Minutes of the West Shore Parks and Recreation Society Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes from the January 21, 2021, board meeting of the WSPR Society, including elections and financial reports.
Minutes of the West Shore Parks and Recreation Society Board of Directors Meeting
Thursday, January 21st, 2021 via Microsoft Teams
PRESENT: Directors Kyara Kahakauwila (Chair), Leslie Anderson, Roger Wade, Stewart Parkinson, Damian Kowalewich
ABSENT: N/A
STAFF PRESENT: Grant Brown, Administrator Wade Davies, Operations Manager Geoff Welham, Manager of Recreation Ben Currie, Manager of Administration and Finance April Luchinski, Human Resources Advisor Chantelle Bremner, Recorder
PUBLIC PRESENT: N/A
CALL TO ORDER
- The chair called the meeting to order at 5:41pm.
ELECTION OF OFFICERS
- Grant Brown, administrator started the election of officers.
a) Chair
Nominations were called for chair. Director, Stewart Parkinson nominated Director, Kyara Kahakauwila (seconded by Director, Damian Kowalewich). Director, Kyara Kahakauwila accepted the nomination.
The administrator called three times for further nominations and hearing none, Director, Kyara Kahakauwila was elected as chair.
Director, Kyara Kahakauwila assumed the chair at this time.
b) Vice-Chair
Nominations were called for vice-chair. Director, Stewart Parkinson nominated Director, Damian Kowalewich (seconded by Director, Roger Wade). Director, Damian Kowalewich accepted the nomination.
The chair called three times for further nominations and hearing none, Director, Damian Kowalewich was elected as vice-chair.
c) Finance Chair
Nominations were called for finance chair. Director, Roger Wade nominated Director, Stewart Parkinson (seconded by Director, Leslie Anderson). Director, Stewart Parkinson accepted the nomination.
The chair called three times for further nominations and hearing none, Director, Stewart Parkinson was elected as finance chair.
APPOINTMENTS
- a) GVLRA Representative and Alternate Nominations were called for the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association Representative.
Director, Leslie Anderson nominated Director and chair, Kyara Kahakauwila (seconded by Director, Stewart Parkinson). Director and chair, Kyara Kahakauwila accepted the nomination.
Nominations were called for the Greater Victoria Labour Relations Association Representative Alternate.
Director, Roger Wade nominated Director, Leslie Anderson (seconded by Director, Stewart Parkinson). Director, Leslie Anderson accepted the nomination.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
- MOVED/SECONDED BY DIRECTORS ANDERSON AND WADE THAT THE AGENDA BE APPROVED AS PRESENTED. CARRIED
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
- MOVED/SECONDED BY DIRECTORS WADE AND ANDERSON THAT THE MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING HELD DECEMBER 10TH, 2020 BE APPROVED AS PRESENTED. NO ERRORS, NO OMMISIONS CARRIED
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
- N/A
CHAIRS REMARKS
- Kyara Kahakauwila, chair thanked the board for the opportunity to chair for the year.
STANDING COMMITTEES
8. a) Finance Committee Report
Stewart Parkinson, finance committee chair commented on the following:
- All five municipalities approved the COVID-19 Restart grant ask in order to providing funding for the reopening of the pool.
- A secondary COVID-19 Restart grant ask was discussed to provide additional funding to re-instate programming, positions, and other operational costs.
- Staff presented the 2020 year-end financial report.
MOVED/SECONDED BY DIRECTORS PARKINSON AND ANDERSON THAT THE SECOND CANADA-B.C. SAFE RESTART FUNDING ASK TOTALLING $372,000 BE PRESENTED TO COUNCILS FOR APPROVAL. CARRIED
OLD BUSINESS
- N/A
NEW BUSINESS
- N/A
FOR INFORMATION
11. a) JDF Improvement Project
Wade Davies, manager of operations commented on the following:
Tenders were received for the construction services for the JDF Arena improvement project. A decision will be made within the week.
b) JDF Childcare Centre Project
Geoff Welham, manager of recreation commented on the following:
An artist’s rendering was done on the Childcare Centre and will be posted on the WSPR website.
c) Administrator’s Report
Grant Brown, administrator reported the following highlights:
Administration/Human Resources The competition for the JDF arena construction work was posted on BCBid in late December and closes on January 19th. Once the contract is awarded, work will begin in the coming weeks.
Each year the WSPRS staff work with the food bank to adopt a few families. Due to COVID-19, our participation was quite different, however the results were the same. WSPRS staff were able to raise over $1,000 to donate to the Goldstream Food Bank. Departments pooled donations from staff in their areas to create beautiful and fun baskets as prizes along with a number of donated items from the pottery studio. Tickets were sold and draws were done to award the baskets and donated items to staff.
The finance team completed the 2021 Financial Plan and COVID-19 restart grant request for opening the pool. Focus has shifted to the secondary request from the COVID-19 restart grant and 2020 year-end processes. Goals for 2021 include updating the procurement policy and practices, and streamlining the revenue and expense tracking and budget forecasts.
