Tuesday, October 5, 2004
Ottawa Hostel Outdoor Club

Present

Joan Ryan - President
Ken Zimmerman - Vice-President
Annette O'Young - Treasurer
Heather Macquarrie - Secretary
Kexing Liu - Canoeing Coordinator
Christopher Coupe - Skiing Coordinator
Danielle Bertrand - Snowshoe Coordinator
Sue Bayly - Equipment Coordinator
Steve Jackson - Webpage Consultant
Margot Gallant - Membership Secretary

Call to Order

Meeting called to order at 7:12 PM.

Explanation of error in 2003 Account Balance Reports. (See attached Letter.)  [Not available]

Acceptance of 2003 AGM Minutes. Motioned by Tony Wellman, seconded by Danielle Bertrand. All in favour. Motion passed.

Reports

President's Report

In her report, Joan pointed out that it takes over 200 people to run a club, and this year there were over 200 separate incidents of people volunteering their time to get things done. Presidential "thank-yous" go out to the Hostel for taking all the queries and calls, for permitting our mailbox in the lobby and allowing us one common address, to all the leaders, to Steve Jackson for the website, Belinda Briones for the Hotline, Tony Wellman for the newsletter and advertising, Meg Carson for the info cards, hiking coord and certificates, Jim Burgess for hosting all the parties, John Galbraith, Jim Fraser, and Will Creelman for doing the leadership training.

Coordinators Reports

See the attached reports.  [Not available]

Budget

Annette presented 2004-2005 proposed budget for approval.

Note the budget is underspent $850 (lack of interest in leadership trg?) Discussion of $4 membership contribution to Hostel and value for money: storage for equipment, meeting space. There was discussion of return on investment re: info cards. The increased expense should be recouped in 2005-06 when we will not have to purchase more cards. This is a trial. The cards seem to go slowly now, this could be tracked better next year. Moved we adopt the budget as is, including fee increase. Rate hike next year considered unlikely, the variable is the insurance.

Motion by Jim Fraser to accept budget, seconded by Moira Duschesne. All in favour. Passed.

Election of Officers

President - Thomas Geiger. Joan Ryan motioned, seconded by Ken Zimmerman. Acclaimed.

Vice-President - Joan Ryan. Ken Zimmerman motioned, seconded Sue Bayly. Acclaimed.

Membership Secretary - Margot Gallant. Danielle Bertrand motioned, seconded Annette O'Young. Acclaimed.

Treasurer - Christina Delguste. Ken Zimmerman motioned, Kexing Liu seconded. Acclaimed.

Secretary - Position vacant.

Hiking Coordinator - Ken Zimmerman and Moira Duchesne. Danielle Bertrand motioned, seconded Margot Gallant.

Secretarial Note: As both cannot be members of the executive, it was thought one person could be the primary coordinator. This was put to vote. Ken Zimmerman is elected primary coord. John Galbraith motioned, seconded Chris Coupe. Acclaimed.

Skiing Coordinator - Chris Coupe. Shaelah Riddell motioned, seconded Joan Ryan. Acclaimed.

Equipment Coordinator - Sue Bayly. Moira Duschesne motioned, seconded Mark Hetherington. Acclaimed.

Cycling Coordinator - Raynald Charest. Joan Ryan motioned, seconded Kexing Liu. Acclaimed.

Snowshoe Coordinator - Position Vacant.

Non-Executive Members

Social Coordinator - Denise Cayer

Hostel Clean-Up Coord - Paula Tozier

Newsletter - Hard Copy Mail-Out - Shaelah Riddell

Newsletter Dist - Tony

Hotline - vacant

Secretary - vacant

? - Denis Garnier

Other Business

Constitutional Amendments

Amendment #1

There was discussion about the lack of drivers on short trips. There have been complaints about expenses charged for longer trips. The Assembly is asked to vote either for Option A or Option B. Option A acknowledges that the rate has been in effect since at least 1997 and proposes increases to the rate in line with cost increases over the last 4 years. Option B does not change the rate but allows for it to increase annually.

The vote on Option A is 18/26 in favour. Option A passed.

Amendments #2 - 9 were individually voted and passed.

Amendment #10

The interpretation is that past-President would be a non-voting position. Motion failed. For some, this amendment poses difficulties.

Amendments #11-13. Passed.

Adjournment

Attachments

OHOC AGM 2003

2004 AGM List of Attendees [Not available]

2004 AGM Coordinators Reports [Not available]

Letter Re: Error in Budget Items 2002-2003 AGM [Not available]

We have now completed another interesting, exciting and successful activity year.  On behalf of the executive committee, I sincerely thank those members that have put in their time and contributed to leading our trips; without them we would not have been where we are.  I would also like to acknowledge all volunteers whether you have helped hotline, hostel yard cleaning, supplying the trip forms, or distributing club bulletins, your help is highly appreciated.  They are essential to sustain the club operations.      

Trip leader recruitment is no doubt our constant challenge.  The executives took on the challenge and come up with leader’s recruitment and appreciation nights which has been on e of the most effective ways to sign up leaders so far.

In addition to facilitate our outdoor activities and trips, the executives have also worked on three areas identified and directed by the last AGM.  

• Communications including publicity
  • Continued printed version of the club program as bulletin for the general public
  • Pubic announcements with Ottawa Outdoor Magazine and the Bytown Cinema
• Membership Survey
  • Mark has taken the initiative with several other committee members and created an online membership survey to better understand and address member needs
• Club Website
  • Steve has made major improvement on the activity listing section of the web

In the area of training and educational programs we have been working on the following:

• Clinics and courses on canoeing and cycling
  • Evening canoe clinics, day course for beginners, and day course for canoe rescue
  • Cycling safety course
• Leader information and recruitment with very good attendance
• Wilderness First Aid provided by SWM and attended by 9 members
• Background work with other organizations (not fully materialized)
  • Direct Bearing Corp
  • MEC

We have also reviewed, renewed and strengthened our relationship with the Hostelling International; with which we are associated.  We remain each other’s supporter and continue to benefit from each other’s activities.  

I would like to make the following recommendations to next year’s executive committee

• Continue recruiting leaders vigorously
• Continue working with the Hostel and enhance our relationship with them
• Register and acquire not-for profit organization status
• Establish a formal leadership training program and record keeping system for the trainees

Finally I would like to thank our members for the support and collaboration.  Most of all, I am greatly in debt to the executive team for their enthusiastic, productive and excellent work and their high team spirit.

As of Sept 15th, 2008 the club has 197 members of which 27 are HI-C OE members.

7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 27, 2008
The Library at Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa

Executive Present

Kexing Liu - President
Mark Hetherington - Vice-president
Thomas Geiger - Treasurer
Sherine El-Medani - Membership Secretary
Judy Flavin - Secretary
Raynald Charest - Cycling Co-ordinator
Claire Dormann - Snowshoe Co-ordinator
Tim Crook - Equipment Co-ordinator
Eddie Drueding - Hiking Co-ordinator
Sophie Gabard - Skiing co-ordinator

Members Present (including executive members)

27 members in total

Call to Order

7:08 pm Call to order

Adoption of the Agenda

Moved by Shaelah Riddell and seconded by Lorraine England. Carried.

Approval of Minutes of AGM 2007

Moved by Mark Hetherington and seconded by Ken Zimmerman. Carried.

President's Report

The President reported that all trips were successful, safe and without incident. The key accomplishments of the year were 1) the publicity program led by Mark Hetherington that included the bulletin, advertising, and the members' survey; ongoing improvement to the club website; and training and education sessions for members and leaders. The President's Report is attached.  [Not available]

Activity Reports

Brief activity reports are attached.

Vice-president and Publicity - Mark Hetherington
Hiking Co-ordinator - Eddie Drueding
Skiing Co-ordinator - Sophie Gabard
Snow-Shoeing Co-ordinator - Claire Dormann
Canoeing Co-ordinator - Barbara Muller
Cycling Co-ordinator - Raynald Charest
Equipment Co-ordinator - Tim Crook
Membership Secretary - Sherine El-Medani

Report by Hostelling International Ontario East Representative

Greg Brockmann, regional director of operations, thanked the members for better relations between hostel staff and club members. The hostel is having a better financial year than before, although it is considering other revenue-generating activities, such as holding events in the parking lot. Other storage for the OHOC canoes would be found, if necessary.

Treasurer's Report

Thomas Geiger presented the Treasurer's Report (attached). [Not available]  The 2009 budget is proposed to be much the same as 2008, with the exception of an increase in the budget for training.

Approval of 2008 - 2009 Budget

Moved by Marie-Reine Fournier and seconded by Raynald Charest.  Carried.

Approval of Membership and Activity Fees

No changes were proposed in the membership and activity fees for 2009:

• $30 general membership fee; $22 membership fee for Hostelling International Canada members
• $5 activity fee for non-members, $4 activity fee for Hostelling International Canada members
• $3 canoe fee
• $8.00 fee for multi-day trips, non-members

Discussion of whether mileage rates are sufficient, given gasoline prices; note made that the club's constitution sets the rate as a percentage of the federal rate. Members requested that the club's fees all be listed in one place on the web site and that the incoming executive consider whether a family rate could be developed for travel.

Break

Election of Officers

Nominations were taken from the floor for each position.

President - Mark Hetherington - acclaimed
Vice-President - Tim Crook - acclaimed
Treasurer - Raynald Charest - acclaimed
Secretary - Judy Flavin - acclaimed
Membership Secretary - John Galbraith - acclaimed
Canoe Coordinator - Paul Moses - acclaimed
Cycling Coordinator - Hilary Seddon - elected
Hiking Coordinator - Eddie Drueding - acclaimed
Skiing Coordinator - Sophie Gabard - acclaimed
Snowshoe Coordinator - Claire Dormann - acclaimed
Equipment Coordinator - Greg Griffith - acclaimed

Proposed Constitutional Amendments

Members requested that at the next AGM, that the executive propose an amendment that would permit minor constitutional changes to be approved at the AGM without the advance notice now required in the constitution, or to amend the constitution to delete the notice requirement.

Other Business

The meeting discussed the question of start times for weekend trips, which had been included in a members' poll.  Some members supported later start times and others supported no change in start times.  No motion from the floor.

The email newsletter was praised.  The frequency of the newsletter - weekly or biweekly - was proposed as a subject of a second members - poll.

Recognition and Awards

Gift certificates were provided to the following persons:

• Kevin Woodley, for marketing and advertising
• Jessica Thomson, for leading the Thanksgiving trip to Stowe for so many years
• Steve Jackson, for web support for the OHOC site
• Rob Burnfield, for organizing the night skiing trips in 2008
• Mary-Anne Olivares, for leading the Mont David trip
• Kexing Liu, for serving two years as President

Door Prizes

Draws were held for prizes donated by Bushtukah and MEC, and a gift basket from the hostel.

Adjourn

The meeting adjourned at 9:35 pm.

It has been my pleasure to serve as OHOC President this past year and as Vice President in the previous 2 years. Please rest assured that your club has been well-run, by volunteers who care genuinely about the club as well as about your input. Some highlights this year include:

• The new start-time is quite popular with most people.
• We now obtain a 10% discount at the Expedition Shoppe upon presentation of a membership card. This complements our existing Bushtukah discount.
• Our 'give back to the membership' Summer BBQ Bash was a load of laughs and was enjoyed by a lot of us. Ask Jim Burgess what creature's life he saved.
• Our membership numbers are up this year for the first time in 5 years.
• In response to member concerns, we have both updated and created policy for OHOC and we are now in a stronger position to meet the challenges of the future.
• I am just finishing the task of putting the OHOC archive on disk. This will help future Executives research both challenges and opportunities. Paul Moses has helped significantly with scanning.

