 31st, 2024. Please click here to view the statement.
President’s Report
Welcome and thank you to those who attended this important AGM. We have had a wonderful year and continue to attract new members because of the services and pleasant environment that we offer. As always, it is the approximately 150 volunteers that ensures our success. Last year I reported that we had 3 paid staff (Manager, Chef, Associate Chef) plus the contract janitor. Due to the increased demand for office services with the increase in membership to around 2,000 active members, it was necessary to hire an office manager. Pam Demers did a great job transitioning us and then training Heather Doré in the use of the MySeniorCenter system. We now have a manager of Operations & Engagement (Gill Smith) and a Front Desk administrator (Heather Doré). As well, in the food services area, there is an overwhelming demand for lunches and affordable frozen entrees. As a result, we now have increased the number of paid staff to a Chef, Sous Chef and 2 Associate Chefs.
This necessary increase in payroll is a pressing concern for our finances. However, we are currently in a good financial position and although we will need to be very diligent, we are confident we will be able to handle this extra strain.
This has been a year of great developments. In recent years it was obvious that we needed to formalize our human resources operations as our successes at the Centre necessitated hiring more staff. We were fortunate to have Birgit Stefani join the board last year and she has taken responsibility for and refined our human resources operations, building upon the excellent work by Chris Twaits.
This year we struck a Space Committee to consider how we could physically improve the centre to better serve our members. Fortunately, a new board member last year, Mark Patterson, is an architect and he has taken on the challenge of heading this committee. Plans are being considered for short- and long-term solutions to our issues, both inside and outside the Centre. Currently, the plan is to open up portions of the lounge wall to make service counters, diverting traffic from the corridor, yet maintaining adequate seating in the lounge.
We always strive to increase the safety of our members in any way we can. To this end we commissioned a comprehensive building inspection by Accurate Inspections. We received a very positive review with no major issues in our building or its envelope. There was a wiring issue in the kitchen which has been addressed and a list of small repairs/issues that super volunteer Bob Maveety has diligently worked his way through. We are also fortunate that David Goldsmith has stepped forward to coordinate maintenance issues moving forward.
In line with trying to make the Centre as safe a place to be as possible, we were fortunate to receive a grant from the Sunshine Coast Foundation this past year to purchase a second AED and two first aid kits, as well as funds to train 28 staff and volunteers in AED use and basic first aid.
In the second part of last year, we started to use online software called MyActiveCenter. The intention was to allow as a first test case, Pickleball players to register and pay for their playing sessions online. To cut a long story short, it did not deliver as we expected, so we have discontinued its use. Pickleballers can now register for sessions through an app called Spond, kindly administered for us by Sally Walters. Thanks to Sally for taking on this quite considerable task. Now, when players arrive for a session, they use the usual MSC scan-in to pay for their session.
With the challenges to our finances that we face, the online 50/50 started in January of this year is a very important source of income. We are striving to improve promotion to maximise jackpot size. If you would like to help promote the 50/50 in any way contact Richard at .
We are looking forward to a wonderful year making the Centre the best it can be to serve the multitude of needs of our members.
Election of New Board Members.
Outgoing board members Susan Grenville, Lisa Brown and Bert Carswell were thanked for their tremendous contributions over the previous years. As quorum was achieved with 54 voting members being present, the election could continue. Only part of the board was up for renewal as we transitioned into all board members being on a 2-year term but with an approximately 50% split with overlapping terms. At future elections there will always be a refreshing of roughly 50% of the board.
Candidates made brief statements, followed by voting by secret ballot. A refreshment break ensued while ballots were counted, and results were announced.
Of the positions vacant, Dave Hargreaves was acclaimed as Vice President, and there were 5 candidates for the 4 Director-at-large positions available. In a very close vote Marilin Haines was not elected. Birgit Stefani, Mark Patterson, Andre Cassaubon and Mark Garland were successful in securing their positions. We need to thank all the candidates for stepping up for the election. Ours is very much a working board with members serving invaluable roles in our operations. After the new board members were sworn in, the meeting was adjourned.
