Created Date: January 14, 2014
Category: AGM Minutes, Meeting Minutes
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January 14, 2014

Minutes for Tuesday, January 14, 2014
Meeting held in Kinsmen Pavilion at Richmond Nature Park, 7:30 PM

Annual General Meeting

There were 52 people present.
The president, Brian Campbell, welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm

  1. Welcome : Opening Remarks and Introduction
    • Brian welcomed the participants to our first actual AGM and gave opening remarks
    • This will be Brian’s last meeting as president and he reflected on the growth and changes he has seen in the club over the last few years and hopes for the future.
    • Brian introduced Hugh Mawby, who will be chairing the meeting, in order to run the elections and oversee voting on amendments. Hugh is very experienced from his running of council and strata meetings.
  2. Motion to approve AGENDA
    • Hugh confirmed “recognition of a quorum as 44 voting members were in attendance.
    • Len Soet made a motion to adopt the agenda and it was seconded by Steve Bailey
    • Motion carried
  3. Motion to approve and adopt Minutes of last AGM (regular) meeting.
    • No matters were arising from the minutes.
    • Eva Hoffman made a motion to approve the minutes of the November 2013 meeting and it was seconded by Steve Bailey
    • Motion carried
  4. REPORTs
    • President’s Report (Brian Campbell)
      1. Brian has seen tremendous growth over the last few years. Club has gone from its early days of 15 to 20 attendees to the present room full of people.
      2. It has been a challenge for the executive to find ways of engaging the membership as much as possible. The club has many knowledge and skilled people who can all make contributions to improve the club. Brian expressed appreciation to all members for their contributions.
      3. Brian spoke to one of the recent accomplishments of reregistering the club as a “Society’ after a lapse of a number of years. This was necessary for potential legal outcomes and to manage the club in a responsible way. The process of registering required a lot of work on composing and fine tuning the bylaws with member input. Members have been invited to read and make suggestions throughout the last few months.
      4. Highlights for Brian included the Field days where there was opportunity to meet and talk in more relaxed ways.
      5. Brian is still committed to the Skookum Bee project and sees it as a long term initiative to further bee health in our area.
    • Treasurer’s Report (Amanda Goodman Lee)
      1. Substantial Growth in club…we had 107 paid members for 2013
      2. Positive growth for the bank account, increase of $2,125.65 over this time last year. Present account balance is $5993.06.
      3. Statement of Income and Expenses for the year 2013 was presented. (copies circulated)
      4. Proposed budget for 2014 was also presented (Copies were circulated)
      5. Recommendations made in the budget included putting $2000 into a GIC and also purchasing a projector to facilitate club meetings
    • Vice-President’s Report (Lianne Shyry)
      1. Mentorship programs were well received when done half hour before meetings so Lianne would like to restart that program.
    • Iotron (Darlene Greco)
      1. Iotron is a concentrated electron beam which radiates equipment to kill disease and other pathogens.
      2. February 17th will be the week for drop off.
      3. Information for preparing equipment for Iotron will be presented at the next meeting.
      4. Last year there were 139 honey supers and 91 other pieces of equipment put through Iotron on behalf of the Bee Club
    • Norm Kapar
      1. City of Vancouver is preparing guidelines on ‘How to keep Bees in the City’
      2. Input is required from local beekeepers to set policy
      3. Contact Norm with ideas or to get involved
    • Coffee (Brian)
      1. Brian needs help with the coffee job and we are looking for someone to share the position.
      2. Storage of supplies is a problem as he has a very small place and some of the supplies need to be taken home between meetings
      3. Looking for another volunteer to help in this
    • Swarm List Report (Lee Wood)
      1. Apparently, public has a poor grasp of the difference between bees and wasps! ( is now asking if people can send a picture first)
      2. 19 people were on the list
      3. 8 people reported back that they caught swarms
      4. 8 captures for 23 attempts so about 34% success rate.
      5. Anyone interested can email Lee to be put on the list.
    • Motion to Receive all Reports
      1. Carolyn Parr made a motion to receive the given reports and it was seconded by Kelly McNeil
      2. Motion carried
  5. Budget Approval
    • Questions
      1. Directors Insurance to be obtained to protect members of the executive especially for field days.
      2. Darlene Greco suggested donation be made to Richmond Nature House to be earmarked for the Honey Bee program (for schools)
      3. This was previously standard years ago.
      4. Noted that Richmond Nature House gives us use of the facility for free
    • Amendment to Budget
      1. to include $500 donation to the Richmond Nature House to be used for the Honey Bee Program
      2. Motion Unanimously approved
    • Motion to Approve 2014 Budget with Amendment
    • Motion was carried
  6. Proposed changes to Bylaws
    • Amendment to include Past President as an executive position
    • Motion carried
    • Amendment that newsletter editor /webmaster be assigned a position on the executive of the RBA
    • Motion carried
  7. Election of New Officers of the Executive
    • Ballots were taken for members at large position , others positions were all filled by acclamation
    • 2014 Executive Positions
      1. President……………………………………… Amanda Goodman Lee
      2. Past President……………………………… Brian Campbell
      3. Vice President……………………………… Lianne Shyry
      4. Treasurer…………………………………….. Miriam Soet
      5. Secretary…………………………………….. Lindsay Dault
      6. Newsletter Editor (Webmaster)…….. Stephanie Imhoff
      7. Member –at –Large………………………. Carolyn Parr
      8. Member –at – Large……………………… Chris Monohan
  8. AOB (Any Other Business)
    • Fiona Gold made a motion regarding RBA endorsement for a petition of support Ontario Beekeepers looking for banning Neonicotinoids
      1. Info to be put in the newsletter for more information and tabled until the February meeting.
    • Members filled out a survey of how many hives have survived to this point of the winter. Results to be collated for next meeting by Hugh Mawby.
    • Amanda presented Brian with a Thank you gift in recognition of his years of service as President of the Club.
  9. Motion made to adjourn meeting at 9:08 p.m…. Carried
  10. Next Meeting: Tuesday February 11, 2014

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