I am particularly impressed by recent research by Tim Crook to determine whether or not official Not-for-Profit Status would be good for our club (it wouldn't) and ongoing research by Sophie Gabard about how and whether we should advertise on Facebook.com. Impressive too, have been the efforts of Paul Moses, Hilary Seddon, and others to develop new Leadership Training materials and the efforts of John Galbraith in diligently updating and administering our database. We owe him a lot. Just a few of the actions I have taken this year are as follows:

• had the Hostel correct inaccurate information about OHOC on its website.
• have begun advertising us on Craig?s List, which has brought in new members.
• phoned 109 non-renewing 2008 members and got some positive feedback. The bus strike, December to February, did impact willingness to renew.
• co-ordinated and participated in mailings to around 104 non-renewing 2007 members and an equal number of 2008 members. I designed a letter and we included it and a Bulletin. Volunteers were: John Galbraith, Greg Griffith, Shaelah Riddell, Tony Wellman, Min Lin, William Creelman and Jawaid Ismail. Hey, who says volunteering can't be fun?
• phoned all but 2 members in March to inform about the new outing start time.
• sent 70 individual emails to members with instructions about how to prevent their email services from viewing our Update emails as spam.
• discovered it's too expensive to list our Hotline in the phone book.
• spoke with a reporter from Centretown News about environmentalism and outdoor recreation. Of course, I talked about how great our club is.
• have created a document entitled Tips for Co-ordinators which I hope will help new co-ordinators in the future.
• have continued placing advertisements in the ByTowne Cinema Guide.
• have continued to take Bulletins to the printer and to be the main distributor.
• and, finally, I researched whether we should obtain professionally created Leadership Training materials. We decided against this mainly due to cost.

To date the hiking year has seen 40 hikes, with 17 total leaders, including 3 first-time leaders. I look forward to leading my 80th hike for the club next week. Most of the trails and destinations were ones that have been established over the past few years, although a new series of trails has been discovered NE of Lac Richard. This year, Tim led a trip to Franconia Notch State Park in New Hampshire's White Mountains, and Lorraine inaugurated an annual Adirondack weekend trip at the Rock and River Lodge, which offers the ambitious hiker L4 and L5 hikes.

I would like to thank all the leaders who volunteered their time to lead bike trips this year. I am extremely grateful to all those who volunteered and participated in the cycling program. We had a variety of fun and interesting bike trips led by our leaders in both the spring and summer seasons, with good member turnouts despite the rainy summer.

Destinations were chosen from all around the Ottawa/Gatineau area. The spring season started out with a ride to Manotick led by John Galbraith on April 4th and ended with the last summer cycling trip from Bells Corners to Ashton Pub led by Lorraine England on September 26th. Other trips throughout the spring and summer included Meech Lake, the Aylmer Marina and Petrie Island to name a few.

There were two weekend cycling trips, and I would like to thank all those who volunteered and participated in these trips. The first cycling trip was organized and led by Sophie Gabard to the Eastern Townships and wine routes the weekend of August 14th, camping at Yamaska national park. I led the Labour Day weekend camping / cycling trip to Sandbanks, which was a success in terms of activities offered / available, and we had great weather throughout the weekend. Should I be elected to continue in this position, I would be keen to offer the Sandbanks trip once again.

I have found this experience to be very rewarding. It has at times been challenging getting members to volunteer to lead cycling day trips, but I accept this challenge as part of the position and am passionate about the programs that OHOC offers to its members. I encourage people to lead day trips, as we are indeed a volunteer organization that depends on you, the members.

We had a successful cycling year, and in the capacity of cycling coordinator I would like to continue my efforts to increase participation in the cycling program. I'd like to develop training rides early in the season for new members or for those new to cycling. I would also like to include a bicycle maintenance workshop early in the season. Some suggestions to increase cycling turnout have included providing members with a short post-written description of each cycling day trip written by the leader, so as to entice members to come out and enjoy the outdoors while cycling. I welcome any other suggestions for next year's program that anyone may have.

The Year in Review

Despite the dreary weather for a good part of the summer, we had an excellent year of canoeing. Many new people got their feet wet, and many existing members enjoyed reconnecting with nature and with friends, new and old.

A big thank you to all of our volunteer leaders who volunteered to lead trips this year: Eden Bromfield, Teresa Burke, Raynald Charest, Tara Conroy, Jim Fraser, John Galbraith, Susan Gardiner, Greg Griffith, Mark Hetherington, Jawaid Ismail, Kevin Laflèche, Barbara Mueller, Annette O'Young, Xuan Qi, Hilary Seddon, Han (Adam) Song, Heather Wiggs, and John Wolczanski. My apologies if I left anyone out.

The late start time (9:45 a.m. ) that was instituted in the spring received mixed reviews from members. Some hate it, some love it, with most people in the middle.

Leadership and Safety

There is always room for improvement in any organization, which is why we held an OHOC leadership brainstorm July 3, 2009. While the discussion was not specific to OHOC canoe activities, the main issues discussed were especially relevant to the canoeists in the club. The main points discussed were:

1. Recruitment / Renewal of the membership: increasing the number of participants and especially the Leaders of the trips and outings; and
2. Creating a culture of safety and accountability.

I would like to address these points as they relate to OHOC canoe activities. Regarding leaders and leadership, we were able to fill most of the summer canoeing schedule of Wednesdays and Sundays with leaders, although I ended up filling in more than I was intending to. There were two Sundays in which we had no leader for a trip. Also, there were fewer multi-day trips than have occurred in years past; several trips that were scheduled were cancelled due to lack of interest and/or weather conditions. A major reason for the decrease in multi-day trips is because the people who had organized these trips in the past have migrated away from the club.

Regarding canoeing safety, I think that safety awareness in the clubs is generally low. Barbara Mueller and I led one "official" canoe rescue course, and I led 5 or 6 ad-hoc canoe rescue demonstrations during regular OHOC outings. Despite this, the number of people who actually practiced canoe rescue techniques barely reaches the fingers on my second hand, which is somewhat disappointing. I would like to extend special thanks to Jawaid Ismail, who eagerly joined in the demonstrations.

Incidents

There was one incident of an overly-enthusiastic participant destabilizing a canoe while it was being mounted on a member's car, which resulted in some damage to the roof of the car. I followed up with all the leaders, asking them to monitor the mounting and removal of canoes, and to ensure that there is good communication between people who are lifting the canoes.

There was an incident of a canoe tipping while people were entering the canoe in waist-level water, resulting in a soggy cell phone.

Equipment

I purchased 10 extra foam blocks for mounting canoes on peoples cars so that all the canoes could be taken out at once. I also purchased 9 wind-up waterproof floatable flashlights ? this reduces playing around with batteries, and if there is an emergency, the batteries in the flashlight will never run out.

We have sufficient lifejackets, straps and paddles, thanks to the comprehensive resupplying done in 2008 by the previous canoe coordinator, Barbara Mueller.

We also have one extra canoe (10 in total); a canoe that previously was stored with the OHOC canoes has become an official OHOC canoe.

Transition

I look forward to congratulating the 2010 Canoe Coordinator on his or her election. Due to other commitments in my life, I was not able to commit the time and energy as OHOC canoe coordinator that I would have liked to drum up more volunteers, encourage people to get trained, and so on. The Canoe Meditation day was cancelled because I dropped the ball in following up with the meditation instructor. I hope the next canoe coordinator has the time and energy to make leadership, safety, and fun the top priorities, and I will assist in those ends where I can.

We had again a wonderful season stretching from early December to March, with a variety of snowshoe outings, from gentle level-ones to more challenging off-trail outings. We had a successful beginner snowshoe run by Dave Houtman. We experienced a variety of destinations in the Gatineau and outside of the Park: Forêt Blanche, Mer Bleu, and Stoney Swamp. Special events included full-moon pot lucks and a weekend at Harris Farm. Highlights included sunny days, hot chocolates at Jim B.'s, and a Dim Sum following the Mer Bleu outing. The program would not have been possible without the dedication of the many leaders and the enthusiasm of all the participants. Thank you all for making this possible and enjoy the next season.

We had 27 day trips from December 7, 2008 to March 29, 2009. Most trips were L1 and L2 although 5 day trips were level 2.5. Many people participated in the 3 moonlight cross country trips.

X-country skiers and snow shoeing participants on a Friday night were rewarded by a cheese fondue meal prepared by Rob Burnfield, making it a great sport and culinary experience. As well, the Wednesday night ski trips organised by Rob Burnfield and Paul Moses were well attended.

We had also a ski clinic on January 11 for beginners who received practical information on X-country gear and techniques. One injury was reported during a day trip at the end of the season when snow conditions were fair to poor.

Four multi-day trips were well-attended and well organized: the first weekend trip at Papineau-Labelle led by Marie-Reine; the traditional Harry's Farm trip at Mont St-Marie; the Chalet Beaumont trip at Val David; and the Mont Tremblant weekend (and a very good Raclette supper).

This year OHOC was able to acquire one canoe at no cost. It has been on the canoe rack for several years. The executive attempted to contact the owner (previous OHOC member Paul Davis) but he has been out of province for several years. Executive was unable to get in contact with him, so a decision was made to acquire the canoe since it appears the original owner is no longer interested in keeping it.

A section of the outdoor equipment shed has been allocated as place for members to leave broken equipment. Most items broken this year were canoe straps (usually burnt due to closeness to muffler). When tying down a canoe to a car, please ensure the canoe straps are well away from a muffler.

Other equipment changes this year are as follows:

• Five canoe straps were repaired at local shoe repair store.
• A canoe paddle was broken.
• One tie-down anchor bolt on a canoe was replaced for safety's sake.
• Two pairs of snowshoes were purchased in December last year from Bushtukah. Ten foam cushions to transport canoes were also purchased.
• Six old life jackets were destroyed due to their age and condition.
• Two individuals each donated a set of X-country skis and boots to the club.

Leaders are asked to sign out equipment they're taking for overnight trips using "OHOC Equipment Loan" sheets in each equipment room. This gives us a sense of where the equipment is when it's not in the equipment room, and how frequently various equipment is used—useful information to guide future purchases. Someone has borrowed a cooking pot without signing it out and has not returned it. Please ensure items borrowed are clearly identified on this sign-out sheet and additionally indicate when returned.

"By-Laws: Article 3, Section 7 - Membership Secretary

1. The Membership Secretary shall keep the database of membership up-to-date and shall mail membership cards.
2. The Membership Secretary shall handle the advertising and promotion for OHOC and its activities.
3. The Membership Secretary shall deal with the problems and concerns of the membership.
4. The Membership Secretary shall be responsible for the quarterly sending of the following items to OHOC members: the activities calendar, membership lists, and member's news."

a. The database of membership and mailing of membership cards.

Database of membership

The club membership database is being maintained in Microsoft Access. All information provided on the Membership Application form is entered into this database. My successor will need to have Microsoft Access, or the club may need to purchase a licensed version of it. The database dates back to 1994. We ended the year with membership number 1480. Theoretically, this is the number of people who have joined the club at some point since 1994. About 244 records of past members were purged or lost from the database at some time in the past. The database has gone through a series of custodians in the past, and I do not know when this may have occurred. The club ended the sale of 2009 memberships on Sept 30, 2009 pending the introduction of 2010 memberships. The 2009 portion of the database is up to date and shows:

• 262 members
• 87 first-time, new members
• 175 returning members
• 13 members without email

The number of returning members as well as the total number of members appears to be healthy but not a record.