Our Collective Agreement expired on December 31st 2020. Staff and the GVLRA will be meeting shortly to discuss negotiations.
Operations
Maintenance The large air handling unit replacement for the pool is complete, with only the commissioning of the heat recovery system remaining. The company is located in the U.S. and the border closure has made scheduling challenging.
Staff have worked tirelessly to prepare the pool for re-opening following a 10-month closure. The pool deck and changerooms have been cleaned and equipment restarted and tested.
On December 22nd our onsite high voltage electrical system failed late morning resulting in the cancellation of all scheduled rentals and programs that day. Staff remained onsite contacting patrons and completing available work. High voltage contractors were onsite in the early evening and were able to reinstate power to all areas with the exception of the lower fields and washrooms. Contractors were back onsite in early January to diagnose the problem and are providing a workplan to correct the issue.
Parks The parks department has moved into their off season with reduced staffing. They continue to maintain the fields and golf course, developing workplans for 2021.
Programs
Community Recreation Winter break camps ran from Dec 21 - 23 and Dec 28 - 30 with approximately 40 children in the daily registration camps with another 8 taking part in Aspiring Artist and 5 in horseback riding.
The pottery studio closed on December 13th in preparation for the move to the Centennial Centre for Arts, Culture and Community. The new pottery studio is set to open mid-January.
With the release of the Activity Guide in December, information was included on the upcoming daycare, preschool and afterschool care registration processes. An 'Application of Interest' form for daycare spots will be released on February 1st and families notified by April 15th that a space has been held for them. Registrations for the new licensed spaces cannot be finalized until Island Health has approved the operating license which will be on completion of the build and submission of all necessary documentation.
Staff are working with the Francophone Society of Victoria to submit a grant application to support a pilot project to incorporate French programming in the childcare programs. The plan is to launch an online survey and town hall to determine the French programming needs of families in the West Shore.
Aquatics, Fitness and Weights Upon the release of new provincial guidelines on the safe resumption of low intensity group fitness, staff worked diligently to make modifications and offer as many fitness programs as possible to our community. While high intensity group fitness programming remains suspended indefinitely, 80% of programming has been successfully modified to continue within current restrictions. Fitness programs resumed the week of January 11th with decent registrations despite the ongoing restrictions.
Planning for the re-opening of the pool is well underway. Safety plans are in place, a schedule has been developed, and all swim clubs and groups which had weekly scheduled pool space will be returning to the pool when it re-opens. Staff training was conducted Jan 8th through 15th with a staff family swim being scheduled on Jan 16th as a dry run for the lifeguards and to make sure all of our COVID-19 safety protocols were in place and ready for patrons on Jan 20th when we open for public.
Programming has been modified to adhere to all public health guidelines, and will include the requirement to reserve pool access in advance. Reduced capacities and changes to admission processes and changeroom access are also in place. Swimming lessons are scheduled to resume in 3 phases, phase 1, which will begin February 1st, will be private class bookings. Private class bookings can be used as a private or semi-private lesson, or family/small group lessons with a maximum of 3 swimmers. Phase 2 of swimming lessons, which consists of modified group lessons, is planned to begin in April. For both phase 1 and 2 of swimming lessons, staff will teach from the pool deck and additional in-water support by a parent or guardian is required for children under 6 and those in beginner levels.
Sports The public skates in the Q Centre have been a hit so far. Filling up most Fridays and having waitlists. The program team added 3 public skates for Christmas Eve and they all filled with waitlists. There have been continued challenges with the COVID-19 restrictions and the adult teams losing their ice. The daytime Oldtimers ice has been scooped up by other users. Where youth groups didn’t pick up the ice, PowerWest Athletics has and they continue to be very busy.
The Indoor Sports Complex (ISC) has its first volleyball bookings starting in January and youth basketball use continues to be a popular use of the space. The sports staff had some more challenges with COVID-19 restrictions in the ISC but are still trying to offer some options for 1:1 pickleball.
The golf course has continued to be busy with the following summary of statistics to close the year of 2020. October: 3,714 rounds - 4th best ever October, November 2,318 rounds - 4th best ever November and December: 1,747 rounds. The golf course has been keeping statistics since 1,999. Since September 1st, the Pro Shop has sold 1,027 beer and cider but only 858 non-alcoholic beverages.
Food & Beverage Throughout 2020 the F&B team has produced and distributed over 10,000 meals to members of the West Shore community. As well, $9,400 ($50 denominations) in grocery gift cards were distributed to our LIFE clients. SD62, VIHA Young Mothers and other agencies that have been working with us also received grocery cards. The F&B team will continue to seek funding in order to continue this program in 2021.
IN CAMERA
- N/A
ADJOURNMENT
- MOVED/SECONDED BY DIRECTORS WADE AND ANDERSON THAT THE MEETING BE ADJOURNED AT 6:05PM. CARRIED