Another exciting month has passed culminating in our Fall General Membership Meeting at 2 pm Wednesday, October 25th in the Auditorium. Included in the regular business proceedings was unanimous approval of the acceptance of Treasurer Alison Kowalewski’s positive provisional budget for 2024. The positions of new Board members who have joined since the March elections were ratified unanimously by members present. Congratulations to Mark Garland who had moved to Vice President, and new Directors-at-Large Chris O’Brennan, Susan Grenville and Chris Hadaway. Thank you so much for stepping up into these challenging roles.
Unfortunately, Maintenance Director Andy Koberwitz had to step down recently due to illness. We thank him for the great job he was doing for us. If you have experience in construction or any other aspect of building maintenance and want a challenge, please put yourself forward for consideration as Maintenance Director. The terms for all the Board positions will continue until the Annual General Meeting in March 2024. The names of the current Board members are shown in the SSAC General Information page on this website (click here to go there).
At the recent Fall General Meeting important changes to the SSAC constitution were voted through. These changes were made available on our website and paper copies in the office, well in advance of the meeting as required by the Societies Act.
The most significant change was in the length of term for Board positions. Up until now, Board positions have always been one year in length. However, after the 2025 AGM all positions will span two years. The intention is that at any AGM only about half of the positions will be up for election. This will ensure the Board will have experienced members to guide new Board members. To this end, at the March 2024 AGM, half of the positions will be two-year terms and the other half will only be for one-year terms. Then, at the 2025 AGM, only the one-year terms will be up for election (or re-election), but as two-year terms. Therefore, at subsequent AGMs, only half of the board will be up for election, with all members committed to two-year terms. This change in procedure will allow for greater Board continuity due to overlapping terms at each AGM.
At times, there is a line-up at the Greeter’s desk when paying cash or tickets to take part in a particular activity. To minimize wait times, please pay for your activity at the greeter’s desk using the correct activity ticket or exact change ($4 or $6). Paying with bills, particularly $20 bills, slows the process down considerably as the Greeter has a limited amount of change. So please be considerate and pay with the exact change.
I would like to draw your attention to the two laptop computers at the Lounge available for use by members during office hours. We are the only local organization encouraging computer literacy for older adults. In the lounge, there are two desks; one has a Windows 10-based PC with the Google search engine, which has a large screen for ease of viewing. The other is an Apple MacBook with Safari search software. Both have Microsoft Office 365 installed and come equipped with headphones to ensure quiet use of the computers and are run on our Centre WIFI system. Should you require assistance with either of the laptops, you can either complete a request form at the Reception desk or send an email to info@secheltactivitycentre.com to request to meet with a volunteer computer specialist. Also look out for an upcoming schedule of one-session courses on PowerPoint basics, Excel basics and an introduction to Facebook.
There are a lot of exciting new developments for the Centre. Please be patient with us as we deal with these changes and are striving to reach our goal of providing efficient comprehensive services. Our main goal always is that you have a welcoming place to come, for whatever your needs.