Mailing of membership cards

The submission of membership applications was streamlined this year with applicants being asked to mail their application directly to the membership secretary. This resulted in every member being mailed a card as well as a letter acknowledging receipt of their membership, normally within one week, as well as receiving the next club news in a timely fashion. All problems arising with respect to addresses or returning mail were resolved except one.

b. Advertising and promotion for OHOC and its activities.

My efforts were limited in this category. The President, Mark Hetherington, did an excellent job of a placing a number of advertisements for the club in local media with a limited budget. I organized a mailing campaign to past members encouraging them to rejoin the club. This resulted in very positive response, as is reflected in the statistics above. I also maintained the club phone line. I responded to many calls from the public inquiring about OHOC and how to join.

c. Problems and concerns of the membership

I responded to a high volume of concerns and requests from members. The most common issues were requests for phone numbers and complaints about trips being cancelled.

d. Sending OHOC members the activities calendar, membership lists, and members' news.

The members without email were mailed the above items at least 4 times during the year.

Notice of the AGM was mailed to members about a week late, but did reach them before the meeting date. The members' news was mailed out every second week and included, at a minimum, a link to the web calendar. Kristin Hope did an excellent job of compiling a "Club News" for me to distribute every second week.

Other notes

Additional comments:

• Most people have either a current membership or pay the day fee. However, I noticed about 5 people on club outings who did not have current membership status. Some of the excuses I encountered were: "The cheque is in the mail," "I have a life membership," and "I bought my membership in 2007." I followed up on the cases that I observed.
• Membership forms are not always legible. The resolution and correction of mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses takes considerable time and delays new members' receipt of club information.
• I would say that the position takes about 2 to 3 hours of volunteer time per week or approximately 150 hours per year. The greatest portion of this time is spent typing into the database. The executive approved the contracting of 6 hours of contract data entry as an experiment.

I have found my time very well spent and rewarding. I have worked in customer service all my working life and I hope that I have succeeded in providing good customer service to OHOC members. It is quite interesting getting to know members a little bit better by serving in this position.

I knew that the time in this position would be considerable, and I it has been rewarding for me. However I cannot afford the required time to do this work properly next year. So it is with regret that I will be unable to run for the position of 2010 Membership Secretary. I wish my successor good luck and will assist that person in whatever way I can.

Most of all I want to thank our outgoing President Mark Hetherington. His encouragement was always appreciated. I am sure that his hours of dedication to the club far exceeded mine, and his attention and dedication to the club last year were truly remarkable.

The Treasurer's report is available (attached [PDF ]).

7:00 pm, Tuesday, October 5, 2009
The Library at Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue, Ottawa

Executive Present

Mark Hetherington - President
Raynald Charest - Treasurer
John Galbraith - Membership Secretary
Greg Griffith - Equipment Co-ordinator
Eddie Drueding - Hiking Co-ordinator
Hilary Seddon - Cycling Co-ordinator

Members Present Including Executive

16 members in total

Call to Order

7:20 pm Call to order

Approval of Minutes of AGM 2008

Moved by Tony Wellman and seconded by Henry Nur.

President's Report

The President reported that all trips were successful and that the executive and club members worked to provide effective service and programs; new changes and policies include: 1) a popular new 9:30 am start time for activities, 2) a summer BBQ for the club members, 3) an increase in membership numbers, and 4) archiving previous years' OHOC information on disk. OHOC was also advertised in the Bytowne cinema guide and on Craig's list, and the president made phone calls to all members and non-renewing members. In addition, he spoke with a reporter about outdoor recreation and created a document entitled "Tips for Leaders". OHOC will continue to develop leadership training material in the coming year.

Research initiatives conducted by the executive include: 1) research by Tim Crook to inquire about not-for-profit status for the club (we cannot be declared as not-for-profit), 2) Facebook research by Sophie Gabard.

Activity Reports

Brief activity reports are attached:

• President - Mark Hetherington
• Vice-president and Publicity - Tim Crook [Not available]
• Hiking Co-ordinator - Eddie Drueding
• Cycling Co-ordinator - Hilary Seddon
• Canoeing Co-ordinator - Paul Moses
• Snowshoeing Co-ordinator - Claire Dormann
• Skiing Co-ordinator - Sophie Gabard
• Equipment Co-ordinator - Greg Griffith
• Membership Secretary - John Galbraith

Treasurer's Report

Raynald Charest presented the Treasurer's Report (attached [PDF ]). The 2010 budget will have a membership fee increase of $5.00 for a total of $35, and a mileage fee increase of 1 cent per kilometer (vote was carried). This year's budget will also include a $3.00 snowshoe rental fee for participants and a $5.00 bike rack fee. Vote on the snowshoe rental fee was carried - 11 in favour, 4 opposed and 1 abstained. The $3.00 canoe rental fee and $5.00 non-member activity fee remain the same.

Discussion took place on the usage of the extra membership fees and much debate ensued about maintaining a zero balance in the OHOC account; it was agreed that the executive would do their best to maintain a zero dollar balance.

Election of Officers

Nominations were taken from the floor for each position:

• President - OHOC is currently without a President.
• Vice-President - Tim Crook - acclaimed.
• Treasurer - Raynald Charest - acclaimed.
• Membership Secretary - Denise Cayer - acclaimed
• Executive Secretary - Jivka Kirilova - acclaimed
• Equipment Coordinator - Kevin Marshall Laflèche - acclaimed.
• Hiking Coordinator - Eddie Drueding - acclaimed
• Cycling Coordinator - Hilary Seddon - elected
• Canoeing Coordinator - vacant
• Skiing Coordinator - Sophie Gabard - acclaimed
• Snowshoeing Coordinator - Bobby Montsion - acclaimed
• Non-executive position (Social Co-ordinator) - vacant

Recognition Awards

Gift certificates were provided to the following persons:

• Kristen Hope - for OHOC email newsletter
• Thomas Geiger - for OHOC Friday skating and years of service
• Jawaid Ismail - for contributions to OHOC canoeing

Door Prizes

Draws were held for prizes donated by Bushtukah and Bridgehead.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 9:47 pm.

Motion: To drop all references to the term 'annual' when used in conjunction with 'member' and 'membership'. This occurs at the following locations in the Constitution/Bylaws as of Sept. 1, 2011:

Constitution, Article 5: "A quorum of least 8 members or 5% of the annual membership, whichever is greater, must be present for the membership meeting to consider an amendment to the Constitution."

Bylaws, Article 1, Section 1(a): "Annual membership shall be open to any person 18 or more years of age with a sincere interest in outdoor recreational activities."

Bylaws, Article 1, Section 2(a): "Annual membership fees and day fees will be decided by a quorum at the Annual General Meeting."

Bylaws, Article 1, Section 2(b): "Annual membership fees shall be payable to the Club by cheque after being set at the AGM in October and sent to the current treasurer. Annual membership paid between the AGM and December 31 will be effective from the date of payment until December 31 of the following year."

Bylaws, Article 2, Section 2: "The petitioners shall pay the cost of giving notice unless reimbursement is approved by a majority of annual members at the meeting."

Bylaws, Article 2, Section 4(a): "Voting is restricted to annual members in good standing as of 7 days before the meeting."

Bylaws, Article 3, Section 1: "All offices shall be open to any annual member"

Bylaws, Article 3, Section 2: "The President, Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary, Membership Secretary, Equipment Officer, and any activity coordinator who opts to be on the executive shall be elected at the AGM by those annual members attending the meeting."

• President - Raynald Charest - acclaimed
• Vice-President - Jim Burgess - acclaimed
• Treasurer - Adam Han - acclaimed
• Membership Secretary - vacant
• Executive Secretary - David Gillies - acclaimed
• Equipment Coordinator - Kevin Marshall Lafleche - acclaimed
• Hiking Coordinator - Eddie Drueding - acclaimed
• Cycling Coordinator - Paula Tozer - acclaimed
• Canoeing Coordinator - vacant
• Skiing Coordinator - Mary Anne Olivares - acclaimed
• Snowshoeing Coordinator - Tim Crook - acclaimed
• Social Coordinator - Anna Gopenko - acclaimed

Recognition Awards (3 of $25(each) gift certificates from Bushtakah)

• Jim Burgess
• Valerie Heaman
• Rob Burnfield

Door prizes (5 of $10(each) and 1 of $25 gift certificates from Bushtakah)

• Won by 5 club members present at the meeting

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 10h00 PM.

1. Approval of 2011 AGM Minutes
2. President's Report - Raynald Charest (3 minutes)
3. Activity Reports (2 minutes each)

4. Treasurer's Report and budget:  Louise Hale

BREAK

5. Election of Officers:  Thomas Geiger

Nominations for each position:

6. Motions for Constitution Amendments:  Dave Houtman
7. Recognition Awards:  Raynald Charest
8. Hotline (keep or cancel):  Raynald Charest

Season: April 14, 2012 to September 29, 2012.

Day trips:  19

Weekend trips:  2 - Sandbanks and Kingston (Wolfe Island)

Number of Participants: Between 3 – 10, average of 5- 8

Overview:

OOC had a successful cycling season with day trips scheduled most Saturdays and two weekend trips. The weather cooperated for the most part. There were no participants for the first day trip on April 14 and the day trip September 22 had to be postponed due to poor weather.

Finding leaders continues to be a challenge.  I was able to fill gaps in the schedule myself by leading 7 day trips and co-leading the day trip to Morrisburg.

I am pleased that the traditional cycling trip to Prince Edward County was offered Labour Day weekend and was well attended.

A copy of season trip schedule is attached.  [Not available]

Issues/Concerns

The early spring in 2012 prompted some pressure to begin the cycling season early.  However while I was able to schedule a trip for April 14, but there were no participants.  I would not recommend to start the cycling season before early May.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank all of the leaders who volunteered their time to lead cycling activities. However special thanks to Hilary Seddon and Helen Apouchtine who each lead a weekend trip and a day trip. Also, special thanks to Raynald Charest who along with his duties as Club President led 4 day trips.  

Also, a big thanks to Rob Burnfield for keeping the web site up to date.

Prepared by:

Paula Tozer
OOC Cycling Coordinator (October 18, 2012)

Season:  January 2, 2012  to March 11, 2012

Weeks:  11 (7 of which had two ski trips per Sunday)

Trips:  Total of 18 day trips

Moonlight:  3 Saturday evenings combined with snowshoing

Weekend trips:  3

Participation:  Well attended

Overview:

OOC had a successful, albeit shortened ski season for the 2011/12 winter season.  Unfortunately, we did not have sufficient snow for skiing until after Christmas, and the snow quickly departed in March.

As the new ski coordinator, I made a concerted effort to have a fullsome schedule with a variety of levels and trails to appeal to a wide variety of participants.  Specifically, we had two special introductory ski day trips in January for novice skiers which were extremely well attended.  As a result, the ski outings were a great success. 

Again, we had the traditional weekend trips to Harris Farm in January, Val David in late February and Tremblant in early February with a new location at the Auberge du Coq.  I am glad to report that everyone survived and is doing well following the Tremblant trip as there was a ski  accident and a few other unfortunate personal mishaps.  Let’s hope this will not happen in the new season!

There were three Saturday evening combined ski/snowshoe moonlight outings and potluck.  They were as popular as ever, with food and fun which made for three wonderful evenings.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank all the leaders who supported the program and lead outings.  The response was well appreciated.  In particular, I would like to thank John Galbraith and Helen Apouchtine for leading the weekend trips, and to Marie-Reine Fournier in leading one of the introductory ski trips.

