Board of Directors Reports

Board Report

July to September 2024

It is hard to believe that it is September already. This summer seems to have flown by so quickly. It was only in July that we attended our last GMM and reviewed the audit. Historically, your Board of Directors would have taken the summer off and with the support of the office managed the day-to-day operations without Board meetings. 

To quote Bob Dylan “the times are a changing” especially with adapting to the expectations of CHF (Canadian Housing Federation) and the legislation of new Organizational and Occupancy By Laws back in September of 2023, internal transfers, changes to the election process, the development of new committees, and managing community complaints. So, for this summer the Board not only met for their regular meetings but additional sessions to cover the complexity of change.

Changes in Occupational and Organizational Bylaws 

In the later part of 2023, the Canadian Housing Federation recognized that many cooperatives’ bylaws did not outline how electronic meetings and elections were to be managed. Our cooperative like many had to create a system that helped us manage the social limitations that fostered around the years of COVID.  Once COVID restrictions were lifted then CHF indicated that changes were going to be made to the Occupancy Agreement and Organizational Bylaws to include management of electronic meetings and the election process.

While changes were being made to parts of the Occupancy and Organizational Agreement, CHF proposed and presented a full version of these agreements to the governing bodies. This was then passed and legislated as how cooperatives would function.   Because it was legislated there are only a few things that can be changed, e.g. late payment fees, etc. Our Board had been waiting on the finalization of this process and have been reviewing this material in separate afternoon meetings throughout the summer. 

It is for this reason that at this GMM we have asked Dawn Richarson from CHF to present the Organizational Bylaws for your vote and approval. It is important to note that all Cooperatives must have an Organizational Bylaw and that the one we are presenting has already been passed with CHF. In the very near future the Board will be presenting the Occupancy Agreement Bylaws.

The Election Process

As a coop we have been habituated to run elections in a very specific manner. This included announcing an election, taking nominations from the floor, and asking members if they are in support of themselves being nominated. The June elections were delayed as we were informed that we had to run the elections according to the updated bylaws. This meant organizing an election committee or an election officer. The entire process was a learning curve and required periodic consultation with CHF.

Change of office staff and Senior Management

Your Board of Directors have been meeting with APEX around staffing to fill Emily McAleer’s resignation. We were very fortunate that Bryanna Mitchell who was a current APEX employee and working at another local cooperative was open to transitioning to KVC. She came with experience and a deep understanding of policies and how cooperatives run. Your Board was also able to negotiate with APEX for the return of Angie Carson, Senior Manager with APEX. Angie comes with vast experience and is always willing to chip in and support our coop in what even means she can. 

Meeting with Bill regarding budget information and future presentations 

After our last GMM your Board of Directors requested a meeting with Bill Coleman to discuss budget presentations and what maybe helpful to our membership when presenting at GMM and our annual Budget meetings. We have been collaborating with Angie Carson in this regard. We heard you in our last meeting that you wanted more than an annual update and so you will see in your current package the most recent summarized information. 

Building Conditions Assessment & Quwa Smart Services

Quwa engineering Services who are doing studies to see how much we could reduce green house gas emissions and increase climate resilience in our co-op have been here several times this summer to do thermal testing, measurements of windows, doors, heating, water heating, and insulation, etc. They have also updated our Building Condition Assessment. When the studies are done, we will be submitting all this input to CMHC to see if we could qualify for the retrofit funding that they are offering to eligible co-ops. This would allow us to proceed with upgrading or replacing a lot of dated and inefficient material in our units. 

Internal Transfers and Vacancies

For many years there have not been any vacancies. I remember Dan in unit 12 saying that he had to wait 5 years to return to the cooperative. The same can not be said over the recent year where there have been a series of losses and moves outside of the cooperative. In each instance this has meant that the units have had to be inspected and things like kitchen counters or flooring upgraded. The internal transfer list was exhausted in the process and so now the Board is looking at interviewing a series of individuals who have been sitting on the external waiting list for years.

This has meant delays in filling units, increase in expenses around refurbishing them and our staff person trying to sort out a very disorganized waitlist. 

Speed Bumps

The Board of Directors and the Landscape committee would like to acknowledge and honour Tyson Crawford, Sierra Teatro and their children for painting most of the speed bumps in our community. This contribution impacted on us all in that their volunteer time meant one less person we would have to hire to complete a task. Thank you, Tyson, and Sierra.

What Next?

The Board will continue to move forward with bylaws, the budget proposal for 2025, Quwa Services, training board members and too many other activities and expectations to even mention.

Cooperatively yours,

KVC Board of Directors