Also, many thanks to Rob Burnfield for updating the website, filling in many blanks, and making useful suggestions to the trip descriptions.

Prepared by:

Mary-Anne Olivares, OOC Ski Coordinator, October 2012

Inventory as of 30 September 2012

The amendments to the Club Bylaws that are contained in this PDF document are proposed for acceptance at the 2012 AGM.  There are no proposed amendments to the Club Constitution.

1. The budget for 2012 and proposed budget for 2013 was presented. This past year we expected a surplus as we have been accumulating funds toward the Online Payment project and we ended up with a surplus. A great deal of discussion at executive meetings about advertising initiatives has gone on but no money has been spent this financial year. The new business cards and the ‘T’ shirts will be paid for out of the 2013 budget. There was no demand for training & development in 2012 which is why only $80 of the budgeted $600 was spent.
2. The current bank balance for the club is $13,571.80.
3. It was noted that there is a charge made by PayPal on each transaction and this needs to be added to the budget (? under ON-Line Membership project-200 members*(2.9%*$40) =200*$1.16=$232) and then can be shown as an expense on the spreadsheet. The new treasurer will implement this change.
4. It is proposed that there be no change to the annual membership fee of $40.00.
5. Many thanks to Adam Han for all his work as treasurer between October 2011 and July 2012 and to Raynald Charest for his assistance with Excel!!!

Louise Hale

Date & Venue: 23^rd October 2012 at SHCC

Presents: 39 members, including outgoing executives

1. Approval of agenda
2. Approval of Minutes of 2012 AGM
3. President’s Report
4. Vice-president’s commentary
5. Coordinators’ Reports
   • Canoeing
   • Cycling
   • Hiking
   • Skiing
   • Social
   • Snowshoeing
6. Equipment Officer’s Report
7. Membership Secretary’s Report
8. Webmaster’s report
9. Treasurer’s Report
10. 2013-2014 Budget
11. Election of OOC Executive

Break

12. Amendments to the OOC Constitution and Bylaws
13. End of Meeting

I’d like to thank everyone for showing up for this year’s Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Outdoor Club.  We have had a year full of activities, and are looking forward to another year of many trips for our regular outdoor and social activities.  I’d also like to thank the activity coordinators for organizing, and often leading, trips of many kinds to many places.  I’m sure that most if not all who participated in these trips enjoyed the activities, and the social aspects that go with doing things as a group.

If you are interested in what is involved in leading a trip, talk with some of the leaders, with one of the coordinators, or with anyone on the executive.  Certainly, we’ll be interested in having you as a leader; but we can also give some tips and insights on why people leader, and what leaders do.

We chose to provide more training for our trip leaders this past year (a Wilderness First Aid course), and are looking to do even more in the next year, as will be outlined in the Treasurer’s Report and the proposed budget for next year.

We looked at new ways to advertise the club, such as going to the Ottawa Ski and Snowboard Show last October, and are planning to do this again on October 26 and 27, plus have a booth at Mountain Equipment Coop’s Snowfest day on Saturday, November 23.  Both of these events will need volunteers to attend, to greet people who pass by our booth, and to provide information on the activities we offer throughout the year, not just in the winter.  We will also advertise our Winter Information Night in the local media.

We have printed up business cards with a quick list of our activities and our web site URL.  If you would like to hand out some of these, or post them on bulletin boards at work and in local shops, with the owners’ permission, please tell us.

I don’t want to steal any news from our coordinators, so I’ll let them each present their reports.  I’ll speak for some of the coordinators who are not here this evening.

Jim F.

Our revenues for the year were very close to the budgeted amount of $9600.00 at an actual amount of $9660.00.

Our expenditures were under-budget with a total of $8805.00.  Individual budget areas varied from the budgeted amounts as shown on the attached financial statement.

One great variation was that the Club Executive made a decision to sponsor Wilderness First Aid training for 6 club members who frequently lead trips, as a valuable investment in the development of leaders in our club.  Funds for this were authorized as an addition to the budget from reserve funds.

Another large discrepancy with the projected budget was that the online membership and payment project was not invoiced for this year.  The same amount was projected into the 2014 budget.  Because of this, we did not actually have to draw on reserve funds in this budget year.

Online payments for membership and day trip fees have streamlined our deposits, beginning at the end of April 2013.  This year 52 members paid membership fees using PayPal since April.  It is anticipated that more members will use PayPal in the coming year, so the projected revenue has been decreased accordingly.

The projected 2014 budget was set as shown with changes to reflect amounts where we varied from the 2013 budget. 

Of note is that the executive recommends we budget $3000.00 for training and development to be funded from reserve funds for the coming year.  It has been several years since we have conducted leadership training, and it has been noted by several co-ordinators that it is difficult now to find trip leaders.  Hopefully an investment in training will help members feel more confident to take on these roles.

Our reserve fund as of September 30, 2013 was $14,753.39.  Funds for training would have us needing to draw $2875.00 from this fund for the 2014 budget year.

It has been my pleasure to serve as treasurer this year.  I have learned much and will again let my name stand for treasurer.

The canoe season got off to a slow start due to poor weather at the beginning of the year. Thunderstorms and high winds meant a number of trips were canceled for safety reasons.

 The activities on offer were also reduced due to your coordinator suffering a back injury which meant I was unable to lead trips this summer.

The canoe program continues to suffer from a lack of volunteer leaders. This year just one volunteer came forward to lead trips. A big thanks to Mike McCurrie for keeping the program going during my injury.

Changes to ownership of land on the Gatineau River, and availability of public boat launches in Wakefield, has made running early & late season evening canoe trips problematic. Most Wednesday outings were done on Meech Lake.

There were a total of 25 outings which included 4 weekend camping trips which enjoyed full attendance.

We also offered a canoe skills training day, which was unfortunately not of interest to the membership and was hence canceled.

I have decided to step down as coordinator because the lack of volunteers puts too much responsibility on the role to run all trips for the club. Without volunteer leaders there cannot be an effective canoe program.

This year the bicycle season lasted from May to mid October.

These were Saturday cycles using bike paths in the Ottawa/Gatineau area.  Some involved car pooling with bike racks, driving to a different location in or outside of Ottawa, and biking on country roads.  There were also day trips to Merrickville, Brockville and Ingleside.

The trips were level one and two and averaged around six participants.

These bike rides could not have happened without the eleven people who volunteered to lead one or several trips.  I am especially grateful that they shared their diverse personal knowledge of biking options.

This year to date has seen 40 day hikes totaling approximately 370 km.  There were 3 multi-day hiking trips led by Jim Fraser, Mary-Anne Olivares, and Margaret McKay.  We would like to thank Margaret for organizing the popular trip to Stowe, Vermont for the third consecutive year.  This year a potential record of 40 people visited the Round Hearth Lodge for Thanksgiving.

Eddie celebrated leading his 150th hike on May 2 with a 3-hour bushwhack in the Meech Lake valley.

Alain Leury led 3 popular day trips that combined hiking with photography instruction.

Next year the hiking program looks forward to exploring the Almonte Burnt Lands alvar and searching for fossils and rare plants and butterflies.

The 2012/13 winter ski program had a slow start until it began with a bang on December 21 with a snowfall of 34 cm which kick-started the season.  Unfortunately, the large amount of heavy wet snow caused extensive damage to many trees and it took the better part of the ski season for Gatineau Park to clear the majority of trails of tree branches and debris.  Then, in mid January the winter thaw and rain set in resulting in cancellation of the regular day ski and the first introduction to ski offering on January 13.

There were a total of 18 day ski outings which included the second offering of Intro to Skiing on January 20, 4 combined moonlight snowshoe/ski pot lucks and 4 weekend trips:  Val David, Algonquin Park Winter Camping, Tremblant and Harris Farm.  All events were well attended.  There were a couple of unfortunate injuries which occurred during the season, however, assistance was provided and help sought for the injured.  Everyone survived!  Thank you to all those who assisted.

I wish to thank all those who volunteered to lead a ski outing last season, and a special thanks to those who lead the moonlight skiis:  Greg Griffiths and Hayley Price, and the weekend trips:  Xuan Qi, Helen Apouchtine and John Galbraith.

I look forward to the upcoming ski season.  Again, my goal is to provide two ski offerings every Sunday and will be counting on all the skiers in OOC to make the program a success!

The 2012-2013 snowshoe season got off to a start before there was even snow – on 15 December. By the next week there was almost too much, after the storm of 21 December.

While a welcome start to the season, this snowfall unfortunately caused the season long closure of major snowshoeing trails in Gatineau Park – including the Wolf Trail and shorter closures of other trails.

We were able to offer regular Saturday outings every weekend from mid-December to 23 March, with participation ranging from 3 to over 30 in several cases. As well, there were monthly “full moon” trips - usually in conjunction with skiers if snow conditions allowed – each month from December to March.

There were several special weekend trips as well – Val David and Harris Lodge Farm (again with the skiers) and the Algonquin Eco-Lodge just outside Maynooth. All events had a full complement of participants. It was our first trip to the Eco-lodge since it was taken over by new management and re-named, and there was a strong interest by participants in returning again next season. This area boasts good skiing and dog-sledding as well as snowshoeing.

I would like to thank all those who volunteered to lead a trip, with special thanks to those who organized a weekend trip. Without volunteers none of this would be possible.

I am looking forward to the up-coming season, and am willing to serve another year as coordinator.

OOC Snowshoe Inventory Oct 2013

We have eight pairs of snowshoes. Unfortunately, three are damaged to some extent

1. OHOC A1 medium, blue Atlas brand with a soft vinyl bed, missing front toe crampons (both feet), fair condition, these ones are tied together with a cable tie and were not used in the 2013 season
2. OHOC A2 like A1 above, but in good condition with crampons
3. OHOC A3 like A2 above, but one foot has a broken crampon (broken in the 2013 season)
4. OHOC A4 very large, blue Atlas brand with a soft vinyl bed, binding on one foot was broken this year (2013 season). The binding is not currently functional, but could potentially be replaced (?)
5. Unlabeled Yura brand, large good condition, with a hard nylon bed
6. Unlabeled Black Atlas “825” brand, medium/small in good condition with nylon bed
7. OHOC C1 Snow Mountain – large in good condition, soft plastic bed, with a modernish binding
8. OHOC C2 -same as C1 above, these two are the best of the lot

These snowshoes are currently in my (MHB) basement, and I am willing to keep them as long as I am snowshoe coordinator.

This year I still tried to figure out the reason for low attendance and lack of interest for social activities. I came up with a few ideas:

1. Activities likes dances (with the exception of social dances, like the traditional Irish dance) are not popular.
2. Belly dancing, karaoke bar, softball, piano bar are not interesting enough.
3. Movies are only interesting in conjunction with a restaurant, but the event was a big success.

Therefore, the decision was taken to continue with the last activity, and also try out a social event that would involve people from other outdoor or sport clubs to spark the mingling fun and to add diversity to the human contingent. Instead of the ballroom and Latin dances I would like to try out a contra-dance in the next year.

I am very grateful to the OOC members who offered their ideas and made an effort to organize an event of their own, Theresa M., Tony W., Mary-Lynn S. and some others.

Inventory as of 20 October 2013

The roles of webmaster and newsletter editor are complementary roles, since each, at its core, is responsible for letting Club members and others know what is happening with the Club. These roles also require working with most of the members of the executive and other Club members to communicate their information to both the Club membership and the world.  I enjoy these roles, since one of their many benefits is that they help keep me in touch with many of the Club members.

This past year, the following enhancements were made to the website:

• Online membership registration has been available since May.  Since then, there was a steady stream of membership registrations that tapered off during the fall as the new membership year drew closer.  It is now much faster and easier for people to register and pay for their memberships.  Hopefully, this has encouraged more people to become members.

I had the pleasure of working closely at times with Ken Zimmerman, our membership secretary, in the lead-up to the introduction of the online membership registration.  Ken and other members of the executive provided many useful comments that hopefully made the online membership registration process easier to use for all.

• Since September of 2012, it has been possible for day trip leaders to forward various fee payments to the treasurer by PayPal, saving them and the treasurer time.  In December 2012 or January 2013, after a trial period, this was publicized to trip leaders and is now included in the information on the back of the sign-up forms.
• The text on the home page, schedule page, and activity description page was updated based on comments from Club participants to hopefully better describe the Club and to place useful information where it might be most seen.
• The number of unique visitors to the website has increased over the past year compared to the year before, as shown in the following graph.  (For a few months in the spring of 2012, data was not collected.  The month data for October 2013 is not yet available.)

The newsletter is sent weekly, with every attempt made to ensure all of the week’s activities are covered.  Sometimes, unfortunately, due to time constraints, this has not always happened.

I try to have the newsletter cover the basics of the outdoor activities that will be happening each week, along with any Club announcements, upcoming social activities, and weekend trips.  As time permits, information and photos about past activities are included.

Both a draft and a final version of the newsletter are created.  The draft is sent to anyone mentioned in the newsletter, along with all executive members, for approval and changes.  The final version is sent the next day to all Club members.  This process has worked well, since it provides for feedback from many people.

The following amendments to the Club Constitution and Bylaws are proposed for 2013:

Date & Venue: 23rd October 2013 at SHCC

Present: 29 members, including outgoing executives

Ottawa Outdoor Club
Tuesday, 4 November 2014

1. Quorum verification
2. Approval of agenda [D]
3. Approval of minutes of 2013 AGM [D]
4. President’s report [D]
5. Vice-president’s commentary [D]
6. Coordinators’ reports
   • Canoeing [D]
   • Cycling [D]
   • Hiking [D]
   • Skiing [D]
   • Snowshoeing [D]
   • Social [D]
7. Equipment Officer’s report [D]
8. Membership Secretary’s report [D]
9. Webmaster’s report [D]
10. Treasurer’s report [D]
11. Presentation of 2014-2015 budget [D]
12. Vote on 2014-2015 budget
13. Presentation and vote on Canoe and equipment rental fees
14. Presentation and vote on member and non-member fees
15. Presentation of car-pooling fees
16. Election of OOC executive
    • There are currently no candidates for the following positions:
      • Vice-president
      • Membership secretary
      • Cycling coordinator

Break

17. Amendments to the OOC Constitution and Bylaws [D]
    • Permit membership fee payment by electronic means
    • Clarification to the restrictions on drivers regarding BAC 
    • Add position of Webmaster as full executive position
18. Other items
19. End of meeting

[D] indicates that a related document is available.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for showing up for the 2014 Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Outdoor Club, a Club based on the hard work of our many volunteers.  The Club had a year full of activities, and is looking forward to another year of many trips / outings for our regular and social activities.  In addition to saying thank-you to the activity coordinators for organizing, and often leading, outings of many kinds to many places, I would also like to say thanks to all members who participated in the outings and made these a pleasant experience.  I’m sure that most, if not all, who participated in these outings enjoyed themselves and the social aspects of doing outings as a group.

If you are interested in leading an outing, talk with some of the leaders, with one of the coordinators, or with anyone on the executive.  Certainly, we’ll be interested in having you as a leader; but we can also give some tips and insights on outings and what leaders do.

Our intention was to provide leadership training to our coordinators and leaders this year. However,  5 members of the executive had an opportunity to discuss the topic of leader training with an outside consultant, free of charge. Based on this discussion, it was decided to focus our energies towards volunteer recognition and giving back to the membership.

To this end, the O.O.C. hosted a summer BBQ at Britannia which was attended by about 35 members and the event benefited from the surprize visit of Marjorie Harris, a founding member of both the Ottawa Youth Hostel and the predecessor of the Ottawa Outdoor Club. Marjorie regaled us all with a narrative of past events, and her vitality was an inspiration to all of us. She is an advanced octogenarian full of energy and leadership.

The O.O.C. anticipates hosting a recognition dinner for its volunteers later in the autumn or in the early part of winter as a means of saying thank-you for volunteering.

In addition, the Club benefited from the constitutional experience of John Galbraith, Jim Fraser and Ken Zimmerman in reviewing the wording of proposed constitutional amendments. The only purpose of the committee was to ensure that the proposals did not conflict with other existing elements of the constitution or regulations and to ensure they were clearly written. The originator of the amendment had the final say on the proposed amendment.  

In summary, the coordinators and leaders did an excellent job hosting outings and events, and our membership (attendees) made these outings enjoyable. I am certain this contributed to the O.O.C. maintaining its membership levels.

I don’t want to steal any news from our coordinators, so I’ll let them each present their reports.  I’ll speak for some of the coordinators who are not here this evening.

Again, thanks for attending the AGM and being participating members of the O.O.C.

J.F. Lauzon

October 30, 2014

Duties

The Vice-President’s responsibilities read as follows:

Under “Article 3, Section 4 - Vice-President
The Vice-President shall have and exercise the duties and powers of the President in his/her absence.”

As the vice president, I was only asked to act on one occasion for the president. The president asked me to inform the membership via this news letter that he will soon be announcing the time date and location of the club’s Annual General Meeting. And that it is expected to be held in late October. And also in order to comply with “Article 2, Section 1:  invite members who want to make changes or addition to the constitution to do so for a 10 day period. This was done on August 12. Subsequently the executive decided to open up another 10 day window for submissions in October.

Additional Assignments

Constitutional Amendments

I served on a subcommittee with Jim Fraser and Ken Zimmerman to review the wording of proposed constitutional amendments. The only purpose of the committee was to ensure that the proposals did not conflict with other existing clauses. I emailed out the final draft of the three proposed changes to all members.

Leadership Training

After seeking professional advice, it was determined that the club should address other priorities before leadership training is required.

The executive asked me to look into conducting a leadership training program, as $3,000 had been budgeted for leader training by last year’s AGM and executive. In the 90s and in to the early part of the 2000s I volunteered to run a full weekend Leadership Training program. I organized and ran this program with the help of other members for 14 years. I got a lot out of doing that in those years. It helped me gather ideas for my professional development as I was technical trainer at a local cable televsion company at the time.

I no longer feel that I would realize much personal reward if I was to resurrect this program. Although I was offered money to do so, I felt that this could be viewed negatively by some. Rather than try to resurrect this program I looked to external training possibilities.

After making contact with Linda Vanderlee of “Living Aligned”, I set up a meeting with Linda, myself, the president, and each of the 5 activity coordinators. We met for about 2 hours. The conclusion reached was; that at this time, the club is not ready for Leadership Training. When I later contacted the membership secretary, he informed me that only one member signed up this year indicating that he wanted “Leadership Training”.

My thoughts were to spend the entire amount of this budget item on advertizing and other club development items. But that was not in my mandate.

The Club Phone

I continued to maintain the club phone line and directory listing at 613-230-6703. Executive members are reluctant to post their phone number on the club web site. Callers to the club phone receive a recorded message informing them that “the office is closed”, and instructs them how to reach the appropriate person in the club by phone. This has served us well in allowing members of the press working on tight deadlines to contact club personnel on several occasions this year.

On occasion I will pick up the phone when I hear it ringing in my basement and answer it as “Ottawa Outdoor Club”. People call with questions about joining the club, what the age range is, and is the club appropriate to them?, and a wide range of questions that they can’t find on the web site.

The club has received a very favorable rate from Bell Canada for the last few years for this number, as Bell Canada offers me a second line in my house at no charge. Only the additional features on the line incur charges. Since I have no need for a second line for myself, I am able to pass this savings on to the club for about the last 10 years. I am changing my personal telephone carrier this month to save money on my phone bill. Unfortunately that means that the club may incur a slightly higher phone bill next year as we will have to pay the true cost of a phone line. Having a phone number is a requirement of PayPal.

The Need for a VP

I will not be offering my candidacy for the executive this year. Working with a group to achieve a consensus can be very rewarding work. After 8 years of owning and running my own business, I realize that working towards compromises is no longer my forté.

Some positions in the club require that a lot of information and skills be transferred from one person to the next when the position changes hands. In these cases it is useful if the departing official recruits and assists his successor. In the case of a vice president stepping down however, I think that it is more useful if the next president chooses someone that he feels he can work closely with, to be the vice president. Otherwise I see no problem with leaving this position vacant. There are more than enough people serving on the executive.

John Galbraith
OOC Vice President

As the new canoe coordinator I do not have comparisons to previous canoe seasons, though I would say that this year the canoeing seemed good. There were day-long outings about three times per month and Wednesday evening outings about three times per month as well. One day-outing was cancelled due to difficult weather. There were two scheduled canoeing / camping trips and one of them was cancelled due to difficult weather. Most of the outings were led by Mike McCurrie who should be rewarded for his efforts by the club, since he led most of the outings!

There was a good variety of outings thanks to different leaders: there was a canoe teaching clinic (given by John Galbraith and Jim Burgess), there was a day of canoeing and sailing (led by Mike McCurrie and Jim Burgess), the club participated in part of the Gatineau River run and festival even though the turn-out of participants was low that day – the participants who did come out had a great time from what I heard (led by Mike McCurrie and Jim Burgess); there was the day of canoeing in rented canoes on Lac La Peche (led by Navid Faroudi), there was the camping trip to Lac Poisson Blanc (by Mike McCurrie); there was a canoe outing with nature observation (led by Eden Bromfield), and there were a couple of canoeing / potluck outings (led by Mike McCurrie).

I wish I had done more as coordinator though I had injured my foot in the middle of the season and couldn’t continue coming out to the outings. If next season can resemble this season in the number and variety of outings, then I think that it would be great!

Some equipment deficiencies were spotted at the beginning of the season but because the turn-outs of participants per outing were not that high the equipment was adequate per outing. Due to safety reasons and for future seasons though, I feel that the equipment should be inspected.

This year the bicycle season lasted from May to mid-October.

Most were Saturday cycles using bike paths in the Ottawa / Gatineau area.  There were also four day-trips where we car-pooled to another location.  Trips were mostly Level 1 or 2 and averaged five participants.

This year, Lorraine England led Level 3 training trips in May from the Gamelin parking lot to the Champlain Lookout in Gatineau Park.

These bike rides could not have happened without the eight people who volunteered to lead one or more trips.  The best part of a club like ours is having people share their favourite routes.

The 2014 hiking season was marked by the year's unpredictable weather. The long winter delayed the start of the season until April 13 and heavy rains caused the loss of three summer hikes. The rest of the season had lovely weather and made for enjoyable hikes.

On June 16 I attended a special discussion session called by the NCC on responsible trail management. The NCC, the body governing the use of Gatineau Park, was concerned about the impact of hiking and other activities on the park's backwoods, unofficial trail system. One of the club's late-summer hikes had to be rerouted when a sign informed us the original trail was blocked off due to Peregrine Falcon hatching and fledgling in the area.

I feel it important to respect the ecologically sensitive areas of the park and I hope to work with the NCC in redirecting our hiking activities to less sensitive areas.

A decline in attendance was noted compared to previous years, with weekend trips also struggling to make their numbers.

For the fifteen hikes that I personally led in the spring and summer seasons, I counted 54 brand new people who had come out to the club for their first time. At the end of the summer, I tracked that the vast majority of these people, about 40 or 75%, had never come back after that first experience.

If we extrapolate those numbers to 100 new attendees per year to the club overall, it represents a significant loss of return traffic. Perhaps a study should be undertaken to learn why the club has such a poor retention rate.

OOC had a relatively good 2013/14 winter ski season, with the usual mix of snow, rain and cold temperatures.

There were a total of 22 ski outings which included an Intro to Skiing session in January which was very well attended, and two moonlight ski pot lucks. There were three weekend trips: Val David, Algonquin Park Winter Camping and Tremblant. In addition, John Galbraith offered his weekend trips to Harris Farm which were primarily an external non-club offering. All events were reasonably well attended. Unfortunately, several outings were cancelled during the season due to rain and poor conditions.

I wish to thank all those who volunteered to lead a ski outing last season, and a special thanks to those who lead the moonlight skiis and weekend trips.

My goal next season is to offer more novice ski outings (level 0.5 and level 1), in addition to the intermediate outings, in order to have a program of interest to more club members.

I look forward to the upcoming ski season. I will be counting on all the skiers in OOC to make the program a success!

Mary-Anne Olivares
Ski Coordinator

The 2013-2014 snowshoe season got off to a good start – our first outing was on 01 December 2013.

It was a good start to a long and cold season, with lots of snow.  We were able to continue until 05 April 2014 with a  trek down Meech Valley from P16 – and snowshoes were still needed!

In all there were 23 trips scheduled, including moonlight outings with the skiers and weekend outings to Harris Farm Lodge and the Algonquin Eco-lodge.  There was something offered each weekend, with participation ranging from 2 to the mid-twenties.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who led regular Saturday outings – especially Jean-François and Pete Volney.  And I would like to especially thank John Galbraith and Marilyn Miller for organizing the weekend lodge trips. 

I am looking forward to the up-coming season and am willing to serve another year as co-ordinator; however, more volunteers for leading weekend trips would be welcome.

With the introduction of daily use fees for snowshoeing in Gatineau Park it would be nice to start moving off their established trails and into either other areas or more unmarked trails – for this we will need some ideas and support from the membership.  

Mike Brown
Snowshoe Coordinator

This year was slow due to my full-time occupation as a student and absence during the summer vacation. We had a couple of dance events and a well-attended party at my house in May. Judging that the members attending the social events know each other quite well, it was decided that a mingling party uniting members from other outdoor clubs of the area would be a nice distraction. The party is planned for November this year.

An updated equipment inventory was completed in September 2014.

Although there are a small number of OOC-owned snowshoes available for rent (stored in the basement of the current snowshoe coordinator), most of the activities of the club require people to have their own equipment (e.g., biking or cross-country skiing) or do not require specialized equipment (e.g., hiking). Therefore, the vast majority of club equipment is related to the canoe program.  The canoes and related gear are stored in a rented private property just south of Wakefield, which allows convenient access for Gatineau River and some Gatineau Park outings.  The majority of the equipment is dated and showing noticeable wear, and, as mentioned in the canoe coordinator’s report, some must be replaced.  The most notable deficiencies are in accessories related to transport (such as tie-downs).  While there was a sufficient volume of usable equipment for outings this year (given that the demand was limited), I recommend that the canoe coordinator and new executive continue recent discussions regarding the desired future state of the canoe program and possible alternative equipment options (both rental and replacement).  If the intention is to have the program continue at its current size or grow using OOC equipment, the club will need to consider how much it wishes to invest in replacement equipment.

During the past year, a decision was made by the executive that the snowshoe coordinator, who has the necessary program expertise, would determine whether and what replacement equipment to purchase (ultimately, none was required as there was no demand for snowshoe rentals).  A similar agreement would be logical for the canoe program.  Therefore, I recommend that the equipment coordinator not be replaced this coming year and/or that consideration be given to a future constitutional amendment to eliminate this position from the Executive Committee, given that the duties are minimal and can be subsumed by the canoe and snowshoe coordinators in consultation with the Treasurer and with the support of the Executive Committee and the annual budget exercise.

Tracey Vansickle
Equipment Coordinator
October 2014

Excel spreadsheet from which tables below are derived.

Existing Inventory

Items Deleted From Active Inventory

2014 Memberships

In 2014 a total of 209 memberships were sold. For previous years, the total number of memberships were 212 in 2013 and 203 in 2012.

Payment Method

The following table shows the breakdown of payment methods used (PayPal or cheque).

On-Line Membership System

This was the first full year using the on-line membership registration system developed by Rob Burnfield. The on-line membership registration system has greatly reduced the workload for the membership secretary. 

Thanks to Rob for his continued support given to the Membership Secretary.  A few issues have been identified and workarounds put in place.

I have thoroughly enjoyed being the club's Membership Secretary these past two years and look forward to handing this over to the club's new Membership Secretary.

Cheers,
Ken Zimmerman
OOC Membership Secretary

At the beginning of the Club year (November 2013), I had the roles of both webmaster and newsletter editor.

I happily passed on the role of newsletter editor to Sam Ludmer in February of this year.  I enjoyed writing and editing the newsletter during the 2-1/3 years that I had that role, and I thank everyone for their suggestions and material during that time.

As webmaster, this past year has generally been one of continuity with little apparent change.  My priorities have been

• to ensure that the activity schedule is updated in a timely manner
• to work with our membership secretary, Ken Zimmerman, to ensure that he has access to the latest membership registrations that come in from the website, and to ensure that the email list used for the newsletter is up to date
• to work with our newsletter editor, Sam Ludmer, when any issues have arisen regarding the process of creating or sending the newsletter
• to work with members of the executive as required when they have had issues related to our Internet presence
• since part of our website uses a content management system (CMS, specifically, Drupal) for the website content, to ensure that the CMS components are kept up to date when updates are provided
• to work with our web hosting provider as required

As time permits, I am working toward providing some degree of interactivity with the website.  To do this, I have been converting the website from its original format of static web pages to using CMS that will permit more capabilities to be more easily added.  The membership registration added in 2013 was the first step.  The website is now nearly completely converted to the CMS format, after which I hope to be able to concentrate on adding more content and functionality to the website.

Website statistics for the past year

We have had a lower number of visitors to the website this past year compared to the previous year.  The first graph below is for the past two years, so you can compare the two years.  The second is for the past year, providing more detail.  (The drop to zero from about June 4 to July 15 of this year is due to the visitor data not being collected for that period; the actual numbers were very likely similar to other times.)

We generally have about 50 - 80 visits per day.  This chart shows the numbers of visits categorized by their lengths (in seconds or minutes) over the past year.  This suggests that about half of the people entered the website, realized that it was not where they wanted to be, and moved on.

People usually enter the website via the home page; it's the second most-popular page.  The most popular page is the schedule page.  As a result, I try to put as much information related to immediate activity needs as possible in these two pages, trying to balance the needs of new and potentially new Club members vs. the needs of experienced Club members.  Some of the changes that I've made to these pages have come from listening to and talking with people while I've been taking part in our activities, so that I can learn how people use the website:  what works and what doesn't work for them.

Not surprisingly, the majority of our website visitors are from the Ottawa-Gatineau area.  This list shows the top 25 communities for visitors to the OOC website, with "Unknown" used to aggregate visitor IP addresses that could not be related to communities.

Ottawa Outdoor Club Budget Report for 2013-2014

Our revenues for the year were $9067.00, which is just $133 short of the projected $9200. Our day fees were down, but memberships increased.

The expenditures came in under-budget again with a net profit of $1406.00, while we had budgeted using $2875.00 of our reserve fund.

This was mainly because we did not use the total amount we had budgeted for Training and Development.  In consulting with a membership training specialist, members of the executive came to the realization that really no one was asking for leadership training and that for a time our focus needs to be more on developing club spirit. Thus we sponsored the First Annual Membership Bar-B-Q to help encourage members.

The other large discrepancy was because the president was able to negotiate a considerable discount to our Insurance policy...a saving of $1327.00.

Our bank balance as of September 30, 2014 is 15,642.22, and when adjusted to reflect outstanding cheques and amounts owing leaves us a reserve of 15,909.60.

The average of our income over the past 3 years is $9410. Our reserve funds should be between 80% to 160% of this average, or between $7528.00 and $15057.00. Thus we need to reduce our reserve and to facilitate this I am suggesting a reduction of membership fees to $30 for the 2014-2015 budget year.

The proposed budget for 2014-2015 as attached here (PDF ) and below has been set using a $30 membership fee and reflects the variances mentioned above, and aims to reduce our reserve by $3259.00.  New items included under club development are the Annual Bar-B-Q, a Recognition dinner for our volunteers, and a group travel subsidy.

I have continued to learn in my position as treasurer this year and am willing to let my name stand for Treasurer again.

I move the acceptance of this budget report and of the proposed 2014-2015 budget.

The three amendments to the Club Constitution and Bylaws that are listed below were accepted at the 2014 AGM:

Date & Venue: 4^th November 2014 at SHCC

Present: 20 members plus 1 non-member

Ottawa Outdoor Club
Thursday, 22 October 2015

1. Quorum verification
2. Approval of agenda
3. Approval of minutes of 2014 AGM [D]
4. President’s report [D]
5. Coordinators’ reports
   • Canoeing [D]
   • Cycling [D]
   • Hiking [D]
   • Skiing [D]
   • Snowshoeing [D]
   • Social
6. Equipment report
7. Membership Secretary’s report [D]
8. Webmaster’s report [D]
9. Treasurer’s report [D]
10. Presentation of 2015-2016 budget [D]
11. Vote on 2015-2016 budget
12. Presentation and vote on canoe and equipment rental fees [D]
13. Presentation and vote on member and non-member fees [D]
14. Presentation of car-pooling fees [D]
15. Election of OOC executive
16. Amendment to the OOC Constitution and Bylaws
    • Increase amount that Club can advance to trip leader for single weekend trip to $2500 from $500 [D]
17. Other items
18. End of meeting

[D] indicates that a related document is available.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for attending the 2015 Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Outdoor Club, a Club based on the hard work of our many volunteers and member participation. 

Remarkable events happen in the life of a Club and these events provide us with positive scope:

1. An appreciation dinner attended by approximately 20 to 25 members. The Club has about 50 volunteer leaders out of a membership of 225. This is quite remarkable;
2. An annual BBQ attended by approximately 50 members. This is about 25% of the membership;
3. A Facebook page with numerous participants, I say numerous as it seems somebody always wants to join;
4. A Facebook page with over 800 photos;
5. A Twitter account;
6. Numerous outings where volunteers give 4 to 6 hours of their time to do an outing;
7. Weekend activities where leaders give a lot more of their time;
8. Promotional events where members give their time to promote the Club (e.g., MEC Snowfest).      

The Club had a year full of activities and is looking forward to another year of trips / outings for our regular and social activities.  In addition to saying thank-you to the coordinators and leaders, I would also like to say thanks to all members who participated in the outings and made these a pleasant experience.

Last year, I forgot to mention the tasks carried out by other dedicated members: Treasurer, Membership Secretary, Webmaster, and Corporate Secretary, event helpers …. Without their help the Club would not stand up.

In summary, all volunteers did an excellent job and our membership made the Club enjoyable.

I don’t want to steal any news from our coordinators and our corporate volunteers, so I’ll let them each present their reports.  I’ll speak for some of the coordinators who are not here this evening.

Again, thanks for attending the AGM and being participating members of the O.O.C.

J.F. Lauzon

To All Exec Members and Members of OOC,
 
(This is a draft of the OOC Canoeing Report for 2015.)

This year the canoeing program did okay!  As the Canoeing Coordinator, I was away studying for an important exam most of the time, in relation to my work and, thankfully, I did well, though I just managed to keep the canoeing program afloat.  However, I had the following people helping me:  A Great Thanks to Mr. Mike McCurrie, Mr. Rob Burnfield, Mr. Mike Brown, Mr. Jim Fraser, and Ms. Katie Lunn for leading some canoe trips, and, of course, thanks to Mr. Jim Burgess for keeping the equipment and his wonderful hospitality!

Next spring, I will be in a similar situation, that is I will be tied up in studying as I will have another exam to prepare for and do in early June of next year (so a little bit earlier this time).  The canoeing is less busy in spring anyways and starts more in the summer, so I will be free to do the coordinating then (as after June 4th I will be done my last exam) – Hurray!  It’s just that right before then I will be studying, so I will have very limited time to organize the spring canoeing - Maybe somebody would like to help me out in the spring?  I would like to also Thank Ms. Carolyn Glover for organizing the Paddlefest at MEC for our club last spring because this was wonderful!

by Joanna Sarnecka – Canoeing Coordinator

Most rides this year were Level 1 or 1.5 in the Ottawa-Gatineau area from May to October.  

We did a workshop with Can-Bike.  Members of the OOC could take this for free because the City of Ottawa paid for 50% of the cost and the Ottawa Outdoor Club paid the other 50%.  The City of Ottawa indicated that they would be willing to continue this partnership.

There was also a wine-tasting biking weekend in Brome-Missisquoi in the Eastern Townships and two non-club week-long events, one to Florida in March and one to Îles de la Madeleine in August.

A special thank you to the volunteers who led one or more of these bike rides.  The best part of a club like ours is having people share their favourite routes.

In 2015, over 200 people joined, coming just once or multiple times, on hikes led by 14 leaders from April to October.

Record-breaking warm temperatures made for a long hiking season with swimming hikes becoming the most popular activity, particularly when jumping rocks were involved.

Innovations:

• The club began its use of Twitter as a useful tool for last-minute trip changes and cancellations.
• Facebook became a popular venue for post-activity photo-sharing, with over 800 photos posted in 2015. Congratulations to Annie for being the most-photographed OOC personage.
• Saturday hike/swims were started but stopped due to lack of interest.
• Special scouting hikes with George Bailey, former ACC Hiking Coordinator, opened up new trails for discovery that will become part of the 2016 Hiking Program.

Special Thanks:

• Eddie celebrated 10 years of leading hikes and led his 200th hike on September 9.
• Thanks to Mary-Anne for organizing a leader training session.
• Thanks to Alain and Eden for continuing the popular Photography Instruction hikes.
• Thanks to Margaret and Lorraine for organizing the club’s two biggest weekend trips.
• Thanks to Anna for starting up slower, child-friendly hikes.

OOC had a relatively good  2014/15 winter ski season from December to mid March.  Outings were, for the most part, well-attended.  Unfortunately, there were a number of cancellations due to poor conditions.

There was a total of 23 daytime ski outings, led by various volunteer leaders.  Lorraine England led Tuesday-evening ski outings from January to early March, which was much appreciated and added variety to the program.  Due to poor conditions, there was only one moonlight-ski pot luck this season, which was poorly attended.  There were two weekend trips:  Val David and Tremblant, which were a great success.  Unfortunately, the backcountry trip to Algonquin Park was cancelled due to lack of interest.  I would like to thank Navid for leading the Tremblant trip and Xuan for offering the Algonquin trip.

I wish to thank all those who volunteered to lead a ski outing last season.  Without you, we would not have a great program and a great club.

As I have been the ski coordinator for a number of years now, I’ve decided not to run again.  I wish the next coordinator all the best.  I know the club will be able to count on great leaders again for the upcoming season.

Mary-Anne Olivares

Ski Coordinator

The 2014-2015 snowshoe season got off to a snowless start – our first outing, on 30 November  2014, was a hike, and snow conditions were poor until January.

But once we got started there was good snow and we were able to continue until 21 March 2015 with a trek down Meech Valley from P16 – and snowshoes were still of some use.

In all there were 21 trips scheduled, including moonlight outings with the skiiers and weekend outings to the Algonquin Eco-lodge.  There was something offered each weekend, with participation ranging from 2 to the mid-twenties.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who led regular Saturday outings – especially Jean-François, Mike McCurrie and Carolyn Glover.  And I would like to especially thank Marilyn Miller for organizing the weekend lodge trip.  

The big change this past year was the introduction of daily user fees (or a season pass) for snowshoeing on the trails of Gatineau Park.  We were able to mitigate this to some extent by using unmarked trails, but for the most part this was not a serious deterrent to participation. 

I am looking forward to the up-coming season, and am willing to serve another year as co-ordinator; however, more volunteers for leading weekend trips would be welcome, as would any ideas for our trips.

Mike Brown
Snowshoe Coordinator

The membership year of the Ottawa Outdoor Club begins at the Annual General Meeting in October and concludes December 31st of the following year. Membership increased in 2014-2015, and most members chose to use the website and Paypal to join.

I would like to thank the Executive for their support during the year, especially Rob Burnfield, OOC Webmaster, for importing all the records and problem solving.

Marion Perry
September 30, 2015

*According to the 2014 Annual Report, there were 209 members; however, the database counts 206. I believe the discrepancy is due to my overwriting 3 records when I first became membership secretary.

As webmaster, this past year has generally been one of continuity with little apparent change.  My priorities have been

• to work with our activity coordinators to ensure that the activity schedule is updated in a timely manner
• to work with our membership secretary, Marion Perry, to ensure that she has access to the latest membership registrations that come in from the website, and to ensure that the email list used for the newsletter is up to date
• to work with our newsletter editor, Sam Ludmer, when any issues have arisen regarding the process of creating or sending the newsletter
• to work with members of the executive as required when they have had issues related to our Internet presence
• since part of our website uses a content management system (CMS, specifically, Drupal) for the website content, to ensure that the CMS components are kept up to date when updates are provided
• to work with our web hosting provider as required

I added a Twitter feed to the front page of our website that can be used by trip leaders to post last-minute changes and by all Club members and guests to comment on hikes, using the has tag #ottawaoutdoorclub.  I encourage all activity coordinators to inform or remind your trip leaders of this possibility.

Although not necessarily strictly under the role of the webmaster, earlier in the year, we (the executive) decided to open up our Facebook group to commentary again after a number of years of not permitting group members to comment.  It has been very successful, with many Club members posting photos and comments.  This has very likely helped foster a greater sense of cameraderie in the Club and, since both Club members and non-members can be part of the Facebook group, has advertised the Club to others.  Some leaders have posted their activities, which has likely increased participation in some of those events.  (The Facebook group provides additional information; the Club's website is the definitive information source, since not all Club members are on Facebook.)  A big thanks to our hiking coordinator, Eddie Drueding, for quickly accepting new requests for membership in our Facebook group.

Website statistics for the past year

We had  about the same number of visitors to the website this past year compared to the previous year.  The first graph below is for the past year (October - September) and the second is for the previous year.  (The drop to zero in the second graph from about June 4 to July 15 of last year is due to the visitor data not being collected for that period; the actual numbers were likely similar to other times.)

We generally have about 40 - 80 visits per day.  This chart shows the numbers of visits categorized by their lengths (in seconds or minutes) over the past year.  This suggests that about half of the people entered the website, realized that it was not where they wanted to be, and moved on.

About 65% of the time, people enter the website via the home page, and about 25% of the time, people enter via the schedule page.  As a result, I try to put as much information related to immediate activity needs as possible in these two pages, trying to balance the needs of new and potentially new Club members vs. the needs of experienced Club members.  Some of the changes that I've made to these pages have come from listening to and talking with people while I've been taking part in our activities, so that I can learn how people use the website:  what works and what doesn't work for them.  Many people do not click on links, so there's the constant challenge of ensuring that people see the content vs. putting too much information on the page.

About 60 - 70% of our website visitors are from the Ottawa-Gatineau area, as shown in this document (PDF, ).

Ottawa Outdoor Club Budget Report for 2014-2015

Our total revenues for the year were $7946, which was over the projected revenues by $680.  This was due to an increase in memberships this year.

Expenditures came in under-budget with $2063 of our projected expenditures not made.  This was mainly in the area of Training and Development, a group travel subsidy which was not used, only a small expenditure for our Recognition Dinner, and no need to use our Miscellaneous fund. Also we had no equipment expenditures, although there are a number of canoe related supplies which will need replacing at the beginning of the next canoe season, and will be reflected in the new budget.

Our only significant over-budget item was the telephone hotline. The subsidized rate we had been receiving was no longer available. The executive deliberated changing phone lines and in the end decided that there was very little use of the telephone line, and it is no longer a requirement of PayPal that we have a telephone line. Thus the decision was made to drop the line altogether. The budget amount quoted for the 2015-2016 year is to deal with any termination expenses on the former phone line.

Our bank balance as of September 30 was $16,336.89. With adjustments to reflect outstanding cheques and deposits, our final reserve amount is $15,973.99.

The average of our income over the past 3 years is $8891.00. Our reserve fund should be between 80% and 160% of this average, or between $7112.00 and $14198.00. We are again proposing a deficit budget in order to reduce our reserve funds, and will continue our membership fees at $30 for the year.

The proposed budget for 2015-2016 as attached here (PDF ) aims to reduce our reserve amount by $4674.00. We are anticipating larger expenditures for advertising, canoe equipment, the annual Bar-B-Q, and a slight increase in cost for executive meetings.

I move the acceptance of this budget report and of the proposed 2015-2016 budget.

Post-AGM note:

The financial information shown below includes the following adjustments made during the AGM:

• 2015 - 2016 budget:  advertising / printing increased from $1000 to $3000, with dependent entries adjusted accordingly
• bank balance added (the amount is in the text above)
• rolling $US500.00 deposit for the annual September trip to the Rock and River Lodge in Keene, NY, added

The following amendment to the Club Constitution and Bylaws is proposed for acceptance at the 2015 AGM.  Additional amendments may be submitted by any Club member until Sunday, October 4, 2015.

(These minutes were formally accepted by the membership at the 2016 AGM on 18 October 2016.)

Date & Venue:  October 22, 2015 at Sandy Hill Community Centre

Present: 20 members plus 4 non-members

Ottawa Outdoor Club
Tuesday, 18 October 2016

1. Quorum verification
2. Approval of agenda
3. Approval of minutes of 2015 AGM [D]
4. President’s report [D]
5. Coordinators’ reports
   • Canoeing [D]
   • Cycling [D]
   • Hiking [D]
   • Skiing [D]
   • Snowshoeing [D]
   • Social [D]
6. Equipment report
7. Membership Secretary’s report [D]
8. Webmaster’s report [D]
9. Treasurer’s report [D]
10. Presentation of 2016-2017 budget [D]
11. Vote on 2016-2017 budget
12. Presentation and vote on member and non-member fees (Bylaws Article 1, Section 2 (a) [D]
13. Presentation of equipment rental fees [D]
14. Presentation of carpooling fees [D]
15. Election of OOC executive
16. Amendments to the OOC Constitution and Bylaws [D]
17. Talk by John Harrison about the geology of the Ottawa Valley
18. Other items
19. End of meeting

[D] indicates that a related document is available.

I would like to thank you for joining us tonight at the Annual General Meeting of the Ottawa Outdoor Club.  AGMs aren't always the most exciting events on the calendar.  They do fulfill an important role in the life of the Ottawa Outdoor Club.  They're one of the few opportunities where we can look back at the year that was and peer a little into our future.

Fundamentally, the Club is about people:  participants in our activities, leaders, co-ordinators, and those handling the very important, and many times nearly invisible, administration of the Club, the glue that keeps it going.  I'll leave it to the other members of the executive to talk about their areas.  I do want to mention two people whose roles are such that they don't provide reports.  Ron Pringle, with his official role of vice president being non-specific, has provided very important support across many areas of the Club, such as leading a series of Tuesday walks to compliment Carol Hobden's Thursday walks, leading a series of evening bicycle rides, and using his financial background to work with Mary Hicks, our Treasurer.  Secondly, Tracey Vansickle, our Secretary, produces comprehensive minutes of our executive meetings and, as important, provides thoughtful feedback during discussions.

My predecessor, Jean-François Lauzon, initiated two very important activities that contribute greatly to the life of the Club.  He initiated a Volunter Appreciation Evening that we hold in the early months of the winter every year.  Everyone who has led an outing or has volunteered in other ways for the Club is invited to a dinner, where we can revisit what happened over the past year.  This year, our Secretary, Tracey Vansickle, introduced us to a new caterer that has provided excellent food and has been very generous.  Tracey later hosted the end-of-summer barbecue, where the Club again enjoyed the food from this caterer.

Jean-François's second initiative was to rent a bus for a trip to a destination farther from our usual outing range.  Just a few weeks ago, we did the first of these trips; this will be mentioned later in the Hiking Coordinator's report.

I would like to thank Jean-François for both of these initiatives.  It is clear that they contribute greatly to the life of the OOC.

On the administrative side, we formed two committees this year:  a marketing committee and a governance committee.

The marketing committee is responsible for letting others know about the Club.  Carol Lau, John Galbraith, and I had a number of fruitful meetings and email discussions.  We created the vertical banner here in this room, something first proposed by Carol Lau and Carolyn Glover during a presentation that they gave to the executive last year.  We had it with us at MEC's SnowFest in Novermber and then their PaddleFest in May.  After discussing various ideas, we decided to buy a supply of carabiners with the Club's website address inscribed on them.  If you didn't pick one up on your way in, please feel free to take one as you head out.  We've been presented with other marketing opportunities, not all of which we've followed through on.  If you're interested in helping us let others know about the Club, here's your opportunity!

The governance committee is responsible for (1) ensuring that the Club's Constitution and Bylaws are current and (2) handling nominations to the executive.  Marion Perry, Ron Pringle, and I spent two solid afternoons reviewing our Constitution and Bylaws, coming up with a number of amendments that we'll consider later this evening.

I've enjoyed working with all of the executive members:  Mary, Marion, Ron, Eddie, Neil, Mike, Xuan, Anna, and Tracey.  I have learned from you, and you have enriched my life in ways small and large.  Thank you.

In summary, I would like to say thank you to everyone who has been involved with the Club.  It's a wonderful group of people!

Rob Burnfield

Canoeing enjoyed a successful year in 2016. We had 11 evening-trips on Wednesday evenings, 4 day-trips on Sundays, and 2 day-trips on Saturdays. In addition, 3 multi-day canoe and camping trips were held between May and July. In total, we had 20 successful outings and 4 cancellations due to poor weather.

16 new life-jackets, 8 paddles, and 8 safety buckets were purchased and added to the canoe inventory in October.

Special thanks to Rob Burnfield, Xuan Qi, Anna Gopenko, and especially Mike McCurrie for volunteering to lead the trips. We encourage more volunteers to come forward and lead trips.

Note from Acting Biking Coordinator

This year, we were without a bike coordinator.  I was asked to step in to act as Coordinator.  Starting in July, I introduced a Tuesday-night Casual Biking Ride.  Each of this rides brought out a good number of our bikers.  These were one-hour to one-and-half-hour rides.

I also had a late summer Saturday Bike Ride to Gatineau Park; this drew a small number of bikers out.

To help us rebuild our biking group, I will be putting a motion forward that, next year, we expand our Tuesday night Casual Biking to run from mid-May to mid-August.  To help bring out non-members we waive the $5.00 fee similar to our walking night.  We adjust our start time so we can insure that the return to Sandy Hill Community Hall is in daylight with enough daylight to allow member to safely return home before dark.

As we rebuild our bike group, then we can look at adding weekend rides.

Ron Pringle, Acting Bike Coordinator

Despite often unstable snow conditions, the OOC 2015-16 XC skiing program was a success.  14 day ski outings as well as 3 hikes at the beginning of the season were organized.  Also there was one weekend trip to Val David where the participants had a very nice experience at the Auberge du Vieux Foyer.  I would like to thank all volunteers who led an outing or offered to lead an outing but had to cancel due to bad weather.  Their effort made the success of the XC skiing program possible.

OOC SNOWSHOE COODINATOR REPORT – WINTER 2015-2016

The 2015-2016 snowshoe season got off to a late start – our first outing was on 26 December 2015, and it was in reality a beautiful fall hike.  As we have been seeing for a few years now, significant snowfall is rare until early January.

But once we got started, there was good snow, and we were able to continue until 12 March 2016 with two treks at opposite ends of Gatineau Park.

In all there were 14 trips scheduled, something was offered each weekend, with participation ranging from 2 to the mid-teens.

I would like to thank all the volunteers who led regular Saturday outings – especially Jean-François, Mike McCurrie, and Jennifer Jackson.  

The requirement to pay a daily user fee (or a season pass) for snowshoeing on the marked trails of Gatineau Park continues.  We were able to mitigate this to some extent by using unmarked trails, but for the most part this was not a serious deterrent to participation.  As well, last year was the first year for sharing snowshoe trails with snow-bikers.  Given the conditions, there were very few bikers encountered so we do not know how this will affect snowshoeing in the future.

I am looking forward to the upcoming season, and am willing to serve for one more year as co-ordinator; however, more volunteers for leading weekend trips would be welcome, as would any ideas for trips.

Mike Brown
Snowshoe Coordinator

This year started with an Army Officer Mess Tour, led by Larry Lomas, an event that followed a traditional New Year’s Eve dinner at the Colonnade restaurant, traditionally organized by Theresa.

Volunteer Recognition dinner took place in February and was put together by Tracey and Rob.

2016 Reel Paddling Film Festival was suggested by Rob in April. Unfortunately, it did not attract a lot of interested people, same goes for a Nowruz event in March.

Cineplex Odeon ballet event wasn’t popular either, although I personally enjoyed it greatly.

Big thanks to Tracey for organising and offering her house for an OOC BBQ Party, who took over my responsibilities while I was away for two months. A traditional now Greek fest attracted three times more people than last year.

A promising event at St. Albert's cheese factory/restaurant, suggested by Eddie, has been moved to October 15th, everyone is welcome.

And finally, big thanks to Ronalee for organising and hosting an upcoming s'mores event.  (I personally haven’t tried this).  Ronalee offers her fireplace that can be used to roast marshmallows.  The event will take place some time in January.

Big thanks to all volunteers!

2016 was a year of growth for the Ottawa Outdoor Club.  The year ended with 265 members.

Forty members chose to pay by cheque, and 225 used PayPal while 34 used the paper membership form and 231 used the webform.

The following tables show the numbers of new and renewing members compared with the two previous years and the age range of members who completed the age field on the membership form.

As webmaster, this past year has generally been one of continuity with the only apparent change being on the front page.  My priorities have been

• to work with our activity coordinators to ensure that the activity schedule is updated in a timely manner
• to work with our membership secretary, Marion Perry, to ensure that she has access to the latest membership registrations that come in from the website, and to ensure that the email list used for the newsletter is up to date
• to work with our newsletter editor, Sam Ludmer, when any issues have arisen regarding the process of creating or sending the newsletter
• to work with OOC members and members of the executive as required when they have had issues related to our Internet presence
• since part of our website uses a content management system (CMS, specifically, Drupal) for the website content, to ensure that the CMS components are kept up to date when updates are provided
• to work with our web hosting provider as required

I added a photo gallery to our front page.  It randomly cycles through a set of over 100 photos from OOC activities.  If you have any photos that you think would be appropriate for this gallery, please contact me.

Twitter

The Twitter feed added last year is gradually being used a little more.  Anyone can post to it by including the hashtag #ottawaoutdoorclub.  It's been used by leaders to post last-minute issues (such as those related to weather) and to post photos of recent outings, for example.  I encourage all activity coordinators to inform or remind your trip leaders of this possibility.

Facebook

Since last year's decision by the executive to open up our Facebook group to commentary again after a number of years of not permitting group members to comment, our Facebook group has become very popular.  As of late evening of Monday, October 17, our Facebook group has 1275 members; as of September 30, it had 1245 members.  A year ago, at the end of September, 2015, we had about 340 Facebook group members.

It has continued to be very successful, with many Club members posting photos and comments.  In addition, people have been posting questions and Club members have been answering many of them.  All of this has very likely helped foster a greater sense of camaraderie in the Club and, since both Club members and non-members can be part of the Facebook group, has advertised the Club to others.  As the numbers have increased, we've started seeing wider conversations on the group.  We've had discussions in the executive as to how free-ranging to let it be.  Initially, it was just to be related directly to the OOC.  Most of the non-OOC discussions that have appeared have been related to activities that we could consider doing, and it seems that we are starting to become a source of information for Ottawa outdoor activities.  I think that we're very much in a transition phase.

Some leaders have posted their activities, which has likely increased participation in some of those events.  From my own experience of posting the hiking and canoeing events that I've led, I very strongly suspect that I have had larger turn-outs due to my event postings.  Notice of an event shows up in a person's Facebook feed, thus increasing that person's awareness of the event.  Since many (most) people are on Facebook off an on throughout the day, there's a greater chance of seeing the information there vs. on our own site.  In addition, many people use the "event" to ask questions.  The Club's website is always the definitive information source, since not all Club members are on Facebook.

I want to extend a big thanks to our hiking coordinator, Eddie Drueding, for quickly accepting new requests for membership in our Facebook group, posting enticing banner pictures, and just all-around keeping on top of the group.

Occasionally, we have a few people post information completely unrelated to what we do or might do.  In these cases, I've sent the posters a Facebook text message telling them that their post was being deleted.  For some cases, it was just a misunderstanding of the limits of our group.  In other cases, a person would join and would, within minutes or a day, post what is clearly advertising.  In these cases, I would remove the posting and remove the person from our group, along with informing the person of such.  Only about 5 or 6 people have been informed, with a subset of that number removed.

Website statistics for the past year

We had about the same number of visitors to the website this past year compared to the previous year.  The first graph below is for the past year (October - September) and the second is for the previous year.

We generally have about 35 - 80 visits per day.  This chart shows the numbers of visits categorized by their lengths (in seconds or minutes) over the past year. This is little-changed from last year.  It suggests that about half of the people entered the website, realized that it was not where they wanted to be, and moved on.

People entered the website via these two pages most of the time:

• home page:  58% of the time (65% last year)
• schedule page:  29% of the time (25%)

As a result, I try to put as much information related to immediate activity needs as possible in these two pages, trying to balance the needs of new and potentially-new Club members vs. the needs of experienced Club members.

About 85% of our website visitors are from the Ottawa-Gatineau area, as shown in this document (PDF, ).

Post-AGM note:

The financial information shown below includes the following adjustments made during the AGM:

• At the AGM, $1000 was added in Equipment & Storage / Other:
  • $500 for GPS device(s)
  • $400 for additional snowshoes
  • $100 for buffer for the above